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I watched the action film Firestorm on a boiling hot day, hoping a movie about a massive storm on the verge of infringing upon Hong Kong might cool me down. Instead, by the end, I was just as tired, sweaty and unimpressed as I was when I inserted the DVD into my player. Out of all the Chinese movies I have recently had the pleasure of watching, not only is Firestorm the most disappointing, it is almost incredibly unique, in that by the conclusion of the feature, I was bored to death - by the sheer wealth of explosions.

Police Inspector Lui (portrayed by the always entertaining Mr. Andy Lau) is a brilliant member of the Hong Kong police, who unfortunately finds himself in the middle of an escalating horrific situation. Not only is he trapped in the middle of a deranged action film, he has to contend with two forces: a storm, that threatens to turn Hong Kong inside out, and a crew of criminals hard pressed to do the same, who are led by the ruthless Cao (Jun Hu).

At the same time, Shing (Gordon Lam), a convict recently released from prison, is trying his best to be the man his beautiful girlfriend Yin (Yao Chen) has been waiting patiently for. With a direct connection to Cao's crew, it's no surprise that Lui and he eventually cross paths, as the police inspector comes to realize that usual police tactics will inevitably fail to bring justice.

Cao's crew, who at first glance appear to be thieves, are painted as murderous psychopaths. There is little background regarding their motives, and their unrelenting slaughter of civilians feels more like a slasher film with guns rather than an in-depth police drama. This same lacking characterization applies to every individual in the movie, including Lui. Although Mr. Lau has proved time and time again he is a brilliant actor, his character is eventually also pulled into the relentless shoot 'em up, spending more than half the film on the ground after being shot, punched, or blown away by one of many explosions that occupies the plot.

Although horrific tragedies do take place, which lead Lui down a questionable path, even in these moments, the audience, despite acknowledging the horror of the event, cannot become emotionally involved, because by the end, the characters remain a collection of total strangers. What's more, Lui's actions, which begin to blur the line between good and rogue have little affect on his character, who doesn't seem to care that the rules he swore to obey might very well be thrown out the window.

In the midst of the insanity, there are a couple of beautiful moments that show how family is not just those related by blood, but these are so fleeting, they are barely rememberable. Furthermore, although there are several great fight scenes, alongside a number of explosions that continuously look superb, these blur together overtime, and by the trigger happy conclusion, I was left shaking my head in disbelief, wondering what the point to any of it was. A scene involving white doves is surely a tribute to revered action director John Woo, however the fact there's several dozen of them is outrageously over the top, which clearly reflects the entirety of this production.

The strongest moments in the film often involve the arguments between Shing and Yin, where emotions run high and heartbreak and violence is potentially just a moment away. But the film fails to capitalize on the talents of the actors portraying these characters, or this sub-plot, that infrequently appears, and if the creator's had spent less time on the action, and attempted to stretch the back-story of each of the leads, this would have made for a far more effective story. By the end, there's a storm alright - it's just not the one we were promised.

If there is one Hong Kong action thriller to watch this year, it is without any doubt the exhilarating 'Firestorm'. Emboldened by the success of last year's 'Cold War', co-producer Bill Kong has set veteran screenwriter Alan Yuen to stage an all-out, no-holds-barred cops-versus- criminals action film set in and around downtown Hong Kong. The result is simply jaw-dropping to say the least, choreographed and executed on a scale we believe has never before been seen in any Hong Kong movie, and better still, complemented by a tight engaging script that draws you into its character-driven plot.

There is a hitch though - it does start off rather bumpily. The opening minutes try to pack too many details at one go. A prologue tries to establish Andy Lau and Gordon Lam's respective characters as rivals on the judo mat when they were still kids. Flash forward quickly to present day and Lau's Inspector Lui is the godfather to his informant's (Patrick Keung) autistic daughter. Meanwhile, Lam's ex-con To has just been released from prison, and despite promising his girlfriend, Bing (Chen Yao), that he has turned over a new leaf, quickly falls back on the wrong side of the law. All that backstory makes for a pretty confusing start we must say, but you'll start putting things together once the first major action sequence rolls along.

Led by Hu Jun's Nam, a crew of hardened criminals pulls off a daring midday heist on an armoured car. Flawlessly executed and backed with better firepower than the Hong Kong police force, they not only make off with the loot, but also in the process expose the ineptness of Inspector Lui and his partner's (Kenny Wong) team. To rub salt onto their wounds, Nam turns up right after the crime at the police station to taunt Lui by claiming to be a good and responsible citizen returning the badge of one of the police officers who had dropped it during the melee. The cops' only lead lies in To, apprehended at the scene of the crime for ramming his car into that of Lui's but claiming that it was no more than an accident.

The trailer would have you know that To eventually becomes Lui's informant, but it isn't quite so straightforward. Indeed, Yuen saves what you might expect would be another 'Infernal Affairs' variant for something much more unpredictable; instead, he focuses his attention in the first half of the movie building up the rivalry between Lui and Nam, the former a strict and rigorous officer of the law who firmly believes that his work is his mission and the latter a smart and cunning criminal mastermind with little restraint and even less mercy. Emphasising Lui's convictions as a police officer, the battle of wits between Lui and Nam is meant also as a test of Lui's own tenacity and, by extension, just where his breaking point lies.

To reveal anything more will not do any justice to Yuen's surprisingly twisty and compelling narrative, which plots a gripping trajectory on the way to the formation of a shaky alliance between Lui and To. Except for a deus ex machina that effectively substitutes Nam for another equally vicious criminal named Pak (Ray Lui), the storytelling is pretty much top-notch, deftly using a whole host of characters and their respective motivations to drive the many twists and turns along the way. Chief among that is of course just what will force a law-abiding police officer to his knees such as to abandon his deeply held morals, but aside from that, the more poignant question is in fact what would make a seasoned criminal 'surrender' his personal allegiance to the police.

Especially inspired is Yuen's decision to save Lui and To's alliance till the very end, by which time it isn't so much whether To will ultimately betray Lui but whether the latter will do so the former, seeing as how Lui is no longer the rational minded policeman he used to be at the start. It's a pretty nifty twist, made even more exciting by how it plays out right in the middle of an intense gunfight between Pak and his crew with the full force of the Hong Kong police in the middle of a busy street in the Central district. That extended climax is well worth the price of admission alone, not least for the exceptionally coherent choreography by veteran Chin Kar-Lok but also the sheer effort the filmmakers had taken to film what must have been a logistically mind-boggling sequence.

But it isn't just by the sheer scale and intensity of this last showdown that you'll be blown away; without any doubt, Chin has outdone himself yet again with quite possibly some of the most daring action scenes performed on the busy bustling streets of Hong Kong. From the opening heist to a confrontation between Lui and Nam's men within a public housing apartment building to a stakeout at a public square in between the Sheung Wan and Central area to the final all-out bullets ballad in the heart of Central, the stunts are never less than thrilling every step of the way - and breathtaking even - for the boldness in imagining and then the dedication to execute them.

And for Yuen's ambition of filming a true-blue Hong Kong police thriller, we must say that he has not only accomplished that with 'Firestorm', he has done so exceedingly. This is by far one of the most thrilling Hong Kong action thrillers you'll ever see, not just for its heartstopping action sequences but also for its captivating story of choices, consequences and ultimately principles. It is Hong Kong cinema at its most electrifying, living thoroughly up to its name of being a lightning rod for future such police thrillers to come.

They did what I'd thought impossible. So many bullets fired and stuff blowed up with an array of grenades and bombs that I actually grew bored when I should have been excited. The producers used up enough of an f/x budget for three of these movies, reducing the story to rubble as severely as to the buildings, streets and vehicles on the receiving end of the demolition crew's excesses. I expect more classiness and coherence from any film starring Andy Lau, making this even more disappointing. It devolved into the sort of direct-to-video fodder cranked out in low-overhead countries with a cast of deservedly unknown players.

Too much drama as in whiney music and over the top special effects and too many pointless shots of Hong Kong. The editing was elementary. I laughed and sighed several times but stuck it out to the end. About the only good thing is the hottie chick that mesmerized me. If you wanna see a good heist film with great plot and action, watch HEAT. Stay away from this Chinese noodle film. It's limp and needs some ginseng.

First of all, don't get fooled by the title or the description of the press release. There is no storm in this movie. I was expecting action sequences in the key of Korean movies like the drama-thriller ''Tidal Wave'' which takes place during a mega tsunami or the spy thriller ''Typhoon'' but ''Firestorm'' turns out to be a more conventional thriller. This movie may not be very unique but it's a quite entertaining two hours for fans of the action-thriller genre.

The story where a veteran police officer and his assistants face a notorious thief and his cruel gang is nothing new either but the movie includes a couple of side stories. Some people may say that these side stories are only hiding the weak main plot and rather distracting but I thought they were what made this movie a little bit better than just average. The relationship between a naive criminal who wants to leave his past behind and start all over again with his proud but sad girlfriend is really touching. This side story adds some emotional depth to the movie. The story of an undercover agent and his autistic daughter is also quite intense as it turns from a passionate story to the grisliest element of the entire movie which I found hard to digest but absolutely intriguing. The acting from the secondary actors is very good while the main actors Andy Lau and Hu Jun are not as outstanding.

An important element of this movie is obviously the fast-paced action sequences. Some of them are well filmed and really breathtaking. One can really see that these scenes were filmed by experts and that there is a solid budget behind the movie. I'm not a fan of CGI effects but the special and visual effects are bearable to well done in this movie. On the other side, some of these sequences are overused, repetitive and feel artificially stretched towards the end of the movie. Some of them are simply over the top even though these scenes are at least never becoming ridiculous slapstick elements as it's the case in several contemporary Hollywood blockbusters like ''A Good Day To Die Hard'' or ''Fast & Furious 6''. One really gets the impression that the action sequences and side stories try to hide the ordinary main plot which fails to come around with true surprises.

If you are feeling for a fast-paced and professionally shot action- thriller, you can't go wrong with this movie. Anybody who's expecting something more like a great plot, outstanding acting or revolutionary effects should watch another movie.