Frente à Frente

The movie has ample amount of action and some good hand to hand combat but somehow i cudnt care about any of the characters and the movie aint engrossing enuff.

Good editing can improve on a so-so script but not even the best editor can improve on a convoluted, disjointed mess like this one. Good production values are no substitute for a solid story that hooks the viewer. An hour into this, you may still be wondering who you are supposed to root for. Yen playing a stoic cop looks lost.

There is nothing to be picky about at the production and action levels. The overall completion is very smooth. It is also a good work in Hong Kong action films in recent years. It is gratifying that in recent years, Hong Kong directors have become more and more brave in shaping the characters in the gray area. After Infernal Affairs, many directors have been assimilated or hidden by capital and began to make some relatively safe works. In recent years, because of the change of the general environment, the "anger" in the creators' hearts has been aroused again, so there are very representative figures such as pan Chengfeng and AO. They can't be defined by a simple dualism of good and evil. This is the most real place of human nature. From the perspective of Chen Musheng's own works, it can be regarded as an upgrade of the new police story. In essence, there is no great new idea. There is little ink on the inner struggle of the characters, which can only be defined by cool films. However, as a creator, it is a happy thing that the posthumous work will be so widely recognized. I would like to pay tribute to the director and thank him for creating so many romantic and warm dreams.

RAGING FIRE is a fitting swansong for Hong Kong director Benny Chan, who died during post-production. It's a cop thriller throwback to the likes of NEW POLICE STORY and INVINCIBLE TARGET, with Donnie Yen typically playing a dedicated cop on the trail of a gang of robbers headed by Nicholas Tse. The film suffers from being overlong - half an hour out would have improved that - and from over-complexifying a rather straightforward scenario. But the action zings, particularly in Donnie's two fight scenes, and the climax is a real delight. It tends to avoid cheese and overwhelming sentiment which is good too.

Whilst the plot is nothing new, Raging Fire is an absolutely incredible action thriller full of memorable set pieces and is definitely a superb and bittersweet final film for director Benny Chan.

Donnie Yen gives an excellent lead performance whose physicality is balanced against more dramatic moments. Nicholas Tse is a superb villain, equally physically capable with believable motivation yet still managing to be gleefully evil.

Benny Chan's direction is phenomenal with a variety of standout set pieces including hand to hand combat, shootouts and car chases. The music by Nicolas Errèra is great, consistently ridiculously bombastic which helps to make everything even more dramatic.