Flashpoint

Being a fan of Donnie Yen I eagerly anticipated "Flash Point". There was good and bad in it... first the good: The fight scenes are pretty awesome - in particular there is one which takes place at a driving range that lives up to what I was expecting. The introduction of grappling techniques (paying homage to MMA) is pretty cool. Cinematography & scenes of HK are at some times very stylish.

Now the bad: Kind of moves slow in the first half. In fact after the initial 5 minutes of action the next 20 minutes drags. The plot is not that great, and in the first half of the movie the action isn't enough to make up for this.

All in all, I've been a little disappointed with Donnie Yen's last two - this one and Dragon Tiger Gate. Neither raises the bar or comes close to the amazing SPL of 2005.

If you're like me, after watching roughly 3 billion similarly themed period piece kung fu and wuxia movies, you're relieved when a contemporary kung fu flick comes along. This seems to be Donnie Yen's bread and butter. Sure, he was excellent in Hero opposite Jet Li and even Circus Kids was entertaining, but his performances in those films just don't match up to SPL or this film, Flash Point. He seems made for modern kung fu.

I'll leave plot explanation to others as it's a pretty standard cop-on-the-edge film that seems to have been done to death by Hong Kong over the past 15 years or so. What sets this apart is Yen's phenomenal and somewhat unique brand of kung fu and, for the first time (to my knowledge) his surprisingly good jiu jitsu. The flashy kicks and punches are standard Yen affair, but it's a bit of a shock to watch him pull off a slick arm bar, arm triangle, or leg triangle.

Yen's performance is only strengthened by a very talented supporting cast. There's no push-over fights here...it's like everyone is really fighting for their lives. That alone should be enough to get you past a fairly overdone plot (it's not bad, but if you've seen it once you've seen it 1,000 times). It's definitely worth the 85 minutes of your time if you're even remotely a fan of the genre.

If you're an avid Donnie Yen fan, than no one has to sell this movie to you. If you like Asian action movies in general, than you'll be watching this too. What about the others, who are not that familiar with those types of movies? There's not that much back-story to hinder the action too much, neither are there real character developments, this shouldn't be a problem with you (if it is, don't watch the movie)

What should be considered, is the action, that is spot on here. Mixing many styles, Donnie Yen has created some extraordinary fight scenes for this movie. And although I'm for a little bit more character and story driven movies, I liked this one, because it was straight forward. And the action holds up to the promise it gives you ... That's all I can say, now it's up to you, to decide whether you want to watch it or not

to keep it short, i was highly surprised from it's great entertainment value.

the plot is hollow (good cops vs bad guys) but the good cast, camera work and fight scenes are over the top. speaking of the fight scenes, very impressive style from Donnie Yen (with age 44) and also the bad guys hand out some damage before they go down.

the first movie half is slow, but the ending will round it up. this action flick was nice done by the film crew, they put some work & love in it, something you miss in many HK movies nowadays.

(don't miss the end credits :)

Flashpoint is a beautifully shot film that moves a long at a fast pace. I was never much of a Donnie Yen fan but I have been converted to one after seeing this film. Hollywood needs to bring him back, at least as an action choreographer. The action scenes in this film are far more sophisticated than anything Hollywood is doing.

Wilson Yip did an amazing job as director. It's a shame this didn't get a U.S. theatrical release. If Hollywood is smart, they will recruit him.

Bingbing Fan is a beauty that should also be brought to Hollywood.

Flashpoint doesn't break new ground in terms of it being a typical cops and gangsters flick, but it is as good as any of them.

The fights are excellent and realistic.

Flashpoint is highly recommended for HK movie fans.