Dou fo sin (2007)

Director:

Wilson Yip

Writers:

Kam-Yuen Szeto (written by) and
Lik-Kei Tang (written by)

Release Date:

2 August 2007 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

They made it personal... He'll make them pay.

Plot:

An agent battles against three brothers of a powerful Vietnamese gang.

Plot Keywords:

Hong Kong | Sniper Rifle | Shootings | Murder | Explosion

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Donnie Yen	...	Det. Sgt. Ma Jun
Louis Koo	...	Wilson
Collin Chou	...	Tony
Ray Lui	...	Archer Sin (as Lui Leung Wai)
Bingbing Fan	...	Julie (as Fan Bing Bing)
Kent Cheng	...	Inspector Wong
Yu Xing	...	Tiger (as Xing Yu)
Qing Xu	...	Madam Lau (as Xu Qing)
Ben Lam	...	Sam
Lan Law	...	Madam Ma (as Law Lan)
Ping Ha	...	Tony's Mum (as Ha Ping)
Irene Wang	...	Cindy
Austin Wai	...	Four Eyes
Wai Ai	...	Hero (as Al Wai)
Chi Wai Wong	...	Baldy (as Wong Chi Wai)

Also Known As:

Flash Point (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title)
City Without Mercy (International: English title) (working title)
City with No Mercy (International: English title)
Dao huo xian (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Flashpoint (UK) (DVD box title)
Fuse (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Po jun (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and brutal martial arts action.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Canada:14A | USA:R | Malaysia:18PL | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | South Korea:15 (cable rating)

Company:

Mandarin Films Distribution Co.

Trivia:

Due to the intensity and complexity of the sequence, both Donnie Yen and Collin Chou agreed that their fight sequence at the end of the film was the hardest shoot they had ever done in their respective careers

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the man is shot on the roof of the parking structure, even though the movie depicts events in 1997, there is a modern silver BMW 5-series parked next to the victim’s car. It is a 2004-2007 (pre January 2007 facelift) model.

Movie Connections:

Follows Saat po long (2005)

A Nutshell Review: Flashpoint

In his black leather jacket and oozing plenty of charisma, Donnie Yen's Inspector Ma Jun quite resembled his other character in SPL, which was also directed by Wilson Yip, because at one point Flashpoint was supposed to be an SPL sequel. But in any case, the character is slightly tweaked. Early in the movie, Ma Jun tells it straight to the camera that as a cop, his job is to apprehend criminals, and it's as simple as that. And the trailers would have you believe here's a man who's lightning quick with his punches, throws and kicks.

However, you've got to wait until the hour mark for all that. For action junkies, your patience is severely tested, but the wait is well worth every minute you're put on hold. I've caught the trailer at this year's Hong Kong Filmart, and it was one that had action and more action, with nary a line of dialogue. But in the movie, much time is devoted to attempts in building characterization, until the story realizes it better give what the audiences are here for, to see Donnie Yen kick ass.

Having teamed with Wilson Yip in earlier action productions like SPL and Dragon Tiger Gate, Donnie Yen returns as action choreographer for Flashpoint, and the cast adopts the fighting style called MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, which is something of a blend of various martial arts techniques, that audiences probably haven't seen before stylistically in close combat scenes. Flashpoint boasts some incredible action sequences with explosive hard hitting fight combinations, and the sole complaint I have is I can't get enough of it! What more, as learnt from SPL having real martial arts exponents like Sammo Hung and Wu Jing fighting opposite himself, it made the sequences look more authentic, and the pace at which they can go at each other much more frantic. Collin Chou (Seraph from the Matrix movies) stars as one of the chief baddies, and watching the two awesome gladiators duke it out is nothing short of edge of your seat material - you'll feel their pain!

But as I mentioned, you'll have to be patient during the story's buildup. Writer Szeto Kam Yuen (SPL, Exiled, Dog Eat Dog) weaves in yet another undercover story into Flashpoint, with Louis Koo's Wilson as the mole within a gang of Vietnamese brothers Ja Ge (Ray Lui, in an over the top impersonation of Tony Leung's Big D in Johnny To's Election), Tony (Collin Chou) and Tiger (Xing Yu). A simple romance tale is worked into for Wilson with Fan Bing Bing as love interest Julie, but as expected, action movies seldom have much time devoted for love scenes.

Without a doubt, Ma Jun as a character overshadows them all with his motivations and drive. His temper is as quick as his reflexes, and he doesn't tolerate bull from the top brass, which resulted in rather muted (or negligible) action for about three quarters of the movie because his behavior is reined in by order. And there is a scene though which will make you question his excessiveness, and wonder if his doggedness in pursuit and apprehension actually clouds his ethical and moral judgment.

Flashpoint is still an awesome action movie when the time came for it to deliver the goods, highlighting that Hong Kong action films still have what it takes to innovate within the genre. Oh, and stay tuned during the end credit roll for scenes of outtakes, which shows plenty of training that the cast had to undergo to perfect their MMA techniques. Sure packs quite a punch in this compact 90 minute movie.