Customer Reviews

Flash Point

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My expectations were quite high for this one, as I had heard from several people that it is definetly a great martial arts action film. I also see a lot of comparisons to the previously released "SPL aka Kill Zone" and rightfully so, since Flashpoint has both the same director (Wilson Yip) and the same action star (Donnie Yen). Though I find Flashpoint not quite up to par overall with SPL, that's still saying quite a bit, since SPL seems to be the film to beat these days. But what Flashpoint may lack in overall tone, it more than makes up for with breathtakingly superb fight action, Donnie Yen style.

Now when I say Donnie Yen style, it's cool and it's MMA (mixed martial arts). Well, at least he's always trying to act cool (as many reviewers will point out about Yen) and I guess it works, but its never necessary. Yen is so skillfull with his choreogrpahy and skill that that's plenty cool enough for me. Flashpoint is praised for its incredible fight action, but it will have to wait about an hour into the film for it to begin, When it does, it is intense and never lets up. The final 30 minutes of the film is the huge climax. Tensions and emoitons are at the highest (I want to say almost comparable to SPL at this point, and ironically the stories are somewhat similar as far as Yen's character is concerned). The tension can be felt in the fights, as the past hour of the film all comes together in what is to be a spectacular finish. There is a decent shootout that occurs throughout fields of grass before we see the big one on one between Donnie Yen and our main villain - Collin Chou (Matrix Sequals, Forbidden Kingdom). The fight lasts 8 minutes and is almost unlike anything I have seen. Even Yen and Chou stated that this fight was the most difficult and accomplished of their careers thus far. It is fast, furious, and complete with a few slow motion kicks and punches that all felt perfectly placed - you can almost feel the raw power behind a Donnie Yen knockout.

As good as the climax of Flashpoint may be, its the first hour that keeps it from being a perfect film. Though the story is interesting and worth watching to feel the true impact of the exciting conclusion, its still a slow ride that has almost no action to keep things moving. The characters, plot, script etc also don't have quite the effect of that in SPL, and the villain Collin Chou was basically an average villain without any unique qualities (until the last 30 minutes of the film!)

Despite the slow hour of the film, I can't stress enough how much it is still worth it when that last 30 minutes comes around. I'm not sure we'll see a fight quite like that again anytime soon. It is definelty worth buying this dvd and you will want to watch it several times as I already have. 4.5 Overall for exceptional martial arts action.

Acting - 3.5
Action - 5
Characters - 3.5
Dubbing - 3.5
Story - 3.5
Overall: 4.5

First of all, this release from Dragon Dynasty is perfect. I will go over the special features at the end of the review, but I wanted to first mention that the final fight is uninterrupted. In the mainland Chinese version, there was a part where Collin Chou's mother comes in and tells him and Donnie to stop fighting. It totally ruined the flow of the fight. So I am very happy to see that Dragon Dynasty got the right version.

Now to the movie review. If you liked the action at all in SPL (Killzone in US), then you are in for a real treat. The final fight in Flash Point is easily one of the best fight scenes ever filmed. Probably top 10. It is much better than Donnie Yen vs. Sammo Hung. At one point I thought I was watching a UFC match, except they aren't fighting in a cage and there are no rules. Donnie Yen is on his back kicking upwards and trying to block Collin Chou's punches, and he manages to grab hold of Chou's shirt and gets his legs around his neck. Almost choked out, Chou decides to bring Yen up and then slam him onto the ground. He slams Yen a few times, and it just keeps going back and forth like this nonstop. And the fight goes on for about 8 minutes! Fast and furious doesn't even begin to describe it. I have never seen anything like it before.

Donnie Yen was in an experimental stage during the late 90's and had some good and bad movies. Ballistic Kiss was horrible, but Legend of the Wolf was a wonderful piece of art. In SPL, Donnie mixed in some grappling and a few other techniques, but the final fight felt too choreographed and dancelike. Flashpoint focuses more on realism, but it is still very much focused on style. Donnie and his crew have perfected their style and are in my mind the top action crew in Hong Kong after making this.

The movie itself is nothing too special. It's your average cop drama and criminals are killing witnesses so they won't be charged with the crimes they committed. The relationship between Donnie Yen and his partner Louis Koo is very well done. Collin Chou gives a magnificent performance as the villain and newcomer Xing Yu is even better. Ray Lui rounds out the trio of villains and does a great job. These guys are truly scary.

4.5/5




Now to the special features. I will first go over the 2 Dragon Dynasty exclusives, and then the other special features.


- feature commentary from Donnie Yen and Bey Logan. How awesome is that? Do I really need to say anymore?

- 32 minute interview with Donnie Yen. That's right, 32 minutes. Great interview. He goes over so much about the movie it's incredible.

- Collateral Damage: The Making of Flash Point- a look behind the scenes and interviews with the actors and director Wilson Yip. 18 minutes, and very informative.

- Flash Point Explored- this is basically the same thing as the making of but longer and more indepth. 28 minutes.

There's a lot of other small features like the actors at a premiere, deleted scenes, training... but nothing great.

FLASHPOINT is the third collaboration between Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen. This is the prequel to the highly successful "SPL: Sha Po Lang" (a.k.a. Killzone, U.S. title). Directed by Wilson Yip with fight choreography directed by Donnie Yen, "FLASHPOINT" looks very promising. How does it compare with one of my favorite action films of 2005, "SPL"?

Synopsis partially derived from the DELTAMAC dvd back cover:
Pre-1997, a hero's story. The timeline is just before Hong Kong was turned back over to China. Police Inspector Jun Ma (Donnie Yen), Serious Crimes Unit. Inspector Ma is fast, precise and brutal - Ma is all-business, his superiors often doesn't agree with his methods. Ma detests crime and his life long nemeses are a Vietnamese gang of three brothers - eldest brother Archer, the bully; second brother Tony (Collin Chou), the cool calculator; youngest brother Tiger (Xing Xu), the fighter. Their skills have seen them grow steadily in the criminal world. In order to further infiltrate the gang and fight them from within, Ma has planted a mole, Wilson ( Louis Koo), who has managed to gain the complete trust of the gang and has become their personal bodyguard. Over the years Wilson has become more and more unhappy with Ma's impulsive and unruly style, their disagreements in their way of working has led to constant arguments and altercations.

Unlike Yip and Yen's other 2 collaborations, SPL and Dragon Tiger Gate, "Flash Point" is all business. It is a straight-forward action film, losing all excess "meat" like intricate storytelling and character development. Donnie Yen once again reprises his role as Inspector Ma, the film is made for Donnie Yen fans--it is all Donnie!! If you're an action fan, then this film will satisfy. The result is "more style than substance". At least, it is not pretentious to resort to canned melodrama, it doesn't attempt to impress with complex emotions and doesn't do anything fancy. It isn't a perfect film, it has a very simple motive: to entertain us with "popcorn" action entertainment.

One fault that the film may have is that the villains; Tony and Tiger are skilled martial artists in real life but they are pretty much one-dimensional villains with the usual stereotype. Although Tony (Collin Chou, Matrix Reloaded) is shown as a skilled fighter, his character is a bit uninteresting. Another is that the police force is so inept in protecting witnesses. It seemed so unreal that Wilson's girlfriend (Beautiful Fan Bing-Bing) would be so unprotected. Also, what is up with movies portraying cops as lacking in common sense? Sometimes, it really bothers me that movies nowadays, cops are being portrayed to be so untrained in dealing with dangerous situations just so the screenplay can get to where it wants to go. The plotline in Flashpoint is unimaginative and pretty routine. The plot is so stripped down that "simple" is an understatement.

Thankfully, to the film's credit, the film does deliver in the action sequences. Yen is his usual "COOL-over-acting" self. Yen is an actor who likes to show off and his acting abilities may oftentimes be lacking, Donnie Yen is still being Donnie Yen with his bit of over-acting. He eats up the screen with the film's final fight finale, Yen is intense and enraged, righteously focused and skillful in the encounter and most of all: Fonzie-cool. The Martial Arts fight is very well done, and stays within the realm of Inspector Ma's character in SPL. Yen uses the usual mixed martial arts style of Boxing, furious kicks and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The fights are fast-paced and visually stunning, it certainly entertains with maximum impact. As with SPL, the fights are filled with intensity that you could almost feel every bone-breaking hit (and misses). Collin Chou is to be credited that his caliber as a martial artist makes him a worthy opponent. Like him or not, Donnie Yen does have the presence of an intense, highly skilled fighter, he is quite convincing as a butt-kicking action hero. He is ultra-cool in the final fight finale, which in my observation, sometimes Donnie Yen tends to make to much effort in looking cool.

Action fans will definitely embrace "FLASHPOINT". It is far from perfect, but with its "pure" screen action sequences, it does entertain and is never boring. Sometimes, viewers just want action and the fight sequences on display is hard-hitting and tough enough to satisfy those fans. The plot is hollow and a bit sloppy; "FLASHPOINT" will definitely NOT unseat "SPL: Sha Po Lang" as the BEST Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen collaboration. With its truly unforgettable Yen-Wu Jing alleyway duel/Sammo Hung-Yen final fight, SPL outshines everything `Flashpoint" has to offer. As an action film, Flash Point is a satisfying enough diversion. This prequel could have been so much better, but thankfully, it is not much, much worse.
RECOMMENDED! For action fanatics...[4 stars]

Note: The Dragon Dynasty release will feature an English dubbed track. Hopefully it will also carry the fantastic 6.1 DTS-ES Cantonese Language track.

Flash Point does two things well. It sets up the villains as not only bad guys, but sadistic, nasty, brutish bad guys for whom you have absolutely no sympathy and every desire to see hurt or maimed. The other is deliver some incredible fight scenes, particularly the finale between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou. In fact Flash Point recently won a Hong Kong film industry award for best action choreography.

The story is typical of the genre, about a Hong Kong cop who goes to extremes in apprehending the bad guys. He is given cause and official leave to go after a group of Vietnamese drug smugglers after they blow-up a friend's dinner party, then kill all the witnesses scheduled to testify in proceedings against one of their members. The characters are rather bland and the middle section of the film, including a romance, is entirely forgettable.

I don't claim to be an expert in the genre, just a casual fan who started watching martial arts movies back in the days when they were packaged as something like "Kung Fu Theater," inexpensive foreign films on low-budget terrestrial stations broadcasting over UHF. I've been around and seen a few. And Flash Point is one of the best of recent memory, including Yen's other recent project, Kill Zone.

Hiyaa!

#

I just picked up my Limited Edition release of Flashpoint. This is the prequel to the highly successful "SPL: Sha Po Lang" (aka. Killzone). Directed by Wilson Yip with fight choreography directed by Donnie Yen, "FLASHPOINT" looks very promising. Does it compare with one of my favorite action films of 2005, "SPL"?

Synopsis partially derived from the dvd back cover:
Pre-1997, a hero's story. The timeline is just before Hong Kong was turned back over to China. Police Inspector Jun Ma (Donnie Yen), Serious Crimes Unit. Inspector Ma is fast, precise and brutal - Ma is all-business, his superiors often doesn't agree with his methods. Ma detests crime and his life long nemeses are a Vietnamese gang of three brothers - eldest brother Archer, the bully; second brother Tony (Collin Chou), the cool calculator; youngest brother Tiger (Xing Xu), the fighter. Their skills have seen them grow steadily in the criminal world. In order to further infiltrate the gang and fight them from within, Ma has planted a mole, Wilson ( Louis Koo), who has managed to gain the complete trust of the gang and has become their personal bodyguard. Over the years Wilson has become more and more unhappy with Ma's impulsive and unruly style, their disagreements in their way of working has led to constant arguments and altercations.

Unlike Yip and Yen's other 2 collaborations, SPL and DRAGON TIGER GATE, "FLASH POINT" is all business. It is a straight-forward action film, losing all excess "meat" like intricate storytelling and character history. Donnie Yen once again reprises his role as Inspector Ma, the film is made for Donnie Yen fans--it is all Donnie!! If you're an action fan, then this film will satisfy. The result is "more style than substance". At least, it is not pretentious, it doesn't attempt to impress with complex emotions and doesn't do anything fancy. It isn't a perfect film, it has a very simple motive: to entertain.

One fault that the film may have is that the villains; Tony and Tiger are skilled martial artists, but aren't "built up" so we get the impression that they are not a phenomenal fighter like Ma's character/caliber. The film loses some of its intensity when the bad buy isn't developed as being "bad". It was a bit obvious that Yen could whoop the daylights out of both of them from the start. Another is that the police force is so inept in protecting witnesses. It seemed so unreal that Wilson's girlfriend (Beautiful Fan Bing-Bing) would be so unprotected. The storyline in Flashpoint is unimaginative and pretty routine. The plot is so stripped down that "simple" is an understatement.

To the film's credit, the film DOES deliver in the action sequences. Yen is his usual "COOL" self. Yen is a bit of a showy actor, although his charisma may sometimes be lacking, Donnie Yen is still being Donnie Yen with his bit of over-acting. He eats up the screen with the film's final fight finale, Yen is intense, enraged, righteous and most of all: COOL. The Martial Arts fight are very well done, and stays within the realm of Inspector Ma's character in SPL. Yen uses the usual mixed martial arts style of Boxing, furious kicks and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The fights are fast-paced and visually stunning, it certainly entertains with maximum impact. Like him or not, Donnie Yen does have the presence of an intense, highly skilled fighter, he is convincing as a butt-kicking action hero. He is ultra-cool while he is kicking the crap out of Tony (Collin Chou), the end result was never in doubt.

I have the limited Edition (ALL-Region) 2-disc release from DELTAMAC. It is very nice with the very cool cloth like cover.
VIDEO/AUDIO: 2.40 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN. The transfer is exceptional. Colors are radiant, very sharp and clean. As with "SPL", Deltamac has outdone themselves with the dvd quality. 5.1 Dolby Digital EX/5.1 DTS-ES in Cantonese track is very crisp and loud. Subtitles are well-timed and decent. It has minor typos and incorrect grammar.

Final remarks:
ACTION fans will definitely embrace "FLASHPOINT". It is far from perfect, but with its "pure" screen action "junk", it does entertain and is never boring. Sometimes, viewers just want ACTION and the fight sequences on display is hard-hitting and tough enough to satisfy those fans. The plot is hollow and a bit sloppy. `FLASHPOINT" will not dethrone `SPL: Sha Po Lang" as the BEST Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen collaboration. SPL has the KILLER Yen-Wu Jing alleyway duel/Sammo Hung-Yen final fight which are so full of intensity and realistic emotion. SPL outshines everything `Flashpoint" has to offer. As an action film, it is a satisfying enough diversion. Yen's latest could have been better, but thankfully, it is not much, much worse. (It is better than INVISIBLE TARGET)
RECOMMENDED! For action fanatics and martial arts junkies...(4 stars)

Set in 1997, just before the return of Hong Kong to China, "Flash Point" follows the story of a crime-fighting police detective Ma Jun (Donnie Yen) and his fellow detective Wilson (Louis Koo), both trying to bring down a crime syndicate led by three brothers Archer (Ray Lui), Tony (Collin Chou, "Seraph" of the two "Matrix" sequels) and Tiger `Xing Yu). Not a very original idea, you may think.

The threadbare story is barely serviceable for an 88-minute action movie, but what really matters here is action, which is a mixed bag. While "Flash Point" offers one gripping action sequence in the climax, there are not many action sequences worth mentioning in the first half of the film. You get just a few brief fight scenes, and nothing more.

The film wraps up with a long and exciting martial arts fight sequence. There we are finally allowed to see what a real professional like Donnie Yen can do, bone-crunching, visceral combat. The amazing fight sequence alone is worth your money. It is a pity that you have to wait for that very long, and when you get it, the film is almost over.

"Flash Point" is unique in employing a combination of various fighting style including kung-fu, boxing, wrestling and Muay Thai. With Donnie Yen's great skills as martial artist that is seen in the film's climactic fight sequence, "Flash Point" should have been a much better action movie.

This is the third collaboration of the star Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip (after "Kill Zone" and "Dragon Tiger Gate"). They went on to make "Yip Man," which is a must for action film fans.

As to supporting players, Kent Cheng is nice as a supervising officer and Fan Bingbing is charming as Wilson's girlfriend, but they are not given much to do in the film's underdeveloped screenplay.

See "Flash Point" for one great martial arts combat sequence.

Simply put this movie has some great action, and a good story.
If you like modern day martial art action films this will not disappoint.
The reason I did not give it four stars is that it is cut.
Its only about 10 min. but if you watched the full version you'll notice.
sadly dragon Dynasty does this from time to time, yet some of their movies come with both the
english cut version and the uncut version with only the original language.
Why these movies are cut I do not know.

FLASHPOINT

Depending on who you ask this is either a prequel to the excellent SPL [KILLZONE] or it is very much not. Depending on when you ask Yen himself I guess you will get a different answer, I know it sounds complicated. From what I have read star Donnie Yen before and maybe even during production was claiming this to be the second SPL film. But afterwards Yen denied the claims of this being related to SPL as it turns out it seems due to copyright issues they could not officially do that. I guess it makes sense since Yen portrays Ma Jun in this film and Ma Kwun in SPL.

Still whether it is or isn't it is still the third collaboration between Donnie Yen and Director Wilson Yip [also worked together on SPL & DRAGON TIGER GATE] also a co writer from SPL also co wrote this. So maybe it is an unofficial one or something, to be honest I don't really know. All I know is I keep hearing differing things on this. Regardless this is still an excellent flick especially if you are after an action film. This movie is very much entertaining and full of fights galore, including a very long and entertaining battle.

Ma Jun [yen] is a police inspector who is basically at war with three brothers who are running the crime world. He needs a way to get to them so he bring them down so he plants his friend and co worker Wilson [Louis Koo] in with them. The plan works as Wilson gets in with them and even earns their trust becoming very close to them. But when a meeting with a rival gang is raided by Jun and his men things get set off on all sides. From gang on gang violence to the discovery of moles everything happens when these brothers get involved.

This film is pure action and excitement from the start with very little if any character development. But it is one of those rare films were that stuff is actually not really needed because it is really not missed. To be honest every time we watch this we love it for the excellent Mixed Martial Arts inspired action and things going bang. All performances are great from Yen, Koo and basically every one in the film does what is need to make the film fun. That is not to say that they couldn't have been more, certainly the villains [who are good with what the script gave them] could have been more interesting and given more to do. But hey the action once again saves us from really noticing, at least until after the film is over.

The special features of this film are excellent from behind the scenes, making of, and of course the great commentary with Donnie Yen and Bey Logan. The commentary is really interesting as Yen describes his influences from MMA, and you know I love that Jiu Jitsu [I myself being a practitioner of course]. This 2-disc special edition from Dragon Dynasty is excellent and you of course will enjoy it I am sure. So yes I very much recommend this film because it is very fun, now if only we could answer that question we asked earlier.

It contains one of the best martial-art fighting scenes of all times. It's also one of the best movies of Donnie Yen. It reminds me of Jackie Chan's movies. They also contain very good kung fu scenes but they are not as serious as this movie.

The plot contains some big logical holes but who cares? I watch this kind of movies for actions and fun not for logic.

I own it. Other excellent films of Donnie Yen are Kill Zone and Iron Monkey. Iron Monkey is a period/fantasy movie but the actions are top notch.

This is a great movie. I like how donnie put in some of that MMA into the movie. Fight at the end is bonkers.