Movie Review: Flash Point/導火綫

Flash Point/導火綫 is directed by Wilson Yip and stars Donnie Yen and Louis Koo.It’s supposedly a kind of prequel to 2005’s SPL, with Donnie Yen reprising his role as Inspector Ma.
** It tells the story of a ruthless cop trying to bring down a drug ring and save the life of his partner, an undercover in the ring.

The bad guys are played by Colin Chou, Ray Lui and Xing Yu. And they’re really bad.

They might be as bad as they are because they’re Vietnamese.

You know how those people are.

But don’t worry. As bad as the bad guys are, the good guys are just as good.

Or even better. Because they’re the good guys.

I realize that sounds overly simplistic and clumsy. But that’s just the way it is in Flash Point/導火綫.

Everything in this movie is presented in a style so overblown that it’s nearly comic.

I don’t mean funny, I mean comic book.

In the opening credits, we see Donnie Yen driving a 2007 BMW SUV.

Then we see a title card telling us that it’s 1997.

Because after 1997, the police in Hong Kong have been perfect.

In the first five minutes of the movie, a man has a fight with a toilet.
**
** And the toilet loses.

But hey, at least his expressions are subtle.

They’re as subtle as Donnie’s…

Fan Bing Bing does an okay job with her role as Louis Koo’s girlfriend.**
 I don’t know many women who would struggle with that job.

 She’s not given much to work with, and the scrīpt doesn’t make her much more than window dressing and a clichéd plot point.

And she’s dubbed, but she makes the best of it.

Louis Koo also does okay with his role. He sweats at least as much as he did in Protege, but he also does some of his own stunts here and I was impressed with them, and with him.

Kent Cheng plays Donnie and Louis’ boss.

But let’s face it; no one bosses Donnie Yen around.

He’s also a walking archetype, but he’s Kent Cheng.

This movie is totally lacking in subtlety.

A weird prologue that makes a mockery of the fourth wall? Check.

Foreign bad guys? Check.

A vomiting grandmother? Check.

Donnie’s contractually stipulated Face of Rage? Check.

Louis Koo looking altogether too tan for someone who works third shift? Check.

“Find your own Godd@mn sun! I need all of this one!”

But let’s face it; no one watches movies like this for the plot.

Unless you’re a friggin’ idiot.

We watch Donnie Yen movies for the fights.

We sure don’t watch ‘em for the acting.

The fights in Flash Point/導火綫 are good. But they’re not as good as Donnie Yen probably wants us to think.

He did the action for the film, and produced it, and as a result…

He really makes himself look good in the movie.

In fact, too good.

But even so, Flash Point/導火綫 is entertaining, because Donnie’s excessive visual onanism is pretty amusing.

I felt bad for Colin Chou during the big fight scene at the end, because no one with two brain cells to rub together is ever going to doubt who’s gonna win in a fight between Colin Chou and The Yencredible Hulk.

But someone has to be Donnie’s punching bag, and Colin Chou is more than good enough to keep up with him.

It’s a really good fight. But that begs the question: How long would you wait for a really good fight?

How about an hour and fifteen minutes?

That’s how far into the movie the final fight starts, but it really feels like the beginning of the movie.

Because everything leading up to it was really just setting up the fight.

And we already know how it’s going to end.

I didn’t really care for this movie, but then I’m not really a big Donnie Yen fan.

If you are, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Because Flash Point/導火綫 is all about The Donnie.