“I am Ieeeenvincible!” — Donnie Yen in Flash Point

I have not yet had the pleasure of watching Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, but I look forward to that undoubtedly auspicious day. Sure, the last time he played Chen Zhen, I wasn’t that impressed, but that was probably due to a Tai Seng hack job, not due to Mr. Yen’s lack of trying. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to bore you with my thoughts about another Donnie Yen-fest, the 2007 flick, Flash Point. This doesn’t quite count as a retro review, as I never initially reviewed it for the main site. What follows is slight revision of some thoughts I had on the film that I posted on an earlier, non-LoveHKFilm.com endorsed version of this blog. Sorry for the lack of newer updates this week; I’ve been busy.

Anyway, despite its commitment to hardcore action in the place of the more high-flying wire-fu of Dragon Tiger Gate, this pre-Ip Man collaboration between Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen may actually be a worse movie than their earlier comic book-inspired project. Those of you hoping for at least one battle that comes close to challenging the Wu Jing/Donnie Yen alley fight in SPL (something I think people are still waiting for) will be sorely disappointed with the fights in Flash Point. Sure, Yen fights Collin Chou in an extended one-on-one duel at the end of the flick, but let’s face it, it’s not anything worth raving about.

I mean, sure, if you would like to see Donnie Yen totally lose his shit and whale on an opponent for what seems like an eternity with not even a glimmer of a chance that he might lose — well, Flash Point’s finale will be right up your alley. I, on the other hand, would like to suspend my disbelief just a little bit. Sure, I know that Chuck Norris ain’t gonna be whipping Bruce Lee’s ass at the end of Way of the Dragon, but at least the future Walker, Texas Ranger comes across as a formidable opponent.

And that’s the bulk of my complaint here — it’s not the fact that it’s a foregone conclusion that Yen will rule all that bothers me, it’s the fact that the very talented Collin Chou seems like little more than a human punching bag for Donnie Yen to release his berzerker rage. As a result, the extensive beatdown gets awfully monotonous awfully quick. Don’t get me wrong, all that high-kicking kung foolery is undeniably impressive from a pure physical standpoint…it’s just completely forgettable.

Short on plot, but long (waaay long) on ass-beatings, Flash Point is passably entertaining, but little more than that. Still, if you’re a Donnie fan, the two-disc DVD ain’t too shabby — the extras even have English subtitles (except for stuff involving the Gala Premiere).

For a much, much better analysis of the movie, check out Kozo’s review at LoveHKFilm.com.

Was that a LoveHKFilm.com blurb I just saw?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Hong Kong cinema. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.