One of Flashpoint’s many pleasures is to observe star/choreographer/co-auteur Donnie Yen transform himself from inexpressive sub Dirty Harry into the world’s most exuberant man alive every time the film free itself from the needs of exposition. The first time is a shock (at least if one is a Yen novice), by the time of its glorious finale, we anxious expect for such a moment. Flash Point is a film in total synch with its star rhythm: when trying to follow the Milkyway-type plot, it Just remember us that few things are more fragile than a failed at attempt at weight, when it gives itself to Yen’s delirium , it rivals Milkyway in its desire to bring local popular cinema to its heyday.
Flash Point like Yen and Wilson Yip’s previous Sha Po Lang propose itself as an act of revitalization. The constant motive here being a return to some old tired local crime film structures and attempt to fresh them up at least a little. Yen and Yip don’t quite have the emotional precision to hit some of Hong Kong’s action film higher marks but they do have the creativity to pull the delirious pleasure of something like Sammo Hung’s Dragons Forever.
The plot could not be more standard (Yen chasing a gang of very violent Vietnamese brothers) and Yip does little to mix things up, but it is functional enough for the film’s interest. There’s some good solutions: a bomb is inserted inside a fried chicken that is been served in a cop’s reunion, but the man responsible of detonate it loses the control’s battery and starts a long comic routine as the death chicken is passed hand in hand in a mix of tension and humor. Flash Point is a compact film, but Yip has a natural feel towards playing with time and push situations like the aforementioned one way beyond one expects.
Yen put his narcissism aside and let Yip play with his image which gives the film a Nice unpredictable feeling. Yen is also responsible for the action and here He and Yip are in perfect synch. The final sequence is a 15 minute masterpiece of choreographed mayhem tht would justify the film by itself. The tension is derived less from outcome – despite the feel that no one is safe –, but by the ways that Yen and Yip keep finding to open the scene even more. It has multiple actors, gunfire, martial arts, multiple dramatic twists and at least three distinct spaces. Every time a situation potential is draining, the filmmakers find a new way to push it to another direction, be by changing the rules, adding new players, or finding a new way to explore location. The sequence richness and varied mix of tone and situation not only test Yen’s ability as a choreographer, but seems to animate him as a performer as well. As this final sequence keep mixing and expanding one can see the Yen/Yip revitalization project complete itself with vigor.
A Chinese Feast 