Review of Flash Point (2007) by Jorge R — 05 Sep 2009

In his black leather jacket and oozing plenty of charisma, Donnie Yen's Inspector Ma Jun quite resembled his other character in Sha po lang, which was also directed by Wilson Yip, because at one point Flash Point was supposed to be an Sha po lang sequel.

But in any case, the character is slightly tweaked. Flash Point boasts some incredible action sequences with explosive hard hitting fight combinations. What more, as learnt from Sha po lang 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.

Without a doubt, Inspector 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 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. Flash Point 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.