Flash point

Flash Point is an old-fashioned Hong Kong action movie that emphasises real kung fu fights and stunts.

The film is the third collaboration between director Wilson Yip Wai-shun and action star Donnie Yen Ji-dan. While their previous effort Dragon Tiger Gate, a comic book movie, used special effects to enhance the action, Flash Point goes back to basics. This gives Yen the chance to display his extraordinary martial arts skills.

Few local stars today can fight as spectacularly as Yen, who also handles the action choreography of the film. He plays a hot-headed police officer whose aggressive nature regularly gets him into trouble. His partner, a humorous undercover cop, is played by Louis Koo Tin-lok, whose antics get better with each film.

The two try to bring down a ruthless Vietnamese gang of three brothers, who murder every witness of their crimes and kidnap the pregnant wife (Fan Bingbing) of Koo's character in an attempt to blackmail the cops. A bloody battle ensues.

The story - with nothing deep and meaningful - makes little sense, and the film is boring when the characters talk rather than fight. But action-wise, Flash Point is a stunner that makes for compulsive viewing. You just can't take your eyes off Yen - perhaps the last action hero of Hong Kong cinema - when he fights.

He kicks and punches with gung-ho vitality, and his action style resembles that of Bruce Lee rather than Jackie Chan. His finely choreographed mayhem more than makes up for some awkward moments of self-indulgence.