The Donnie Yen-Wilson Yip tag team return with the blistering actioner
Flash Point. The actor-director combo previously made waves with
SPL and
Dragon Tiger Gate, reaching new levels of excitement with their depiction of onscreen martial arts mayhem.
Flash Point is a return to
SPL territory - at least character-wise. This prequel to
SPL finds Yen's Inspector Ma involved in a difficult case versus a trio of deadly Vietnamese bad guys. Inspector Ma's partner Wilson (Louis Koo) poses as a member of the gang to keep tabs on the trio, leading to the arrest of Archer (Ray Lui of
To Be Number One). However, Archer's cohorts Tony (Collin Chou of
The Matrix Reloaded) and Tiger (Xing Yu of
Kung Fu Hustle) are still at large, and will stop at nothing to prevent Wilson and other witnesses from testifying. When they kidnap Wilson's girlfriend (Fan Bing Bing) to blackmail him, only Inspector Ma is willing to come to his partner's aid - and whoever stands in his way had better watch out!
In Flash Point, Donnie Yen utilizes Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to portray Inspector Ma's powerful fighting prowess. Yen pulls out a full arsenal of fighting techniques, from kung-fu to Muay Thai to jujitsu, especially during the film's climactic mano-a-mano duel between Yen and Collin Chou, which should astound even the most jaded screen fighting fan. A duel between Yen and Xing Yu in street restaurant is also impressive, as are the flashes of stuntwork and gunplay from the action-ready cast. Louis Koo embodies his undercover cop character with appropriate pathos, and the cast is aided by the addition of award-winning actors, including Kent Cheng, Best Actor winner for The Log, and Helena Law Lan, Best Actress winner for Wilson Yip's Bullets Over Summer. The Donnie Yen-Wilson Yip combo has proven so successful that the two are planning to work together at least two more times
