Member DiP Posted November 16, 2021 Member Share Posted November 16, 2021 (edited) The movie will be getting a bluray release distributed by Vicol Entertainment in Hong Kong this Friday. That's one week before the US bluray (Well Go USA) hits the shelves. According to blu-ray.com, it's 127 min so it should be uncut. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Raging-Fire-Blu-ray/305377/ Edited November 16, 2021 by DiP 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SamSeed Posted November 18, 2021 Member Share Posted November 18, 2021 I wasn't impressed with this one. Every cliche in the book stretched out into a film that really should only have been ninety minutes. Basically a miss mash of New Police Story and SPL without the dramatic heft of either. I will say that the action was great, but it takes so long for the fists to start flying I was almost beyond caring. The final fight is the only thing worth returning to, which some beautiful locks and takedown by Donnie. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member thundered mantis Posted December 3, 2021 Member Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) I finally watched it. Dissapointed at the moment, ´cause my expectations were too high. On the story, I concur with @SamSeed. They could have told the same within 90 mins. The over the top Nic Tse performance (per script indication, not his fault) I find quite silly. On the action, well. Exposure for the baddies, for Donnie, and a couple of chases. Chases/car action, worse filmed than FP. Less physicity, obvious speeding at some points, some noticeable frame removal. Frame removal and a couple kicks execution from Donnie maybe showed the first ageing signs of him impacting performance levels? Didn´t catch them on Ip Man 4... Ben Lam´s fight is nice. Final bout lengthy, varied and brutal enough. Kudos for that. Impact much undermined for me for camera cuts and position to hide extensive doubling for Nic Tse. Colin Chou he ain´t, and that sinks and opportunity for us to watch something on the greatness side. The grappling game here I think got refined, more varied and movielike spectacular than in FP and other previous Donnie bits. That I would say has improved. The final phrase for Nic Tse felt embarrasing for me. A pity, and it doesn´t look to me that time nor Donnie´s schedule are on our side to give us awesomeness in modern thriller again... Edited December 3, 2021 by thundered mantis 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted December 6, 2021 Member Share Posted December 6, 2021 (edited) Received the HK bluray last Thursday and finally sat down to watch it yesterday. First off, I've read alot about the movie being conventional and clichéd. That's true, and Benny Chan didn't stray away from using some classic movies, the most obvious being The Dark Knight and Heat, as inspiration for parts of the whole story arch. Several familiar themes such as remorse, honor/courage, vengeance, sacrifice, morality etc show up here as well. It's an all too familiar trait feast when it comes to other similar movies released in recent years. Is this really an issue though? Let's be real here... The action genre (all movie genres) in general have been dried out since the late 1990s. The last two decades has been nothing but conventions and clichés in movies. Yet these movies succeeded and carried on till this day for one simple yet significant reason: Execution. How all aspects of movie-making is done. Originality (as in showing entirely new stuff on the spot) alone today is so rare, and if there will be film-makers to achieve that, kudos. Until then, it's all about distinguishing in a good way. This movie is a good example of this. It could very well have been another overmelodramatic and bombastic action movie one would expect from Benny Chan seen in some of his earlier efforts, such as New Police Story and Invisible Target. But the end result doesn't reflect none of that, it's something else. It's like Chan discussed with Donnie and came up with a new approach of direction, addressed all criticism he's been getting from viewers (me being one, no lies ) throughout his career, and went all-in. Hats off to Chan (RIP) for creating his absolute best movie ever. Secondly, I've read that the movie is too long to set off the action set-pieces having too much filler in between. I totally disagree with that notion. I know most people were expecting an all-out wall-to-wall action movie, and perhaps set expectations just too high on this one. But for me, a story like this requires time to develop all the drama, tension between the cops and the criminals, the action, and the conclusion of everything. Thanks to Chan's direction, the story is engrossing, emotional, intense, reckless, and doesn't hold back from showing the gruesome nature of human beings. Every major character has logic, and every action has consequences, and makes for pure enjoyment of every minute of the story thanks to the overall acting as well. Donnie playing a cop but a totally different one this time, I would say more compassionate and reasonable in comparison to his usual cop roles (impulsive, tough-as-nails, invincible). In contrast, there's Nicholas Tse pulling off a very grim, and vindictive villain with his own reasons for going rogue against the police force. Like I've said before, it's a performance he's not done before and probably won't surpass anytime sooner. Watching the action scenes for the first time (in cam form) left a huge impression on me, which I've stated on this thread already. Donnie's continuous strive to add new fighting styles, different approaches of action choreographing and coordinating, fitting particular action styles in particular stories... It's the art of Hong Kong action film-making, and still being done. And his dedication and overall efforts shows here, once again. The quantity of fight scenes doesn't bother me because the movie already has alot of action scenes, and in many forms. I usually don't comment much about gunfights and car chases but since the movie has those, I might as well. It's well staged, shot, executed, and you can see and imagine what's going on. I think Donnie is underrated when it comes to gunfights but he's no stranger to them, having staged gunfights previously in Moonlight Express and Ballistic Kiss. The mall shout-out was pure beauty, and the best gunfight scene in Donnie's action director filmography to date. A great mix of slickness and intense gun action. One small nitpick though, like someone else said, it's the pacing of the fight scenes. I don't think it has something to do with Donnie's age though (his recent training videos shows him in fine form) but to do with him taking the decision to avoid undercranking of his usual current level of usage, recently seen in Enter the Fat Dragon. My final thought... This is Donnie's best cop movie since SPL: Kill Zone, and his best overall contemporary movie since Chasing the Dragon. Donnie was interviewed by Tatler Asia (https://www.tatlerasia.com/culture/entertainment/donnie-yen-john-wick-keanu-reeves) last week and went in length declaring the state of Hong Kong action cinema. Here's some quotes from his interview: "The Hong Kong style of action filmmaking has impacted the world for the last four decades... From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and myself. But now the Hong Kong film industry says 'Oh, this is old school. We can't do this anymore because young people don't watch these films'. I disagree with that totally. Hong Kong filmmakers have taken the action genre for granted -- They don't see the gem, the beauty behind our style. They are following American blockbusters instead of looking at what we've done best for the longest time." "That just leaves me. I think I'm the only person that dedicates 100% to the art of Hong Kong action filmmaking." "I want to use my influence to discover some new talents -- Hopefully, they can carry the torch and pass this unique form of filmmaking." "I still have the raging fire inside me to be a filmmaker, to be an innovative filmmaker. I want people to think 'Donnie Yen's movies are still up to par and influential to filmmakers around the world'. I want to continue to do this for as long as I can." Donnie at 58 years of age, and still willing to push the limits of action movies... Salute! 👏🔥 Edited August 2, 2022 by DiP 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 28, 2021 Member Share Posted December 28, 2021 I finally watched this yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was a welcome throwback to the 80's and 90's heyday of Hong Kong action cinema. Donnie Yen still is in top form and it was great to see Nicholas Tse in a rare villain role (Shaolin was quite a surprise for me when he was the villain in it.) and the flashbacks really help structure the story in. The chase/fight with Ben Lam and his gang was nicely done and looked brutal. Nic's training scene and his falling back with that bug-eyed look that set up the flashback was a bit OTT but he still hasn't lost a step. I'm guessing he's still training with buddy Philip Ng when they're not busy, because he looks in top form here. The car chase scene was sick and kudos goes to Nicky Li for his work on that. Definitely one of the best "swan songs" when it comes to a director's final film...RIP Benny Chan...you left us on a hell of a note! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 24, 2022 Member Share Posted January 24, 2022 Nicholas Tse stole every scene he's in. Finally we have villains that are vietnamese gangsters. I've been Waiting for this representation for the longest solid action flick. On 11/18/2021 at 7:14 PM, SamSeed said: I wasn't impressed with this one. Every cliche in the book stretched out into a film that really should only have been ninety minutes. Basically a miss mash of New Police Story and SPL without the dramatic heft of either. I will say that the action was great, but it takes so long for the fists to start flying I was almost beyond caring. The final fight is the only thing worth returning to, which some beautiful locks and takedown by Donnie. Understandable. I feel like most new action movies fall into that trope. I'm just glad to see Nicholas Tse back baby! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted January 24, 2022 Member Share Posted January 24, 2022 (edited) 57 minutes ago, OpiumKungFuCracker said: Finally we have villains that are vietnamese gangsters. I believe that Collin Chou and company were Vietnamese gangsters in Flash Point. I also recall that the villains in She Shoots Straight were Vietnamese, too. Edited January 24, 2022 by DrNgor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 24, 2022 Member Share Posted January 24, 2022 49 minutes ago, DrNgor said: I believe that Collin Chou and company were Vietnamese gangsters in Flash Point. I also recall that the villains in She Shoots Straight were Vietnamese, too. Oh really in flashpoint? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen that movie and I’ve never seen she shoot straight. Who’s in that one? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted January 24, 2022 Member Share Posted January 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, OpiumKungFuCracker said: I’ve never seen she shoot straight. Who’s in that one? It's from 1990. It stars Joyce Mina Godenzi, Tony Leung Kar-Fei, and Carina Lau. The villains are played by Yuen Wah and Filipino bodybuilder Agnes Aurelio. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 24, 2022 Member Share Posted January 24, 2022 4 hours ago, DrNgor said: It's from 1990. It stars Joyce Mina Godenzi, Tony Leung Kar-Fei, and Carina Lau. The villains are played by Yuen Wah and Filipino bodybuilder Agnes Aurelio. Holy crap, that’s a hell of a cast. I’m definitely adding to the watchlist now, thanks for the recommendation 👍 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted January 24, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 24, 2022 5 hours ago, DrNgor said: I believe that Collin Chou and company were Vietnamese gangsters in Flash Point. I also recall that the villains in She Shoots Straight were Vietnamese, too. Vietnamese bad guys were all the rage in HK cinema back in the day - Yuen Wah plays a Vietnamese bad guy both in 'Eastern Condors' and 'Royal Warriors', and you also have flicks like 'Roar of the Vietnamese' which has the likes of Kara Hui and Waise Lee playing Vietnamese refugees. There's plenty more, but those are the ones which immediately spring to mind. Back on topic, I found 'Raging Fire' that forgettable that it's already slipped my mind Nicholas Tse's character was Vietnamese. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted January 25, 2022 Member Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Yuen Wah plays a Vietnamese bad guy both in 'Eastern Condors' and 'Royal Warriors', Are you sure it's Royal Warriors? I know he played a Vietnamese warlord of sorts named Nuyen in Bury me High. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted January 25, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 hours ago, DrNgor said: Are you sure it's Royal Warriors? Good call, just checked and he's playing a Vietnam veteran, but not actually Vietnamese. It's been a while since the last watch! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted February 5, 2022 Member Share Posted February 5, 2022 Seems the consensus about this movie is split but I side with @DiP and enjoyed it. Was it Donnie's best? Of course not and it recycled the same themes that we've seen a gazillion times and done more effectively in other HK action films but it's rarely boring and most importantly, it was engaging and entertaining. Perhaps my outlook was swayed by the rather emotional ending credits where they dedicate the film to the late Benny Chan and show some BTS clips of Benny in action. I admit the theme song by Nicholas Tse played over those clips got me chocked up a bit. RIP Benny Chan. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted February 5, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 5, 2022 Got to watch Raging Fire on Tuesday (finally!) and enjoyed it very much. A fine film for all involved, and an especially great showing for the late Benny Chan (R.I.P.). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted June 5, 2023 Member Share Posted June 5, 2023 (edited) It's my first time rewatching it since more than a year, and I still feel the same as before. It's Donnie's best cop movie as well as his best contemporary movie to date. Let's see if he can surpass it with Flash Point: Resurgence and Misjudgement. Edited June 14, 2023 by DiP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 14 Member Share Posted January 14 I love the theme song to the film, "Confrontation", written by Nicholas Tse and the video features Donnie playing the piano. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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