Raging Fire

"On this job, if anyone drags down the others, I won’t give face even if it’s Jesus."

Raging Fire is the late Benny Chan's Magnum Opus. Sadly he passed away before the release of Raging Fire but it is for sure his best film. Raging Fire is Hong Kong's Heat. The final shoot-out is epic and they top it off with a great fight between Donnie Yen's Cheung Sung-bong and Nicholas Tse's Yau Kong-ngo. It is epic.

The story resolving around the action is good. It makes great use of flashbacks and it'll get you invested in the two main leads. Which is always a plus and a interesting story makes it even better because we all know why we watch Hong-Kong action cinema. For the brutal action and if it stars Donnie Yen you have to come and expect some great stuff.

And Raging Fire doesn't disappoint. It's 120 minute runtime never feels that long and it makes sure you can't keep your eyes of your tv screen.

Raging Fire is a must-watch for every one who loves action movies.

Benny Chan thank you for so many entertaining movies.

Chinese cop action blockbuster. Nothing much to add.

There is one very good stunt in the middle, an ok motorbike/car chase, and the final duel is somewhat good. However the main action is just a big firefight without much interest.

It's suppose to a cop story but honestly, the investigation part is absolutely inexistent. They find associates killed by the main suspects that conveniently forgot an USB key with all their plans, and no one asks questions ? Worse: they know who the suspects are, they know they're on a revenge trip, they know for what, and yet nobody ever looks into the other people involved, ever ! Protective details should have been the very first thing done.

Another annoying thing is that the bad guys take a huge war arsenal with them that they use in the final fight with the police. But why ? They definitely do not need it for the robbery, and the plan, that almost worked, was to distract the police somewhere else, to quietly get the money and disappear. There was absolutely no reason to go around with these huge weapons except for a final stand against police that should not have happened.

There's also a pseudo moral ambiguity to the bad guys story, who have been condemned for killing a suspect during an interrogation. (Cops facing the legal consequences of their actions ? Clearly a work of fiction) They were doing their job, had been ordered to use whatever means, that they would be covered, and they were betrayed by their hierarchy. Also that if they had been sent on different targets their place and the main character's could have been swapped. Most of their action is aimed at that, trying to make him understand their situation. They're not really guilty, victims of the circumstances, etc. This could actually have been an interesting angle, adding some real depth to the situation. Specially as Ngo is shown as a bright promising cop. However it's all bullshit. It is clearly shown very early that they did not kill him during a strong interrogation, but out of anger and personnel vendetta afterwards, when he had already spoken. This might not have been intended, but it was not an accident either. So this whole constant underlying moral ambiguity theme is actually void. They're not innocents like they pretend, and it makes the whole thing feels quite petty. And I don't think that was intended because they are never called on this bullshit.

it´s starting to be a bit depressing to see how "slow" Donnie is becoming after he made so many good action Thrillers :( really think that ended with King Fu Jungle.

From the title and the poster, I thought this movie would be about firefighters or about a volcano lol (no, I don't read what the movies are about before watching. I only see the poster and title).

Anyways, it has some great fighting scenes, especially the final fight. Would have been better as a shorter movie.

I watched The White Storm very recently too, by chance, not knowing they were from the same director, but I love when you get the sense they're from the same director by the way they repeat topics,[spoiler] like friends turning evil for feeling betrayed. [/spoiler]