Flash Point (Dou Fo Sin) - Delicious Punchfest of Epic Proportions...

Flash Point (Dou Fo Sin)

aka - A Delicious Punchfest of Epic Proportions

For our next selection, we travel forward through time 35 years to a delicious punch fest of epic proportions - Donnie Yen's Flash Point (2007), also known as Dou Fo Sin or Dao huo xian. It is directed by the incredible Wilson Yip (Flash Point, IP Man, IP Man 2, Dragon Gate, Kill Zone, and more.) This film is his third and certainly not last pairing with Donnie, proceeded by the equally epic Kill Zone and followed more recently by the biographical films Ip Man and Ip Man 2. Needless to say... we are officially playing with the big boys.

Now, we wouldn't normally start out a blog with a movie trailer. However, in the case of Flash Point (Dou Fo Sin), you REALLY need to know what kind of epic punching muscle-fest you're getting into. There are almost NO women in this movie, and those that are have minor roles. It is a straight forward story about Cops, Crooks, Corruption, and Carnage. Its got all four C's, therefore it is an automatic win with the Mavens! It is a sheer guns, explosions, punching, testosterone, rippling muscles and sweat fest... just the way we like it! (Be SURE to note the "money shot" at 0:53 seconds!!! You don't see THAT in American Cinema!)

 

WARNING!!!
We, the authors, would like to apologize in advance for the brazen and unabashed worship that will inevitably take place here. In short, there is a mad love for Donnie Yen up in here, as evidenced by the puddles of drool forming on our keyboards as we gather our notes. Not that Mr. Yen is not a fantastically skilled actor, or that his Kung Fu is not absolutely inspiring to watch... he just looks really great in a speedo... and that's a little distracting. 

I'm just sayin'.

Donnie Yen (44)                Collin Chou (40)                     Yu Xing (29)

The film stars these three lovely fellows (shown above)... and some other people that do various things at points within the 88 minutes of this film. I've put their respective ages in here for reference as you watch the movie, so that you can truly appreciate the ultra manly toughness.

OK. STORY. NOW...

Inspector Jun Ma (Donnie Yen), is a troubled cop with a rich history of violence against "perps", and who is out to nail a Vietnamese gang led by drug-dealing brothers Tony (Collin Chou), Archer (Ray Lui) and Tiger (Yu Xing). Within mere minutes of the movie beginning, there is a very impressive display of Kung Fu/MMA style brutality. Ma (Yen) bursts into a club to bust our villains and ends up tussling with his own undercover partner Wilson (God help me, Tom Hanks has ruined that name for me for life...). First hit to TKO totals 19 seconds.

"Wilson"

Now, despite his best attempt to be a punk at times, Wilson sucks at the 'being covert' thing, which eventually blows his cover and mayhem ensues. But that doesn't happen until you're about 300 punches, 60 broken bones and a busted nose later.

Wilson's mission was not an entire failure though, as he manages to unsuspectingly ride shotgun with Tony and Tiger (they're grrrrrrrrreat!) while brother Archer is cornered in a high speed chase with his ill mother in the car, who ends up puking in her birthday gift. Arrest and trial are imminent. Ooooh...burn.

A couple of brutal murders and one exploding chicken later, Wilson's lovely, pregnant, former prostitute fiance (say that ten times fast!) Julie is hospitalized with what appears to be a broken leg that "needs observing" (Yeah... we didn't understand that either). Wilson leaves her side for just 10 minutes to find something for her to eat, during which time Tony and Tiger (seriously, I laugh at that EVERY time) take the opportunity to dress as hospital staff and abscond with Wilson's love and unborn child.

Ma get assaulted in the hospital elevator by Tiger, followed by an insane 10 minute foot chase and subsequent beat down unlike anything you have E-V-E-R witnessed. Tiger grabs a small girl to use as a human shield. Ma drops his gun. Tiger then heaves the child through the air into traffic. Ma's “CRAZY” light switches on... brutality commences. In all honesty, this is one of my all time favorite parts of the movie as Tiger (Yu) takes a mega punch in the face, for reals, with the bending of the nose and the spooting of the blood. It is so fantastically brutal that you are forced to rewind it just to make sure that you really saw what you think you saw!

YUP... Broken nose fo shizzle!!!

So let me get this straight. You deal drugs in his neighborhood. You blow up his partner's apartment with a bird, killing or injuring his closest friends. You then kidnap his partner's fiance... and you THINK that a cop with a history of violence against perps is going to wait for backup???

Awwww HELL no.

Please!!! If that man (Yen, shown to the right) put his hands in his pockets he would need to file for a “Conceal and Carry" permit.
 

It... Is... On!

Ma: 80 bajillion, Tiger: 0

Now Wilson, being so brilliant as he has previously demonstrated, chooses NOT to testify against the Vietnamese gang and instead goes in search of Julie. He calls Ma to bring him up to speed. Now, Ma is already pissed off and, if this were an RPG, he'd have lost his rage roll and gone into straight up “FRENZY”.

Ma runs out of the hospital, meets up with the now released brother Archer just in time to give him a chiropractic re-adjustment on a bike rack. (OUCH!) Ma then proceeds to arrange a hostage swap with Tony and his thugs who are hanging out in an abandoned Vietnamese refugee camp on the outskirts of Hong Kong... where Wilson “The Rocket Scientist” and Julie are being held.

The exchange begins with a tense, slow, passing boat ride across a river. Then, what follows can only be described as the most intense and extreme form interior redecorating you have ever seen. The guns and explosions and kicking and Donnie Yen (at 44 years old) diving through a wall with a high powered rifle in his hands, and rice paddy, and a car wreck, and punching, and... and...

And juuuuuuust when you think that the intensity couldn't get any higher, we have the face-off between Ma and Tony. This involves punching, kicking, grappling, falling headfirst down two stories... 

and then Tony's alzheimers-plagued mother wandering by, asking the two bloody men laying on the ground if either of them have seen her sons... whom she has lost.

Oh the irony! The anguish! The sheer goofiness... AAAnd, back to the fighting!

Brutality and Martial Arts finery continues until Tony is reduced to a pile a goo. Even though there is NO WAY he could escape at this point, Ma cuffs him to a railing to wait for someone to haul him away.

END... OF...STORY!!!

Honestly, this is a film that, once you've got the story down, can be enjoyed time and time again for the sheer face-pounding, skull-cracking, arm-snapping glory. We have determined though, through multiple viewings in a few different formats, that there are at least two different translations, the first of which we found to be very complete... and a second that was entirely hilarious. At some point the translators were either really drunk, or simply forgot how to write/interpret Cantonese, as there are significant grammatical errors, misspelled words and quirky “Yo Momma” references.

Rent it. Watch it. Love it. Watch it. Rinse and repeat.

This film is no longer available on Netflix for streaming (BOOoooo!!!), but can be rented through iTunes for $3.99, or rented for $3.25 for three nights from our favorite brick & mortar store "Video Universe" in Robbinsdale.

? eat soup please ? more blog next week ? you know you like my cookies!!!!

(You totally know what that means, right?)

'Til next week.

-MJ & Kelly