(aka 'Dao huo xian' or 'City Without Mercy' or 'City with No Mercy' or 'Po jun' or The Signal')

Directed by Wilson Yip
Hong Kong 2007

 

In his black leather jacket and oozing plenty of charisma, Donnie Yens Inspector Ma Jun quite resembled his other character in SPL, which was also directed by Wilson Yip, because at one point Flash Point was supposed to be an SPL sequel. But in any case, the character is slightly tweaked. Early in the movie, Ma Jun tells it straight to the camera that as a cop, his job is to apprehend criminals, and its as simple as that. And the trailers would have you believe here's a man who's lightning quick with his punches, throws and kicks.

However, you've got to wait until the hour mark for all that. For action junkies, your patience is severely tested, but the wait is well worth every minute you're put on hold. Ive caught the trailer at this years Hong Kong Filmart, and it was one that had action and more action, with nary a line of dialogue. But in the movie, much time is devoted to attempts in building characterization, until the story realizes it better give what the audiences are here for, to see Donnie Yen kick ass.

Having teamed with Wilson Yip in earlier action productions like SPL and Dragon Tiger Gate, Donnie Yen returns as action choreographer for Flash Point, and the cast adopts the fighting style called MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, which is something of a blend of various martial arts techniques, that audiences probably haven't seen before stylistically in close combat scenes. Flash Point boasts some incredible action sequences with explosive hard hitting fight combinations, and the sole complaint I have is I cant get enough of it! What more, as learnt from SPL having real martial arts exponents like Sammo Hung and Wu Jing fighting opposite himself, it made the sequences look more authentic, and the pace at which they can go at each other much more frantic. Collin Chou (Seraph from the Matrix movies) stars as one of the chief baddies, and watching the two awesome gladiators duke it out is nothing short of edge of your seat material - you'll feel their pain!

Excerpt from Twitch located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 2nd, 2007

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DVD Review: Genius Products (2-disc Ultimate Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC

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Distribution Genius Products - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:27:15 
Video 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 8.85 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio Cantonese (DTS), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles English (CC), English, Spanish, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Genius Products

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• Commentary by Donnie Yen and Bey Logan
Disc 2

• Behind the Scenes (3 featurettes):

Collateral: the Making of Flashpoint (18:10)

Flash Point Explored (28:28)

Perpetual Motion (choreography of a scene) - 2:32
• 3 Deleted Scenes (Three Men and a Little Lady, Nowhere To Run, Dissention in the Ranks) - total = 3:04
• 'The Ultimate Fighters':

Gladiator (3:01), MMA on Display (7:05)
• Promotional Gallery (interview with Yen (31:49), trailer, première, TV spots)

DVD Release Date: April 22nd, 200
8
Keep Case
Chapters: 12

 

Comments:

Luiz R. reviewed the HK Blu-ray of Flash Point HERE and I decided to duplicate the grabs, probably for no other reason than to show that I could, The captures were made using different methods and don't hold a lot of comparability. But I think it does accentuate the edge-enhancement flaws evident in the BRD.

As far as this SD transfer goes - it looks quite excellent. Dual-layered, progressive and anamorphic. Detail is strong - as are colors and contrast. We've come to expect this from Weinstein's Dragon Dynasty DVDs (see examples; Legend of the Black Scorpion, their Hard Boiled, Dragon Heat, King Boxer, and 36th Chamber of Shaolin) as the consistent quality continues. This is one of the few cases where SD bests hi-def. Sound is offered in Cantonese dialogue options of a healthy DTS and 5.1 and there is an English DUB. Subtitles are available in English (close-captioned), English or Spanish. All is very good on the transfer front.

There is commentary offered featuring Bey Logan (who we have heard on Police Story 2, Game of Death, Fists of Fury, Born to Fight and many others) and Donnie Yen. He knows his stuff an works well with Yen - posing questions, explaining narrative details etc. His British accent and Yen's Chinese one are never an issue and both are clear and comprehensible. They work well together. There is a second disc stacked with more supplements: three Behind the Scenes featurettes: Collateral: the Making of Flashpoint runs almost 20 minutes, Flash Point Explored runs close to a half hour and Perpetual Motion (choreography of a scene) is less than 3 minutes. There are 3 very short deleted scenes (Three Men and a Little Lady, Nowhere To Run, Dissention in the Ranks) but total a paltry 3:04. 'The Ultimate Fighters' segment has two bits - Gladiator (3:01) and MMA on Display (7:05). The Promotional Gallery selection includes an extensive interview with Yen running over a half hour and also some trailers, a première, and TV spots. There are optional subtitles for the entire second disc of extra features.

Excellent package for fans of the genre. I'm no expert on this brand of cinema but I liked what I saw - fairly unique, professional and impressive. Those keen should definitely indulge. Dragon Dynasty comes through again! 

Gary W. Tooze

 



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Distribution Genius Products - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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