Dou fo sin (2007)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Wilson Yip

Writers:

Kam-Yuen Szeto (written by) and
Lik-Kei Tang (written by)

Release Date:

2 August 2007 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

An agent battles against three brothers of a powerful Vietnamese gang.

Plot Keywords:

Shot To Death | Shot | Hong Kong | Shot In The Back | Beaten To Death

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Donnie Yen	...	Det. Sgt. Ma Jun
Louis Koo	...	Wilson
Collin Chou	...	Tony
Ray Lui	...	Archer Sin (as Lui Leung Wai)
Bingbing Fan	...	Julie (as Fan Bing Bing)
Kent Cheng	...	Inspector Wong
Yu Xing	...	Tiger (as Xing Yu)
Qing Xu	...	Madam Lau (as Xu Qing)
Ben Lam	...	Sam
Lan Law	...	Madam Ma (as Law Lan)
Ping Ha	...	Tony's Mum (as Ha Ping)
Irene Wang	...	Cindy
Austin Wai	...	Four Eyes
Wai Ai	...	Hero (as Al Wai)
Chi Wai Wong	...	Baldy (as Wong Chi Wai)

Also Known As:

Flash Point (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title)
City Without Mercy (International: English title) (working title)
City with No Mercy (International: English title)
Dao huo xian (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Flashpoint (UK) (DVD box title)
Fuse (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Po jun (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and brutal martial arts action.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Canada:14A | USA:R | Malaysia:18PL | South Korea:18 | UK:18

Company:

Mandarin Films Distribution Co.

Trivia:

In the parking garage scene, it took Yu Xing 39 takes in order to complete the simple shot of him leaping over the gate when attacking the man in the car. Donnie Yen attributed Yu's difficulty to nerves, as this was his first movie with Yen and the scene was his first to be shot in the film. An outtake of Yu crashing through the gate and breaking it is included in the movie's final credits.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the man is shot on the roof of the parking structure, even though the movie depicts events in 1997, there is a modern silver BMW 5-series parked next to the victim’s car. It is a 2004-2007 (pre January 2007 facelift) model.

Movie Connections:

Follows Saat po long (2005)

nice..

This was a real surprise as on a rainy day in the only Chinese cinema left in Sydney, to think i only went into Market city for some yum cha and got a whole lot more than i bargained for.

A fantastic roller-coaster ride of a film, OK so the long slow ride up to the top end of it can be daunting for those with ADD or a high blood sugar level but its sure worth it once you get there. Intense satisfying action shot from every possible angle yet still filled with a spontaneous verite energy unmatched by any Hollywood film i have seen..ever.

Its innovative style while a bit light on plot or dialogue (OK so i am stuck with subtitles which obviously lose something in the translation) overcomes any accusations of pretentiousness that could be leveled at a lot of similar films. The raw energy of the film leaks into every scene however still and explodes onto the screen when the action finally ramps up. Considering the violent nature of the film a lot of the actual killing is suggested rather than replayed in Technicolor from umpteen angles, but we still experience every kick and punch as if it were flying our way.

OK admittedly the story is about as engrossing as 300 or a lot of other HK cop films, IE runs at a primal level deeper than mere plot twists or any complicated subtext. No, its all about the man versus what he sees as injustice and occasionally about a friendship. Mostly though its about the battle for whats right even if thats not quite clear sometimes, by the end you know who the good guys are and as manipulated as you might feel you are rooting for them all the way.

OK I'm running out of superlatives and metaphors now..just go out and watch it if you like a good old school popcorn bash and can handle some underplayed buddy semantics.