Film Name: 怒火·重案 / Crossfire / Raging Fire
Are there any movies that are too small to watch? These include, but are not limited to, traditional Hong Kong films, hardcore action movies, and the work of filmmakers who are permanently on hiatus.
This weekend, one such film that combines all three of these elements is the action/crime Hong Kong film and posthumous work of director Moses Chan, Crossfire.
This movie has given me a very positive and refreshing feedback, not that it’s that good, but it has brought back some of the feeling that I once had when Hong Kong movies were popular, the simplicity, the purity and the pleasure of “all crazy, all over the top”.
What’s more, Crossfire also contributes solid action sequences that have become increasingly rare in recent years, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that such movies will be even more difficult to come by in the future, because the era of the “action movie” is really coming to an end.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
My favorite part of Crossfire was the action sequences, and it’s only right that I have to brag about the best parts of the film first.
Not to mention the last century, Hong Kong film boom period, the audience can still be on Yuen Woo-ping, Lau Kar-leung, Ching Siu-tung and other schools of martial arts, action type of various types of enjoyable, into the new millennium, especially in the last decade, Hong Kong action films have increasingly fallen into a very helpless awkward situation: can fight on the line.
In such an environment, Donnie Yen, who was not a standout in the nineties, has slowly stabilized his position in the twenty-first century with a number of works.
In fact, I’ve always felt that Donnie Yen’s fashion films are better than his costume films, and in Crossfire, he’s both the star and the action director, so it’s a good use of his talents.
The movie fully demonstrates Donnie Yen’s personal action style characteristics, on the basis of sufficiently solid and steady, highlighting the texture of the harshness, ferocity, heavy blows, etc. (That’s why I always feel that the role of Ip Man can not “unleash” Donnie Yen’s ruthlessness).
“Crossfire” in the fist to the flesh, head to blood sparring fighting scene is not too much, but each is quite unique: Donnie Yen and Lin Guobin that section of the raw and cold and not afraid of the fight, can not help but let me flooded with nostalgia for the ‘New Big Boss’ after the sigh; Nicholas Tse speed kill Lu Huiguang butchery, highlights the old hot fast, accurate and ruthless; and the ending of the climactic duel between Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse, but also A traditional combat and a variety of deadly killing moves of a large collection.
In addition, the film’s gunfights, car chases and other action scenes are no less impressive, and this part also has to praise the scheduling and editing of Chen Musheng.
If you’re a fan of “old-school” action movies, you won’t be disappointed.
However, while I’m speaking highly of it, I also have to bemoan the fact that there are no more action movies that rely so heavily on real fighting.
Take Donnie Yen, in my mind his fashion film action scene TOP1, to count “Flash Point” and Zou Zhaolong in the peak of the showdown, when they were in their prime, contributing to the soundest fighting – and then look at the “Crossfire” in the final battle, Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse fought a very Crossfire” in the final battle, Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse fight is very lively, but it is also mixed with a lot of props, the environment, the use of non-physical elements, ‘purity’ is not quite enough.
Even if you just look at the flexibility and spirit of action, when the “Dragon Tiger Gate” is also stronger than now …… physical state of decline is inevitable, Donnie Yen has already said that he “can not fight”, not often shoot movies of the Nicholas Tse is also over 40 years old, and then count down, who else?
Of course, this problem is not only Hong Kong movies, look around the world are almost the same, “action movie filmmakers” often with rough environment, hard work is inseparable from the decline of action movies is difficult to change.
Back to “Crossfire”, although its literary drama is not as good as its martial arts drama, it is quite to my liking, because it is very simple, to put it bluntly, it is a story about “a warrior who violates the law by using his martial arts”.
The protagonist of the film, Zhang Chongbang (Bongmaster), is a hard-blooded policeman who does not know how to be smooth, loves to recognize deadlines, and is upright and honest. His image is very thin and clear, and as a law enforcer, he repeatedly violates orders and acts impulsively with “the goal in mind”.
The imperfections in Bong’s body reflect the “urban martial arts” sentiment hidden in Crossfire: driven by the original idea of “cops catching thieves”, he constantly uses force, both within and outside the rules, to fight crime and injustice.
At the same time, the villains of the film, Qiu Gang Ao (Ao) and his gang, are also police officers, and the biggest difference between them and the master of the state lies in the fact that they have taken a substantial step forward, and in the process of atonement for their mistakes, they have been alienated by their pain and indignation to the extent that they have become completely twisted and depraved.
But you will find that “Crossfire” does not exclude the extreme and cruelty of Ao, on the contrary, the movie also helps them to successfully complete their revenge, triggering the wrong criminals, bosses who go back on their word, and rich people who turn their backs on them, one after another, die in his hands (the part of the police report is becoming the protagonist) – the “martial arts against the law” of Ao and others. Ao and the others on the “martial arts to violate the ban”, although permeated with a black to the end of the tragedy, but at the same time can not hide the fast and furious free and hearty.
The slightly “politically incorrect” attitude is a common style in old Hong Kong movies.
In addition, Chen Musheng in this aspect of the narrative is only shallow, without any in-depth meaning, which also circumvents the many Hong Kong films in recent years always want to make an effort in the grand narrative, but often do not have the rules and regulations, and ultimately lost, the tail is big, and become unorthodox problems – and big and deep story is not good, it is better to put a shallow It’s better to tell a shallow story in its entirety.
Then again, Crossfire still stands on the minimum principles and bottom line while being based on the gray area, and here is the answer to the question that Ao asked Bangmaster before he died: “If you had been the one to go with Coke, would our fates have been different?”
The answer is no. The answer is no. Because Lord Bong would not make any mistake on the issue of right and wrong, he would not be afraid of or pander to the rich and powerful, he would not wantonly torture and humiliate the criminals, and he was truthful and had a clear conscience.
Please specify：Yescase Store » Crossfire 2021 Film Review: To use martial arts to violate the prohibition, and to be quick to anger