Old-school Hong Kong action thrives in ‘Raging Fire’
Hong Kong crime films reached a zenith in the ’80s and ’90s with the films of John Woo (“Hard-Boiled,” “The Killer,” “A Better Tomorrow”), Jackie Chan (“Police Story”), Johnnie To (“The Mission”) and Ringo Lam (“City on Fire”). To watch these movies’ bullet-riddled acrobatics is to see a city on the verge of collapse, creaking under the weight of a staid, unresponsive civil authority and violent mobsters with access to an armory’s worth of weaponry.
Benny Chan’s electric “Raging Fire,” which opened Aug. 13, is a throwback to those days, pitting one cop against police officialdom and a former cop turned violent, vengeful gang leader. The current cop in question is Shan (Donnie Yen, best known for the “Ip Man” franchise and “Mulan”), a no-nonsense detective who doesn’t play well with those above him but gets results on the streets. And he’s going to need all of his skills because there are some new, ultra-violent bad guys on those streets, led by his former friend Ngo (Nicholas Tse, “Shaolin”), an embittered ex-cop who wants to make Shan and all those like him suffer. Shan is out to bring him down.
The premise of “Raging Fire” may be basic but it’s in the execution that it excels. As usual, Yen is coolly determined, barely breaking a sweat as he breaks bones, while Tse betrays a steely intensity that masks a barely disguised rage. Chan has a keen eye for action and fight choreography, with a chase through the streets of Hong Kong and a mano-a-mano /knife-on-knife climax between Yen and Tse that are breathlessly exhilarating. Chan doesn’t reach the dizzying heights of the best of Woo or Gareth Evans, who made “The Raid” films, but there are moments that echo their ingenuity and sense of propulsion.
Chan, who was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer while making the film and died while it was in postproduction, certainly had a long history making Hong Kong crime films. His résumé includes “New Police Story” (2004, with Tse and Jackie Chan), “Big Bullet” (1996) and “Heroic Duo” (2003). But with “Raging Fire,” he has made one that’s both a brutal tribute to his career and all those who came before him and — with reports that old-school crime films have fallen out of favor with the Hong Kong public in recent years — a possible blueprint for a resurgence for those who follow. But if “Raging Fire” is how it all ends, it’s not such a bad way to go.