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Fire of Conscience
SCREENER
Detective Manfred (Chinese megastar Leon
Lai, looking decidedly worse for wear) is down on his luck. His wife
was recently killed by a pickpocket, he’s living out of his minivan and
his desire to find the perpetrator is becoming an obsession. Noticing
his increasingly slipshod appearance and penchant for taking out his
rage on an assortment of lowlifes and criminals, Internal Affairs (would
any Hong Kong cop drama be complete without an appearance from Internal
Affairs?) start sniffing around. While investigating the murder of a
prostitute Manfred’s path also crosses that of the slick careerist
Inspector Kee (Richie Ren), who initially appears to have a stabilising
effect on the grieving detective. Kee’s motives are eventually revealed
to be decidedly murky, however, and as the body count piles up the
boundary between good and evil becomes increasingly blurred, leading to
a denouement that’s heavy on gunfights, corruption, burning buildings
and revenge killings. And explosions. Quite a few of them.
Director Dante Lam’s action chops certainly
can’t be faulted. As was the case with his last feature Beast
Stalker the action choreography is faultless, and the infrequent gun
battles amongst some of the most memorable ever captured on film. The
plot never really settles seamlessly alongside the violence however, and
though Lam makes a valiant attempt at exploring his character’s back
stories and underlying motivations the viewer never really connects with
any of the protagonists in a way that could be called meaningful.
The film, which has thus far received mixed
reviews and a paltry box office gross, could perhaps most aptly be
described as a disappointment. All the ingredients are certainly there
– strong cast; interesting and expansive, if slightly predictable,
plotline; experienced director – but somehow Fire of Conscience
still falls a little flat. Visually arresting, it ultimately
fails to really excite, and one can’t help coming away with the
impression that it’s all been done before. |
