Kick'em In The Ghoulies

In the World of Hong Kong Cinema, there are films from certain actors and directors that are a must-view.

They may not live up to expectations or hype, fans of Donnie Yen will always be waiting for the next big film he throws out.

And it's pretty much the same with certain directors.

With Hong Kong cinema it has always been the likes of John Woo, Dante Lam, Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo-Ping that direct films that draw big audiences.

And it was the same with the films of the Late Benny Chan. The Late Mr.Chan's films though not vast in number far outshone many of the leading directors of action cinema throughout his career.

His breakthrough film 1990 Moment of Romance with a young Andy Lau is a landmark film in the genre.

Internationally Benny Chan's work would be first viewed in his direction of Jackie Chan's Who Am I in 1998.

The two Chan's would go on to collaborate on a further three films, New Police Story from 2004 would be nominated for numerous awards and winning Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Wu and getting an Audience Choice Award.

Since those films, Benny Chan had directed some great action cinema with great characterisation.

So when it was announced in 2019 that Benny Chan would be collaborating with Donnie Yen for his next film, my attention was peaked.

Benny Chan had worked before with Donnie Yen back in 1995 for the Fist of Fury TV series, so it was twenty-five years nearly since they had worked together.

Also on board was another Hong Kong legend and a regular who had worked with Benny Chan before, the actor Nicholas Tse.

One common dominator with all of Benny Chan's films is the way he gets to cast a whose who of Hong Kong cinema in so many of his films. So the inclusion of Ray Liu, Simon Yam, Ken Lo, and Patrick Tam also starring.

In reality, Raging Fire would have been released sometime in 2020, it of course was delayed, but not all due to the Pandemic, Unfortunately, one of the main reasons was due to Benny Chan being diagnosed with Cancer.

The director had finished Directing duties of the film around Sept 2019 but was too ill to finish doing the Post-production, this was later passed to a friend. In August 2020 Benny Chan sadly Passed Away in Hong Kong.

For fans of Hong Kong cinema, the collaboration between Yen and Chan was cinematic heaven.

What's sad is not the time we have had to wait to see this film, but the fact that this is Benny Chan's last film.

What's also important to point out is this is a Hong Kong action film, Not a Chinese film. Many of the Hong Kong studios have folded more and more since 1997, the focus has been for China to have these big productions done through their own production companies, many of the past directors have moved on making big Chinese extravaganza's or have even moved to Hollywood.

The late Benny Chan has delivered a piece of Hong Kong cinema to the fans, just like he always had done in the past.

We viewed the film at the London East Asia Film Festival in the heart of London's Leicester Square.

As an opening Gala event to start the festival and to honour a Great film director.

Being this was the first major event I had attended since before the Pandemic I must admit I slipped back into the flow of things with all the crowds in Leicester Square.

After some Introductions by the Festival Director Hyejung Jeon, and Director General for the Hong Kong Economic, and Trade Office in London, Gilford Law the audience sat back in comfort at The Odeon Luxe West End and tucked into their goody bag ready for the big film.

Set in Modern Day Hong Kong, Donnie Yen plays Bong, a Police officer who always has to do the right thing, even if it means landing himself into trouble.

The action and Fight choreography which in part was done by Donnie Yen is old school in style with a modern twist.

Though there's lots of gunplay, as this is an action film with some fighting, not a Martial arts brawler.

Amidst battle with guns blazing there are scenes in a short burst of hand to hand, this is more routed in a brawl or street fight than a one-on-one battle showcasing anyone's ability. But that's not to say that they don't deliver. What's there is really well done and the recent favour in the depiction of ground fighting continues as all and sundry is used to nail an opponent's head to the floor.

From flying bits of wood, people smashing through walls, I think one scene had Bong throw an Air Conditioner unit at Ngo, I thought that's a breath of fresh air to the fight proceedings.

Chases, oh yeah the chases, no old school Hong Kong flick would be complete without that chase scene. And Benny Chan delivered in bucket loads. The underuse of CGI was a blessing as shown in the out-takes at the end. We had real cars smashing through windows and people running for their lives here folks, all under strict control mind, safety first, and all.

At around two hours in length, Raging Fire is packed full of action, some of the flashback scenes slow the pace in a good way, as without them I think it would all blur into one big flashing explosion of gunfire, kicks, and car crashes.