Rapid Fire (1992)

Absolutely Fantastic

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The great tragedy of this film is that of Brandon Lee. While obviously this was t his last film, I feel this is the one that really sold everyone on what he could do, with the crow selling on how good he could do it. This movie is not without its faults, I'm not denying that, but Lee is undoubtedly one of the strongest parts. This might sound borderline blasphemous to say and I know I'm probably looking at it from a different outlook, but I think the fight scenes in Rapid Fire are as good as, if not better, than some of his father's. There's a genuine sense of energy and charisma to them and Lee makes it look easy. Every fight is well shot and directed (Dwight Little is a very underrated director and his style fits perfectly with this film), the action and sets allow for many creative outcomes and in a word, it just looks cool.I would be remiss if I didn't mention Powers Boothe in this movie. He's awesome, and always was, be he hero or villain. He plays the grizzled Dirty Harry cop perfectly and looks as comfortable with a shotgun as he does with a doughnut.I highly recommend this movie, if for nothing else than the fight scenes.

Quite often it happens that the purest examples of a particular style only happen after that style has become outdated or it has moved on. Even more often so with movies. Most movie fans will know what you're talking about if you say something is, for example, an 80s action film. Those had a distinct feel and sound that separate them to their own subgenre of action. But not all of them were made in the 80s. One of the earliest pioneers of the subgenre was Escape from New York in 1981, having started its production in the late 70s, whereas this film, released in 1992, was probably one of the last of the era.And it definitely loves what it is. It is distilled and honest 80s from the cheesy synth-soundtrack to the brutal fist cuffs fight scenes to the gratuitously urban settings and colours. And then there's the story, where a young art student Jake Lo (Brandon Lee) witnesses a mob boss committing a murder and is promptly flown to Chicago under police protection to testify against the boss. And naturally everything goes absolutely sideways almost immediately and our hero has to kung fu fight his way out of trouble. Like you do.It's cheesy, it's simple, but it's honest about what it is. It doesn't hide, it doesn't pretend, and it does it all with heart and feeling. And I love it for what it is. Though it definitely helps that the actors are much better than usual, from the rising martial arts action star Brandon Lee to Powers Boothe playing the Chicago cop hunting down the mob boss. If you like action and especially if you love 80s action, give this film a watch. It's worth it.

Along with the classic The Crow, Brandon Lee made few other films before his heartbreaking accidental death. His natural charisma and likability he brought to action hero roles, accenting the tough guy qualities with an angelic vulnerability, was tragically cut short by the incident. However, Rapid Fire is a gift to fans of both Lee and the action genre alike. It's a little further away from the notoriety of The Crow, but packs a fuming punch of martial arts, gunplay and tough talking character actors strutting their stuff to a tune that any fan of the genre can hum along to. Lee plays Jake, a young college student with turmoil in his past, haunted by an incident involving a loved one in the Tienemen Square disaster. During a visit to Chicago, he inadvertently witnesses a brutal gangland murder perpetrated by drug kingpin Tony Serrano (Nick Mancuso). This immediately puts him in the hot seat and pretty much on his own after the federal agent assigned to him (Raymond J. Barry) betrays him. His only hope lies with grouchy, paternal Chicago Detective Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe) who is on his own rampaging crusade to bring down the drug trade. Jake merely wants to survive and get out of the mess he's found himself in. Together they punch, kick, shoot and strategize their way out of getting offed by the mafia, and kick some serious scumbag ass along the way. Lee is ultimate protagonist material: his strong points arise out of the soft touch, never being brash or hogging the screen, always serving up a helping of humble that make the ass kicking resonate tenfold. Boothe is pricelessly grumpy as the haggard detective, showing brief but unmistakable glimpses of the bruised warrior's heart beneath, rekindled by his bond with Jake. Mancuso is like a rabid pit bull let off the chain as Serrano, a truly untethered piece of genuine psychopathic anarchy. But that's him, always the under sung wild card who lights up his scenes with wild eyed tenacity. Chinese acting legend Tzi Ma also clocks in as a heroin dealer with a short temper, looking very young which is even made into a meta joke itself. It's pure uncut action, somehow feeling like more thanks to Lee's incredible presence, as well as Boothe and Mancuso adding their own lively brand of spice to an already simmering stew. Essential viewing for any action disciple.

I watched this film after several people recommended it to me, and i must say, i enjoyed it quite a lot. Action scenes are very good, specially fight scenes. Brandon Lee is not only good fighter, but good actor as well. His roles in Rapid Fire and The Crow are his best and my personal favorites when it comes to his movies, even if there is only few of them. I wasn't fan of his acting in movies such as Showdown In Little Tokyo, but i would't call him a bad actor and still he had good sense of humor in that movie. I'm sure that he would be even better if he didn't die, which is quite sad cause he really did have potential. After watching workprints of The Crow, i could see that there were few takes of his scenes that were originally quite bad acting wise, but watching the movie again it's obvious that he was just getting started at this point of his career and that he would be better as long as he had good directors to give him some advices. As for his role in Rapid Fire,instead of being one of those unstoppable heroes that his father often portrayed in his movies, Brandon's character Jake Lo is normal human who is put into dangerous situations and has to use all of his skills to survive. By the end of the movie he really is pretty beat up and tired after all that he's been through, which is not something that you normally see happening with heroes of some average action movies. Powers Boothe and Kate Hodge were also good, but at the same time not usual cliché cop characters. Soundtrack is solid as a rock, Hardline songs really fit the film and they are used in right scenes. Score works in action scenes, specially in fight scene between Brandon and Al Leong. Script and story might be cliché, but it's nothing worth of ranting. In the end,very good action movie, and with Halloween 4 and Marked For Death one of my fave movies from director Dwight H. Little, and i think that it should have some better DVD/Blu-Ray release cause it has it's fans, and there is enough interesting behind the scenes stuff and deleted footage that should be included.