Firestorm (Fung bou) (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer-x 4 Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	104:51
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Alan Yuen
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Andy Lau Lam Ka Tung Yao Chen Hu Jun Philip Keung
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Peter Kam

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"A storm is coming"

     A violent, well-armed gang masterminded by Cao Nam (Hu Jun) is conducting armoured car robberies on the streets of Hong Kong, creating mayhem and murder. Bong Tou Shing (Lam Ka Tung), a friend of Inspector Lui (Andy Lau) since school, has just been released from prison and despite promises to his girlfriend Bing (Yao Chen) that he has reformed, he rejoins Cao’s gang for another robbery that turns into a bloodbath, although Cao and Bong escape. Lui knows who is responsible yet Cao seems untouchable. Lui does manage to get an informant, Tong (Philip Keung), inside Cao’s gang but when Tong is exposed and killed along with his young, mentally disabled daughter, Lui believes that he has to step outside of the law to bring Cao to justice, whatever the cost. And in a massive shootout on the streets of Hong Kong, the cost may be very high indeed.

     The writer / director of Firestorm is Alan Yuen, better known as a screen writer of films such as Shaolin (2011). This is only his second feature as writer / director but despite some rather obvious and flashy camera tricks (including a liking for overhead shots), he handles the action sequences with energy and aplomb. Indeed, Firestorm (original title Fung bou) is an adrenaline rush of a film with some of the most intense and chaotic urban action sequences shown on screen since Michael Mann’s Heat with gunshots, bullet ricochets, explosions, squibs and destruction reverberating across the screen and around the room. I am not sure of the budget for the film, but a lot of it must have been used in purchasing vehicles to destroy in a wide variety of ways!

     While Yuen may be inexperienced, his cast is anything but and is headed by the prolific and always watchable Andy Lau. Lau has 151 credits listed on the IMDb and has been a leading man for a while, with roles in well received films such as Infernal Affairs (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) among others. Firestorm is not Lau in top form, and indeed his Inspector Lui has little to do except look stoic and glum, although Lau handles the action with ease. Better is Lam Ka Tung, who at least has a character arc to work with. Lam has 63 credits listed in the IMDb, mostly in supporting roles (he was also in Infernal Affairs for example), and in Firestorm he makes the most of his role in a charismatic performance. Unfortunately Yao Chen as the love interest is somewhat wooden so what should have been the heart of the film is diminished. Everyone else in the cast is pretty much cannon fodder.

     Firestorm is just that: a blistering, over the top storm of gunfire, explosions and destruction, an all-out war on the streets of Hong Kong.

Video

     Firestorm is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     Filmed with Red Epic digital cameras the print is sharp and with crisp detail. Colours are fine with a glossy digital look, the explosions vibrant balls of yellow and red around flying debris and cars! Blacks and shadow detail are great.

     Sections of the print were quite glary whenever the light source was behind the actor which effected contract and brightness. There was also a number of wide shots showing aliasing on buildings (such as 55:11), the end titles shimmered and at 12:49 a tracking error line ran through the frame.

    English subtitles were yellow and occasionally white. They are clear and easy to read and I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

    There are more artefacts than I would expect of a modern print, but nothing too distracting and the action is spectacular.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of either Cantonese or Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps.

     Dialogue was clear and centred. The surrounds and rears presented an awesome array of sound effects, especially during the action sequences, when gunfire, ricochets, hits, debris, explosions and general mayhem rocked the room. Directional and panning effects were also frequent, but the audio retained excellent separation and never became just a wall of noise. The subwoofer was fully utilised adding bass to gunfire, explosions, the sounds of the impending weather and car crashes.

     The music score by Peter Kam was effective and nicely represented in the audio mix in both action and non-action scenes.

     I listened to the Cantonese track where lip synchronisation was occasionally out.

     The layer chance at 59:14 creating a slight pause during fade to black at a scene change.

    The audio is just what is needed in an action film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailers (5:40)

     Four different trailers for Firestorm.

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for Drug War (1:33), On the Job (2:10), Cold War (1:37) and Unbeatable (1:34).

     There is no DVD of Firestorm listed for either Region 1 US or Region 2 UK, although a Region A Blu-ray is listed.

     There are Region 3 Hong Kong and Taiwanese DVDs listed on YesAsia.com. Both are indicated to be in a cropped aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and run 109 minutes (NTSC). The HK release does have English subtitles for the feature, and includes as extras a making of, photo gallery, and trailers.

    The IMDb lists the theatrical running time of the film as 118 minutes and the Taiwanese version as 109 minutes. This is then likely the international version which, with PAL speedup, we have on our Region 4 DVD. I can find no information about the cuts made.

     As there does not appear to be a longer version of Firestorm available anywhere on DVD, and ours is in the correct widescreen ratio, Region 4 is the better option.

     Firestorm is an adrenaline rush with gunshots, bullet ricochets, explosions, squibs and destruction reverberating across the screen and around the room. If you are looking for explosive action Firestorm definitely delivers.

     The video is not perfect but the audio is awesome! Extras are only trailers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall