Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Bereamic Awesome Movie

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Phil Hubbs 'Rapid Fire' is one of those action flicks from back in the day where you have a wickedly cool title for the movie, that doesn't relate to the plot in any way. It just looks and sounds cool, happened a lot during the 80's and 90's. You don't seem to see it too much anymore because I reckon they exhausted all possible options. That's my theory anyway, feel free to question it.So here we have a very oriental theme for the plot, aaand that's because Brandon Lee is the star. Heaven forbid they did away with stereotypical plot lines but hey, twas the 90's. So Lee plays this young dude called Jake Lo (Chinese on one side I presume) whose father was killed in a Tiananmen Square protest. I Presume the infamous 1989 protest but its actually not important in any way. He gets lured to a fundraiser for pro-democracy within China, mainly because both he and his father were at Tiananmen Square. Whilst there a drug kingpin called Serrano kills some bloke and Lo witnesses it.So the first half of the film is basically Lo trying to avoid being killed by Serrano before he can testify. The second part of the plot involves another Kingpin called Tau who is in cahoots with Serrano, but is the bigger player. Jake joins up with detective Mace Windu...I mean Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe) mainly for protection but also to bring down Serrano and obtain information about a future shipment organised by Tau. The unlikely partnership must stop both Serrano and Tau.OK so this isn't a buddy cop flick, but its close. The main protagonists comprise of Brandon Lee's young firm, muscles often glistening with sweat, martial arts expert Jake Lo. Alongside Powers Boothe's gruff stern, no nonsense cop who speaks through gritted teeth a lot. Sounds mighty familiar doesn't it, but trust me it really isn't a buddy cop/odd couple/double team fast food flick. Yes Lee's character does become good friends with Boothe's grumpy cop and does actually see him as a father figure in the end, but its not a buddy cop flick. In all honesty Mace tends to use Jake like bait on a string on most occasions, Jake even smacks Mace in the face at one point...but deep down they respect each other.These type of movies are a little tricky to gauge really, the reason being they are clichéd as hell but you gotta take into account the year they were made. Being the early 90's you gotta accept the fact that the 80's was still held a strong influence over action flicks. The remnants and relics of that cheesy bygone era were still there to be found in spades. For instance, in this movie all the western baddie henchmen are dressed in suits with greasy slick-back hair, ponytails for some, very Eurotrash. They all seem to have instance access to big guns whenever something kicks off or is about to (and boy are some of their guns impressive!), and they are all terrible shots. The main henchman is a huge lumbering bloke with a slick-back ponytail (ahem) and a penchant for violence and pasta. The main antagonist Serrano, played by Nick Mancuso, is your typical over the top villain with again slick-back hair, a nice suit and he spends all his time in his restaurant (his HQ).On the flip side, all the eastern baddie henchmen are literally every single recognisable American actor of Asian descent you've ever seen in action flicks from the 80's. Al Leong and his Fu Manchu moustache are front and centre, Gerald Okamura, hell most of the background Asian actors from John Carpenter's 'Big Trouble in Little China' basically. Some epic levels of well known Asian character actors in here.The action is actually better than your average dated action fest. Brandon Lee performs lots of kung-fu hocus pocus obviously, its his action vehicle so whaddaya expect. But the gun fights are actually pretty solid stuff truth be told. When the cops battle it out with Serrano and co outside his restaurant its really well shot. Dare I say it actually looks and feels a bit like Michael Mann's 'Heat' with the zooming close-ups, angles and quite impressively realistic action. Apart from that its admittedly clichéd business as usual with lots of exaggerated gun porn and cars that explode bit by bit when shot. The obligatory cheesy as f*ck sex scene accompanied by rock music, and the obligatory one on one fight scene between the hero and villain (with obligatory nasty death) for the finale. Is this a clichéd cheesy action movie? Yes I'm afraid it is. Is it a bad clichéd cheesy action movie? Actually no it isn't. On a scale of clichéd cheesy action fests this is genuinely one of the better offerings. But that's not because of Lee (who never seems to change out of a vest) or the plot, its mainly because of the action set pieces that engage, look good and are relatively realistic. In other words they aren't ridiculously over the top and require suspension of disbelief. The plot is simple as hell and offers nothing new (except maybe one surprise), the acting is acceptable and Lee shows us much potential which is both good and sad. Overall to look at this might come across as a silly chopsocky affair, no its actually much better than that.7/10

westside-surfer I love cheesy 80s action cinema. But even with my heavy bias, this movie sucked. First off, there isn't a single charismatic character. Brandon Lee lacks anything remotely qualifying as a personality as he dully recites badly written lines. His partner, a father-figure cop who fails to convince anybody of that, spends the entire movie telling cliché' "you can do it" lines. And the two main bad guys are boring as stale turds.They could have saved this movie by cranking up the bad acting--it's worked for countless actors who can't act: Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, etc. But the audience can forgive their lack of Oscar winning performances if they are at the very least memorable. After the credits roll, everyone in Rapid Fire is rapidly forgotten.According to IMDb, John Woo was Brandon's first choice for director. It's truly sad that a potentially awesome movie was butchered into mediocrity by an incompetent director.The fight scenes and shot outs are fairly decent. Don't expect any spectacular stunts or awesomely choreographed battles. Some of the fights were outright disappointing considering they play up Brandon as a martial arts bad ass. The gun play is enjoyable at best.The story was total garbage and Brandon couldn't pull off a single convincing emotion or joke. The dude was a mannequin with six-pack abs. And don't get me started on that godawful love story they tried to shove up our asses at the last second (face palm). With so many awesome 80s movies to watch, take my advice: Look elsewhere.

Paul Andrews Rapid Fire starts in Los Angeles where Chinese student Jake Lo (Brandon Lee) is invited to a fun raising party in aid of helping those in his own country, while at the party a drug trafficker named Carl Chang (Michael Paul Chan) is murdered by Californian drug lord & mobster Antonio Serrano (Nick Mancuso) which Jake is witness to. Jake manages to survive Serrano's attempts to kill him at the party & is placed in protective custody as the only living eye-witness, various Government agencies have been after Serrano for years & it is felt that Jake's testimony could put him away for life but after being handed over to the FED's in Chicago another attempt on his life is made but again using his wits & martial art skills Jake manages to survive. Unable to trust anyone & with nowhere to go a cop named Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe) manages to convince Jake to trust him. Ryan has been after Serrano for ten years & sees Jake as the key to nailing him & together they team up to being Serrano down & those who grow & supply the heroin...Directed by Dwight H. Little this incredibly formulaic action thriller is perhaps most notable for featuring Brandon Lee the ill fated son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee in his final completed film as he would be accidentally killed while shooting his next film The Crow (1993), to be honest Rapid Fire is completely unremarkable in every aspect & while it's not terrible it's pretty forgettable & far from special. Rapid Fire just feels like it has been thrown together using every action thriller cliché going, the fish out of water hero, betrayal, one good honest cop willing to do what's right while those around him are corrupt, an American mobster, drug deals gone bad, Chinese gangsters & lots of men in grey suits who walk around trying to look tough. The whole script feels like it has been cobbled together trying to use just about every action thriller cliché & stereotype that it all became a bit of a blur & it was all too familiar. On it's own the familiarity wouldn't have been so bad if the action made up for it but even this is routine & predictable. The dialogue is pretty bland, the bland character's do little to life Rapid Fire above average either, there are many better action films out there with even the generic sounding title Rapid Fire not inspiring much interest. The script does try to inject a little human tragedy & give it's main character a little bit of background as the massacre in Tienanmen Square is featured but this angle is quickly dropped as is Lee's quest to find out the truth about his dead father.I suppose the biggest disappointment with Rapid Fire was that the action scenes are so dull, virtually every one is not much more than people shooting at each other & no-one seems able to hit Brandon Lee obviously even though they are a few feet away. When Brandon Lee does get to show off his martial art skills the film livens up a bit but they aren't used enough & over too quickly. There's not much other action, a car blow's up, a truck overturns & there's a fire at the end but not much else. The best sequence is at the end as Brandon Lee fights the Chinese drug lord on train tracks which leads to an obvious death for the bad guy but it's as good as the film gets really. The film looks alright but has no great visual style or substance.With a supposed budget of about $10,000,000 this has decent production values but even back then that wasn't a lot of money for a big action flick. The acting is alright, Brandon Lee is watchable enough while Powers Boothe doesn't seem that interested.Rapid Fire is as routine & forgettable a 90's action thriller as there is, Rapid Fire is the type of film that you think you have seen before & you definitely have except with different actor's as there really isn't an original moment in the entire 95 minute duration.

Lucien Lessard Jake Lo (Brandon Lee) is a college student, who unexpectedly finds himself between in a drug war. When he sees a gangster Antonio Serrano (Nick Mancuso) guns down a corrupted Chinese business (Michael Paul Chan) at a small event. After protecting himself, now Jake is forced to help the FBI (Lead by Raymond J. Barry) to testified against Serrano. But Jake himself betrayed by the FBI, which they are trying to kill him. Since the mob has payed them to kill him. Now a dedicated police detective (Powers Boothe) and his intelligence officer (Kate Hodge) tries to protect him before the Mob and the FBI gets to him. Which Jake has no other choice to bring these drug lords down himself in the process to get his life back.Directed by Dwight H. Little (Halloween 4:The Return of the Michael Myers, Murder at 1600, The Phantom of the Opera "1989") made an extremely typical but entertaining action-thrill ride. It was also amusing to see Lee in a action here, who has an refreshing sense of humour. Which he has plenty of star quality before his breakthrough role on "The Crow". Which sadly it was his last starring role. The cast members seems to be having a great time with this movie. Especially Mancuso is fun to watch as the heavy bad guy. This wasn't quite success in theaters but it's the kind of picture that plays well on video. If you are an fan of action movies, you will find good entertainment here. It's worth seeing. Screenplay by Alan B. McElroy (The Marine, Spawn, Wrong Turn). From a story by Cindy Cirile and McElroy. (*** ½/*****).