Review: Rapid Fire

Brandon Lee plays a student who witnesses something he shouldn’t have, and becomes a wanted figure in a war between competing drug lords Nick Mancuso (Sicilian-American) and Tzi Ma (Chinese Triad), and a veteran Chicago cop (Powers Boothe) trying to nail Tzi Ma in particular. Raymond J. Barry and Basil Wallace play FBI agents who put Lee into protective custody, Francois Chau is Boothe’s partner, Michael Paul Chan (an all-purpose Asian-American character actor you’ve seen a billion times) plays Tzi Ma’s murdered associate, Al Leong is Tzi Ma’s chief henchman, Richard Schiff plays an art teacher, Tony Longo is one of Mancuso’s dumb thugs, and Dustin Nguyen plays a pro-democracy activist who tries to enlist Lee. Unfortunately, Lee is uninterested, still scarred by witnessing the death of his father at China’s Tiananmen Square. So, politics ain’t his thing.

 

I’m not about to go and revisit “Showdown in Little Tokyo” anytime soon, but I have to admit I enjoyed this 1992 martial arts actioner from director Dwight H. Little (“Marked for Death”, “Halloween 4”, the Robert Englund version of “Phantom of the Opera”), much more in 2016 than when it was first released. Scripted by Alan McElroy (“The Marine”, “Wrong Turn”, “Tekken”), I kinda felt nostalgic for its rather simple, straightforward B-grade martial arts star vehicle stylings. “The Crow”, of course will forever be the first and last film brought up when discussing Brandon Lee’s promising yet (tragically cut) short career, and while Alex Proyas has subsequently proven a disappointment (though “Knowing” was underrated if you ask me), no one is going to suggest that Little (an OK director at best) is anywhere near the visual stylist Proyas is. However, if you want a straight-up, B-grade martial arts action movie done relatively well and with a better-than-usual cast, you should check this one out. There’s a lot worse martial arts star vehicles out there.

 

Although it’s obviously a starring vehicle for the son of Bruce Lee, it’s Nick Mancuso you’ll most greatly remember here, playing one of the two main villains. He immediately owns the film playing a giant prick of a human being. However, am I the only one who thinks he looks like Canadian wrestling legend Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart (my all-time favourite) in a suit? An underrated actor, he plays this really broad and really weird, and it works. He’s just a little bit bent. Raymond J. Barry (Say it with me now: Wrong kid died!) is a stalwart character actor, and he is rock-solid here as usual, if unsurprisingly cast as a dirty fed. The other major villain is played by a rather young-looking Tzi Ma, later to torment Jack Bauer on “24”. He’s not as memorable as Mancuso, but the film has a crazy villain/serious co-villain James Bond dynamic going on, and Tzi Ma definitely holds up the less colourful end well enough. Fans of action movie henchmen will delight in what is probably the most substantial outing of Genghis Khan-looking veteran Asian henchman Al Leong’s career. Cast as Tzi Ma’s chief henchman, if you’ve ever wanted to see Al Leong in a suit and tie, this is your movie. However, it’s his Wing Chun laundry fight with Lee that you’ll be savouring, it’s his finest moment ever on film, as he’s made to look like a real bad arse, despite being quite a small man. Why Leong isn’t credited until the end credits is beyond me, as he’s quite clearly the chief henchman of the film. Then again, his “Big Trouble in Little China” co-star Gerald Okamura only gets a stuntman credit in the film, despite quite clearly appearing towards the end. You can’t miss him, like the Genghis-ish Leong, Fu Manchu moustache-sporting, bald-headed Okamura is a memorable-looking guy. Anyone who saw Steven Seagal’s voodoo-themed actioner “Marked for Death” might have a hard time placing ‘Screwface’ actor Basil Wallace, cast as a humourless federal agent. He does ‘angry cop’ well, but he was much more interesting in the Seagal film (which, although I’m not a fan of the film, might just be one of the most impressive debut performances of the 1990s. He stole the show effortlessly). Continuing the parade of familiar names and faces, you’ll see the too talented Richard Schiff in a useless bit as an art teacher, and “Lost” alumni Francois Chau playing Boothe’s Chinese partner (Chau is Cambodian-born, however). Fans of “21 Jump Street” will be disappointed that Dustin Nguyen (who deserved a better career if you ask me, though he did inexplicably turn up in the Aussie drama “Little Fish”) gets very little screen time here. Playing a Chinese-American activist of sorts, the character ends up absent in the second half and frankly rather useless. Was this indicative of an abandoned subplot or something? Or just poor screenwriting? Then again, this is a film with a stupid title that has no bearing on anything, so yeah, let’s maybe go with the latter. Powers Boothe is one of my favourite character actors, he has presence and charisma up to wazoo, and is truly versatile. He’s a much better talent than you normally find in something like this (though if you believe IMDb, everyone from Harrison Ford to Kurt Russell to Robert Freaking De Niro were all considered for the part, even John Saxon!), and the film is benefitted by his unequalled presence.

 

As for the late and sorely missed Mr. Lee, he works best if you try not to compare him too much to his father (though he does indeed use Jeet Kune Do at times, I believe). He’s obviously missing the bad arse swagger and speed, but he had the looks, charisma, and obvious martial arts skills to be a top action star. If he had lived longer, I believe there was every chance he’d prove to be a better actor than his father, too. However, you’ll see more evidence of that in “The Crow” than his rather average turn here. What this film affords him to do that “The Crow” (his most lasting legacy in film) didn’t, is perform martial arts, and as choreographed by Lee himself and the inimitable Jeff Imada (who apparently played over 20 characters alone in “Big Trouble in Little China”!), he’s pretty damn good. Some of the violence is ridiculously over-the-top, in the best way possible. I can’t deny that the amount of machine gunfire in this is pretty ridiculous and unnecessary, as everyone and everything gets blasted full of holes. However, the rest is jolly good fun. There’s one especially bravura moment where he backflips and fires off a shotgun in quick succession. Amazing. Honestly, if Lee had lived long enough, I could totally have seen him as the star of “The Matrix” and “John Wick”, and he’d be an improvement over Keanu Reeves in both, in all facets. Alas, it wasn’t to be (and those two films turned out fine as they are, mind you). Genre movie composer Christopher Young (“Hellraiser”, “Drag Me to Hell”, “Priest”) doesn’t have his finest hour here, but his score is OK, mostly a standard sax-y action movie music score, with occasional annoying “Karate Kid II” pan flute ethnic stereotype bullshit. Aside from Okamura, the roster of stunt people on this film is an amazing line-up of well-known names, much like the cast list: Former wrestler/judo expert Gene LeBell, James Lew (who was martial arts choreographer on “Big Trouble in Little China” and played one of the Chang Sings), Ric Roman Waugh (who graduated to writer-director of “Felon” and the somewhat better “Snitch”), Chris Durand (Michael Myers in “Halloween H20”), and Roger Yuan (a fight choreographer and actor in the hilarious “Black Dynamite”, as well as playing a bodyguard in “Skyfall”). Don Fauntleroy was a camera operator on the film, another name action die-hards might recognise (the director of Steven Seagal’s “Today You Die” and “Mercenary for Justice”).

 

A solid, if unremarkable film for martial arts fans. The plotting is standard, the action is enjoyable, and the acting is a touch above the norm. A fine 90s B-action movie, but because Lee (like his father before him) made so few films, one must savour this and the even better “The Crow” (Much like I’d advise Bruce Lee fans to watch “Fist of Fury” and “The Big Boss”, and ignore the rest, especially “Game of Death”).

 

Rating: B-