One of the Year’s Best Action Films Raging Fire comes to Blu-Ray thanks to Well Go USA.
The Film
Benny Chan’s Raging Fire his Final Film is a crackerjack action-thriller starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse going head-to-head.
Father-to-be Shan (Yen) is pitted against his former partner Ngo (Tse) just released from prison. Ngo was sent to prison years ago because of Bong’s testimony on a time-sensitive case. A decade later vengeance on Ngo’s mind and a master plan to enact. Ngo and his former college wreak havoc on Bong and all the HK Police Department while planning a heist to end all heists. As Shan and his team move closer to Ngo and his crew, the stage is set for a fight that will set Hong Kong ablaze.
Raging Fire is the kind of throwback to early 90’s HK Police Procedurals that Chan himself directed. Chan and the screenwriters update the genre troupes by adding the moral complexities to the genre at its very best is known for while always servicing amazing action set pieces. Make no mistake, Chan’s final film is a doozy. The actioner is designed more like a throwback to ground-level action that feels refreshing in its execution. The film takes its cues from more serious fare like Michael Mann’s Heat and John Woo’s Hard Boiled more than the playful side of the genre like Police Story or Chan’s own Gen-X Cops (a personal favorite of this reviewer).
Yen and Tse are perfectly cast as former colleagues turned antagonists. Chan’s film is balanced in the way that it not only gives equal screen time to the characters but also in their moral groundings. Raging Fire finds that neither Yen’s Shan nor Tse’s Ngo are villain or hero. Rather Raging Fire gives us morally complicated situations that give the film a better-updated viewpoint than its predecessors. Tse is given the more charismatic role of the two. Though Yen is great as the conflicted Shan.
Raging Fire could not be a more fitting end to Benny Chan’s illustrious career as a World Class Action director.
The Transfer
The transfer provided to Well Go USA is a winner. The digitally shot film is always clean and crisp with no artifacting or any issues for that matter. The color reproduction, black levels, contrast are all perfectly modulated. The Blu-ray transfer is as far as home video can go in terms of quality that isn’t a 4K UHD with Dolby Vision Encoding.
The Sound
The sound is the key here. Sporting both DOLBY ATMOS encoded Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks the sound design is impressive, to say the least. The active sound field is as forceful as one would want with an action film of this type. The low ends are magnificent as well as the range of the sound FX work. The final shoot-out will give anyone’s sound system a workout testing it to its limits.
Note: There is an English Dub that’s DTS 5.1 encoded that is as impressive as the ATMOS but … an English dub. Though the testing of the Dub found it to be solid as Dubs go.
The Extras
They include the following;
- The Making of Raging Fire
- Trailers
The Making of Raging Fire – is broken down into four sections.
- Behind the Scenes 1 (2:00) – EPK Style making of the film.
- Behind the Scenes 2 (1:13) – EPK Style making of the film.
- Donnie Yen: Commentary (1:53) – More of an interview about the film and Benny Chan than actual commentary.
- Nicholas Tse: Commentary (2:25) – More of an interview about the production, working with Benny Chan than actual commentary.
Trailers
- Teaser (1:47) – Presented in Cantonese with English Subtitles
- Trailer 1 (2:00) – Presented in Cantonese with English Subtitles
- Trailer 2 (1:18) – Presented in Cantonese with English Subtitles
- US Trailer (1:56) – Presented in Cantonese with English Subtitles
The Final Thought
Raging Fire is one of the best action films of 2021 has been given a Blu-ray with extraordinary picture and sound. Highest Possible Recommendations!!!
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