FLASHOVER Jing Tian Jiu Yuan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
FLASHOVER
Jing Tian Jiu
Yuan
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Director Oxide Chun Pang
Music by Anthony Chue
Label Plaza Mayor Company Ltd
Firefighters tried to put out a fire at a chemical plant in Guancheng County.
A decade
on from the Towering Inferno-like disaster
movie Out
of Inferno –
which starred Hong Kong heavyweights Louis Koo Tin-lok and Lau Ching-wan –
director Oxide Pang Chun returns to the genre, albeit without brother Danny,
with the similarly incendiary Flashover.
Also set
on the Chinese mainland, the film follows a company of rookie firefighters who
risk their lives to battle a huge blaze that has consumed a chemical industrial
estate.
As with
its spiritual predecessor, however, Flashover prioritises
perilous pyrotechnics over plot and character development, leaving audiences
struggling to care about the fate of its one-dimensional protagonists.
Playing like a poor man’s alternative to the
ostentatious heroes-in-helmets blockbusters of fellow Hong Kong filmmaker Dante
Lam Chiu-yin, Flashover confines its drama
to a single smouldering location.
When an earthquake ruptures a fuel line at a
large chemical park, it sparks a furious inferno that threatens to engulf not
only the entire complex, but also the surrounding residential areas.
Viewers
will be reminded of the spectacular and catastrophic scenes of the 2015 Tianjin container port explosions, which were doubtless an inspiration
for Yang Daiyuan’s screenplay.
The speed
with which the fire spreads means it falls to local fire chief Zhao Yingqi
(Wang Qianyuan) and his troop of inexperienced youngsters to be first on the
scene.
Among
their number is Han Kai (Du Jiang), the station’s information officer, better
suited to videoing his colleagues rescuing cats from trees than battling a
life-threatening blaze.
Both men are given nominal romantic interests
in the form respectively of Han Xue and Tong Liya, who also manage to get
themselves caught on the wrong side of the flames before the threat can be
extinguished.
A decade on from the Towering Inferno-like disaster movie Out of Inferno – which starred Hong Kong heavyweights Louis Koo Tin-lok and Lau
Ching-wan – director Oxide Pang Chun returns to the genre, albeit without
brother Danny, with the similarly incendiary Flashover.
Also set on the Chinese mainland, the
film follows a company of rookie firefighters who risk their lives to battle a
huge blaze that has consumed a chemical industrial estate.
As with its spiritual predecessor,
however, Flashover prioritises perilous pyrotechnics over
plot and character development, leaving audiences struggling to care about the
fate of its one-dimensional protagonists.
Playing like a poor man’s alternative
to the ostentatious heroes-in-helmets blockbusters of fellow Hong Kong
filmmaker Dante Lam Chiu-yin, Flashover confines
its drama to a single smouldering location.
When an earthquake ruptures a fuel
line at a large chemical park, it sparks a furious inferno that threatens to
engulf not only the entire complex, but also the surrounding residential areas.
Viewers will be reminded of the
spectacular and catastrophic scenes of the 2015 Tianjin container port explosions, which were doubtless an inspiration
for Yang Daiyuan’s screenplay.
The speed with which the fire spreads
means it falls to local fire chief Zhao Yingqi (Wang Qianyuan) and his troop of
inexperienced youngsters to be first on the scene.
Among their number is Han Kai (Du
Jiang), the station’s information officer, better suited to videoing his
colleagues rescuing cats from trees than battling a life-threatening blaze.
Both men are given nominal romantic
interests in the form respectively of Han Xue and Tong Liya, who also manage to
get themselves caught on the wrong side of the flames before the threat can be
extinguished.
Beyond Zhao and Han Kai, the rest of
the firefighting troop are left woefully underdeveloped. Wang Ge, for example,
plays the only other memorable firefighter, whose defining attribute is simply
that he’s a bit overweight, which by default also makes him the crew’s resident
comedian.
Suffice to say they must all work
together if they are to save the day, but if a few die along the way, audiences
probably won’t notice.
With its full complement of training
montages, stirring speeches, and “leave no man behind” heroics, Flashover veers uncannily close to a military
thriller, only missing a foreign adversary to demonise.
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