Powers Boothe and Brandon Lee work opposite styles together to weave a buddy film cloth of resilience that derveved better reviews upon release. Unfortunately, the market was over crowded with far too many action movies at the time and though Rapid Fire had elements that others had not considered, it was simply dumped into their same pit.
Brandon Lee showed signs of the talent he possessed, a gentleness and thoughtfulness that's difficult to convey on film, particularly in characters whose primary aspects are violence and action. Somehow, he allowed humor to leap off the screen as well as intelligence.
Powers Boothe, as usual, brought a hard boiled wisdom to his Mace Ryan, along with av fatherly compassion for Lee's Jake Lo.
Among the cast who stand out are Nick Mancuso as organized crime boss Tony Serrano. I've always been shocked that Mancuso didn't end up with a more important career in film and television. His lead role in an 80s crime show called Stingray, which I highly recommend, if you can find. Research it first though.
Raymond J. Barry does a fine job as bent Federal agent Frank Stewart, who's time on screen is limited, but critical to the plot.
Kate Hodge plays a police officer on Mace Ryan's crack staff and is a love interest of Lee's character Jake Lo. Ms. Hodge is beautiful, intelligent, and makes a striking visual contrast with Asian-American Brandon Lee.
The plot is somewhat derivative, though more developed than most. It pits the Souteast Asian drug trade and the Chinese democracy movement in contrast with each other, despite not being related.
The visuals are very good, the editing is typical of the time with quick cuts, attributed to the influence of MTV music videos, but not nearly as quick as we're subjected to in the 2020s.
The pacing of the story is very good and it's nice to see a film with an international cast carrying it.
Ultimately, this isn't an arthouse film, but it does carry a message skilfully conveyed by cast and crew.
Boothe and Lee deliver excellent performances throughout and their relationship grows into a father and son style situation culminating in the climax.
I believe the film delivers an action style with intelligence and heart, well above its competitors of time.
If you like action movies, are admirers of Powers Boothe, Brandon Lee, or Nick Mancuso then see this film.
One sad aspect ties 2 of these actors together and that's the fact that they aren't walking our planet any longer. Most shockingly, the youngest of the 2, Brandon Lee, was the 1st to "cross over"as my Cherokee grandparents taught me to say.
Brandon Lee February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993 Powers Boothe June 1 1948 - May 14, 2017.
Brandon Lee showed signs of the talent he possessed, a gentleness and thoughtfulness that's difficult to convey on film, particularly in characters whose primary aspects are violence and action. Somehow, he allowed humor to leap off the screen as well as intelligence.
Powers Boothe, as usual, brought a hard boiled wisdom to his Mace Ryan, along with av fatherly compassion for Lee's Jake Lo.
Among the cast who stand out are Nick Mancuso as organized crime boss Tony Serrano. I've always been shocked that Mancuso didn't end up with a more important career in film and television. His lead role in an 80s crime show called Stingray, which I highly recommend, if you can find. Research it first though.
Raymond J. Barry does a fine job as bent Federal agent Frank Stewart, who's time on screen is limited, but critical to the plot.
Kate Hodge plays a police officer on Mace Ryan's crack staff and is a love interest of Lee's character Jake Lo. Ms. Hodge is beautiful, intelligent, and makes a striking visual contrast with Asian-American Brandon Lee.
The plot is somewhat derivative, though more developed than most. It pits the Souteast Asian drug trade and the Chinese democracy movement in contrast with each other, despite not being related.
The visuals are very good, the editing is typical of the time with quick cuts, attributed to the influence of MTV music videos, but not nearly as quick as we're subjected to in the 2020s.
The pacing of the story is very good and it's nice to see a film with an international cast carrying it.
Ultimately, this isn't an arthouse film, but it does carry a message skilfully conveyed by cast and crew.
Boothe and Lee deliver excellent performances throughout and their relationship grows into a father and son style situation culminating in the climax.
I believe the film delivers an action style with intelligence and heart, well above its competitors of time.
If you like action movies, are admirers of Powers Boothe, Brandon Lee, or Nick Mancuso then see this film.
One sad aspect ties 2 of these actors together and that's the fact that they aren't walking our planet any longer. Most shockingly, the youngest of the 2, Brandon Lee, was the 1st to "cross over"as my Cherokee grandparents taught me to say.
Brandon Lee February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993 Powers Boothe June 1 1948 - May 14, 2017.