Harrowing
There are some plot points in this movie that are kind of questionable and require suspension of disbelief, but overall this was great to watch.The story was harrowing and I felt mind-blown by the way things were playing out, even when I realized things one second before it was revealed. The tone of the story was really doom-and-gloom and I felt like it perfectly encapsulated the vengeance theme, from the very first second to the very last scene. Great movie— one that's not afraid to embrace its darkness.
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The story is really nothing new, though it does try to show the difficulties Hong Kong's police face with pressure from varying groups. It also asks the question, what does it take to push a good cop over the edge? I was able to call out the major plot points and turning points without reading the synopsis in that it strays very little from stories done before. What Raging Fire has going for it is over the top, frenetic action sequences. Whether with fists, knives, guns, or cars, the action choreography is graphic and breath-taking.
Raging Fire's other strength is its two stars. Donnie Yen as Bong, the tough, honest cop gives a captivating performance as a man struggling to survive in a system that does not reward integrity and sacrifice. Nicholas Tse's Ngo chewed up the scenery and his opponents in a mesmerizing performance of a wronged cop out for revenge. One of the strongest scenes is a quiet, tense conversation between the two men who used to be friends, taut with anger as they play cat and mouse, not knowing for sure who the predator is. Yen and Tse have amazing chemistry.
The rest of the cast, including Qin Lan, who plays Bong's wife, have very little time or moments to stand out. The good cop team and the bad cop team characters are not very memorable.
Raging Fire's explosive action sequences propelled by its two stars' energy tumbles headlong to the climax everyone will know is coming, providing enough entertainment to make this a movie worth watching. Hold on for the ride because the action is non-stop.
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the title can mean 'never forever apart' or 'never forever together' - confusing but very Korean, as we got an open ending. i enjoyed this movie - read a lot of mixed comments and considering the topic (that's a bit sensitive - to put it mildly) i get why. but all in all i enjoyed this very much - more than i thought i would...first off Vera Farmiga is a great actress, so didn't expect anything less then what i got from her - seen David McInnis in a load of Kmovies and dramas, never found his acting lacking, but here it was a bit off, maybe cause his strong points r action(?) not emotion. or maybe his character was a bit lacking in general - bottom line we need his character's POV.
we start off with Andrew's fathers funeral and his 'attack' on his wife (heard that there r people who get horny at funerals, its a need to affirm they r alive or something along those lines). as i have never felt this way (only depressed and sad) will go by what i've heard. and from there to him standing on the roof and looking below, was scene after scene of his silent personal "drama" - which considering the only thing i had to go by, was the description - i guess his reason was his low sperm count. he never verbalizes much.
Sophie on the other hand gives u tons to "work with", u know what she is feeling not only with words - the desperation that makes her do something unthinkable. her humbling herself, when surrounded by his mother and those weird cult like believers, preaching at her (her need to pray in order to conceive, cause she is obviously the one at fault) her taking it quietly - cause of her love for her husband. his suicide attempt, fueling her hopelessness and despair, swallowing her pride into approaching Ji Ha - with a bold unthinkable "job offer"... let alone going through with it - u see that its abhorrent to her, and when u get that she did conceive in the past and aborted the baby, without Andrew's knowledge - how guilt is also playing a huge hand in her desperation to convince, this time and make amends to her "suffering" husband, that she feels she wronged cause of aborting a baby when they weren't even married or committed in anyway.
Ji Ha has his own problems like any illegal immigrant, he is working around the clock to make ends meat and find a way to become legal, plus bring over his gf. he is basically living in isolation. so what starts off as "look at the money" and just do it.. turns into jealousy when he finds out that Sophie's husband is also Korean, plus them being well off and happy - him seeing everything he wants, already in the hands of another - like him is what makes him belligerent - but that blow-up also brings them closer - ironically.. what at the start was mechanical, after the fight turn's emotional - they connect, treat each other like humans.
as will happen when two desperate people find each other, they cling... is this love? hope? guess with the ending we get, it is... at least that's what i chose to believe - she needed to forgive herself and let go of a man that was depressed, and a baby was just a band-aid (she finds that out when Andrew finds out that it aint his baby). and no person tries to kill themselves just cause they can't conceive - there is much more that's going on - that's why i keep saying - Andrew's character is lacking...
the open ending according to a lot is her answering Ji Ha's call and them both moving to Korea, considering the beach - but then i ask, why the kid talking English?!? her being pregnant indicates Ji Ha is the father, not cause of the beach but cause of the choice of wool she is knitting with - the red was the shirt he wore in her "day dream" (when she was having a party and missing/fantasizing about the man she "missed"). personally i think as she left Andrew and comes from money, she had the ability to keep Ji Ha from being deported, plus he Is the father of her baby. (lets not forget Ji Ha said he never felt connect to Korea) that's why i think they still in the US. but the important bit is that everyone agrees that they remind together - so happy ending - so enjoyed this, for sure a rewatch and would happily recommend.
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A BL horror with an interesting ending
This in reality is a noble gesture in trying to provide a different feel to the BL genre. It frankly is not very scaring but it did have a very interesting ending to it that came as a surprise at least for me. However, the main actors were certainly not afraid or ashamed to show their Adonis bodies nude or in very tight underwear and speedos. How refreshing! A BL movie that showed guys being guys in scenes that called for nudity. We did not have to speculate or guess. We saw. It brought this to an adult level without it being in any way pornographic or celicious. Kudos for them for doing this even if the production was a bit week.You can see my full review of this movie at BLBliss.com.
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Needed more character development
The movie attempter through use of flashback to show why the FL was so attached to her drama teacher. but we never understand fully what the teacher's wife did and what was his motivation/continued emotional connection to her (I was not clear whether she killed his mother or just set fire to their shed). I think she would have had deeper feeling for her boyfriend as he was so in love with her and she was supposed to be very needy. If you have something else to watch. I would not waste my time unless you like kinda dark, depressive. unclear movies to discuss later with others.Was this review helpful to you?
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The action in this movie was absolutely incredible but I missed some deeper character moments. Like...Were the Ajin truly colder than humans? What happened to Kei and Eriko's parents? Why did Izumi work for Tosaki and the department that experimented on Ajins when she was an Ajin herself, how could she have just stood by and watched them do that to people like her? Etc. etc...
I think my favorite moments were the back-n-forths between Nagai Kei and Satou because Satou was a fantastic villain, deranged, sure, but you got where he was coming from and why he was so gung-ho about killing humans. Their scenes were the best part of the movie.
And then the scene at the end, when Tosaki betrayed Kei. Did he actually feel regret? We didn't really find out anything about Tosaki's motives so it was hard to say for sure but... did he feel regret about betraying Kei after everything he had done for them? It sure looked so but, well, he was as disgusting as everyone else who participated in those experiments, Izumi included, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But honestly? I was glad that both Kei and Satou escaped at the end. I usually like for the bad guys to get what they deserve but here...
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Beautifully strange
Echoing comments that I've seen about this short film : yes, it is weird. Though I believe bizarre would be a more fitting term. But what a splendid gem of a bizarrerie.Everything is meant to evoke the uncanny ; from the eerie sound design every time U moves or speak, to the unbridled, mad, incoherent editing. I was so confused on my first watch but intrigued enough to watch it a second time, paying more attention to the fine details that are easily missed in the chaos, and I can definitely say that I love it. Warmly recommended to people who love strange yet thoughtful bite sized cinema.
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Best chinese movie I have ever watched!!
Just got done watching it so everything is still fresh in my mind. The acting is great. Even when they had a blank face, you can tell exactly what they were feeling and it was enough to make me cry. This is probably the saddest movie I have ever watched. I ugly cried continuously most of the time. The storyline was so sad. Amazingly directed. I would rewatch this like 50 times straight and still not get bored. I came across this when I was looking for a similar movie to Better Days and I have to say, this is actually better. If you guys watched these and you know more movies or shows like this, PLEASE TELL ME BECAUSE I'M DYING TO FIND ANOTHER ONE. You can really feel all the emotion building up from the start of the movie to the point she killed herself. It was really realistic too. When she realized she had something against her bully who leaked her secret to everyone, she actually threatened to tell everyone. In most other movies, they would say something stupid like "Don't worry, I won't tell. I won't stoop as low as you" but this was way better. I feel like all of us would've at least scared the bully by threatening to tell everyone just like she did in the movie. This was the best thing my eyes have ever witnessed and everyone should watch it ASAP.Was this review helpful to you?
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Important Representation
I'm not gonna lie this is mainly going to be me giving opinions about the asexual rep found in this movie, since I'm an asexual myself. I'm going to try not to spoil things, but if you want to go in blind stop reading here, just go watch it becuse tl;dr this movie is good and the ace + poly rep is A+.What makes me super happy about this movie is that beyond just being excited to see myself on screen, my identity was talked about in a caring, knowledgeable manner. I was worried going into this that they'd present the "solution" to the problem in their throuple as Minho just having sex with them regardless. Thankfully that wasn't the case, and we got good discussions about his boundaries, and what he was curious about/the things he wanted to try with them and what things were most likely off the table. The power was always in Minho's hands.
Side note, the first scene where we see he likes to take pictures of his partners was actually a really nice detail! The indication that he had aesthetic attraction towards them and expressed this through photography was something I appreciated. Some people who are trying to give asexual representation sometimes don't acknowledge the split attraction model, so seeing this director understand that he can still have aesthetic attraction was really nice.
Honestly, Minho is probably one of the best aces i've seen portrayed, because while he shone a light on the asexual experience, it never felt like an "Asexual 101" that some characters devolve into. He wasn't a vague ace, but he also wasn't a "teaching prop" ace. You could see him as a proper, fleshed out person. We saw him talk about his boundaries, we saw him express his love in other ways, he talked about his curiosity, and even the moments where he hated himself rang painfully true.
To talk about his partners, there's one whose name I didn't catch but don't have much to say on. He was the calm, caring one who was attuned to the feelings of both of his partners, and was definitely the glue. As for Seongjin, his behaviour at the beginning initially bothered me, because his frustration came out in the form of slight aphobia. Not in a strong sense, he knew what asexuality was and acknowledged that was part of who Minho was and he loved him, but he was was often frustrated that there were so many things Minho didn't like him doing and verbalized it and that made Minho sad which made the other partner upset as well. The more I watched though, I could see that it was because Seongjin's love language was physical contact, and so was at a loss of how to express his love towards Minho when kissing and sex were taken off the table. That wasn't put forward like an excuse, but I did understand the reasons behind his behaviour better. This died down later anyways as they all began to strike a balance, discovering the other ways they can all express their love for one another.
Is it odd to say the ending made me tear up a bit? I just really liked the fact that Minho wanted to try something, and felt safe to ask his partners to help him explore this. It was a great moment full of so much love..
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Mei & Takumi’s acting.
I truly loved how they did their roles. I never saw Nagano Mei doing roles like this before so personally I was really excited to see how she did and I loved it. Takumi’s role is not so different from others, yet, it still had me speechless many times.I was TOTALLY crying when Mamizu passed away and Takuya didn’t even cry.... I was like, ur girl just died but u didn’t cry?!?! But I still understood his character easily. I wasn’t mad at him for not crying but I was a little surprised.
Their acting overall wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t so bad either, I think they did a good job in their own potraying such roles so, in my opinion, this movie is really worth it. You get to see a new side of Nagano Mei so you will like it definietly.
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Prepare Yourself
This movie was a lot to take in. Honestly going through the whole thing was painful because of how much emotion it was able to evoke. It was such a good movie and I don't regret watching it, but be prepared going in to deal with a lot of conflicting emotions and to walk away from watching it feeling the same way. It's an incredible watch that reflects some of the harsh realities of life as well as the impossible choices or situations people encounter,. The ending is very open ended, the way issues in real life often are, with the situation left in a messy and somewhat unresolved and conflicting state while also leaving some room for hope. Overall, great movie, but you have to be prepared to watch something that will make you mad, sad and frustrated all at once.Was this review helpful to you?
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Story & Characters (6/10) How many points does your ideal boyfriend deserve? What percentage fits him the most? In the Chinese movie: Love With Numbers, the female lead gives and deducts points to her athletic boyfriend. The female lead is trying to portray a calculative girl who demands her boyfriend to fit her ideal standards by giving and deducting points. Later she realizes that the male lead always believes she fits the 100% mark because he is satisfied with her qualities. The female lead learns to cherish her partner for who he is. Love is immeasurable.
The movie teaches us to cherish our current partners, and to be satisfied with our lovers. Also, love can not me measured as a numerical value.
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What a amazing chill movie
I loooved this movie . Josses omg her character was everything. I love how the relationship build between the two and the way this was filmed. I love chill movies like theses and I loooved the ending . Even though they didn’t end up together because she broke things off (I loved that scene by the way I felt that when he cried ugh) and yeon seok the main characters who played the guy falling for her, In my eyes he can do no wrong.And I liked how she became independent at the end. she starts off just going through life not wanting to leave the house. And the at the end she’s all out and about driving!!!! I was like ok girl!!! Get it get it!!!
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Neat Concept and Balanced Story
I really liked the concept where the lead character's opinion of the train station basically mirrors the thoughts of a viewer. In other words, he imagines how a romance could ever happen in such a location in a clever irony. The transition in his thoughts, framing of the scenes, and music all blended well together. I also like the idea of a location becoming romantic with the right person and events versus being inherently romantic. Overall, for its length, I thought the story wasn't too ambitious or too little, too sappy or too corny. It was just right for me.Was this review helpful to you?
