Review: Fire of Conscience

Forget Hollywood nonsense like "The Losers" or "The A-Team" with all that posing and shit. Forget "Infernal Affairs", "Election" or "The Departed". Go and see Dante Lam's "Fire of Conscience" for the real meaning of hardboiled cop drama. I'm surprised by how much I love this film. I mean, I do not even like Leon Lai or Ritchie Ren but put them into a film masterfully directed by Dante Lam, add in a great supporting including Liu Kai Chi, Vivian Hsu and Yip Suen, and you get a Hong Kong cop-classic.

I hate how the word "noir" is thrown about so much these days. But this film qualifies as noir not because of the way it is filmed but because of its subject matter. These days, artsy-fartsy film-makers go around with handheld cameras and shoot their shit in dark rooms. Then they call them noirish. Noir was always about the subject matter. The darkness in human souls. Dante Lam's film is about the "plague" within the hearts of men. Leon Lai and Ritchie Ren both play cops who walk around haunted by the "plague" within them. It's about nasty cops and nastier villains - but without the posturing of some Michael Mann piece.

I first saw this in the theatres and was surprised by how much had gone pass the attention of the censors. Colourful and risque dialogue from Liu Kai Chi, body parts flying everywhere in explosions, police brutality in interrogation rooms, etc. Saw it again on a Hi-Density DVD today and it was even better. If you thought the "Ip Man" movies are what HK film is all about these days, you are sorely mistaken. Go watch "Fire of Conscience" and "Crossing Hennessy" to see what quality HK movies are all about.