REVIEW: ‘Flash Point’ (DVD – Dragon Dynasty)

One of the best action movies of 2007 finally arrives on DVD in the U.S. Dragon Dynasty’s Two-Disc Ultimate Edition of FLASH POINT, starring Donnie Yen and Collin Chou, features exclusive audio commentary and interview with action director and star Donnie Yen, along with other bonus content. On presentation, DD delivers excellent picture quality and audio options.

Disc One

Audio Commentary with Donnie Yen and Bey Logan – Bey Logan scores big by getting Donnie Yen to come in and record a commentary track for this release. You gotta love Donnie. Bey struggles some to get him to talk during the film’s slow part in the middle while falling back on location identification as filler. But as soon as the action heats up Donnie lights up and starts talking his head off about the frustrations of working with the promising, yet inexperienced Xing Yu and shooting various action sequences. You can really tell where his head and his heart is when it comes to filmmaking and the world needs more people like that. To get the highlights of the commentary listen during the action sequences and skip everything in between.

Disc Two

Collateral Damage: The Making of FLASH POINT (18 minutes) – Standard collection of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast members and director Wilson Yip.

FLASH POINT EXPLORED (28 minutes) – The first part of this featurette dispenses with more general cast interviews, largely discussing their characters. The focus eventually shifts to the action choreography with Donnie Yen and his co-stars elaborating on the challenges of putting the fight sequences together. Yen points out that he brought in experts from outside Hong Kong to work on the MMA techniques. He doesn’t name anyone but his longtime friend John Salvitti is shown. It has been mentioned elsewhere that it was Salvitti who turned Yen on to MMA fighting. Yen briefly discusses how he tried to approach the film’s climatic gun battle from a fresh angle. Collin Chou talks about this film possibly being his last Hong Kong movie due to its demanding physical challenges.

Perpetual Motion (3 minutes) – This short segment is for the martial arts movie fans. Donnie Yen introduces his stunt team by name, all guys he has worked with for years. Yen has always wanted to emulate Bruce Lee, as he reminds us here, but I have to say in working with an international crew and being open to new ideas, he has come a lot closer than many of his peers to forming an approach to screen fighting that mirrors what Lee once did.

Deleted Scenes (3 minutes) – There are three deleted scenes, all non-action. The scenes add a bit of dimension to the development of the story but I can see why they were removed. The middle part of the film is light on action and needs to keep its momentum up to balance out with the fast-paced fighting at either end. These scenes would have slowed things down more.

The Ultimate Fighters (10 minutes) – The section is made up of two segments. “Gladiators” is little more than a three minute trailer for the film. “MMA on Display” is a fun little introduction to real MMA moves performed in the film. A host goes into the ring with an MMA fighter who takes us step-by-step through a few of the holds while explaining why they are effective.

Promotional Gallery (40 minutes) – Donnie Yen speaks in an exclusive interview for this release. Since he’s speaking to an American audience (and likely being interviewed by his buddy Bey Logan), he’s quite frank and open in discussing FLASH POINT. He talks about early changes that forced a complete script change and how his own approach towards filmmaking a movie actually differs from Wilson Yip. He goes on to speak in great detail about the film’s action and how he put it together. This is the finest interview I’ve yet seen with Donnie Yen and I applaud Bey and the DD team for bringing to the fans. The rest of this section contains gala premiere footage and a collection of trailers and TV spots.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16×9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Cantonese DD 5.1, Cantonese DTS, English DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish, English (CC)
Length: 88 minutes
Release Date: 2008.04.22