Rapid Fire
|
DVD Cover Information Actor: Brandon Lee, Kate Hodge, Nick Mancuso, Powers Boothe, Raymond J. Barry Brand: Fox DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 4.0; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 4.0; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 95 minutes DVD Release Date: 2002-05-21 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: 20th Century Fox |
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $4.51 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $2.25 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Movie Reviews of Rapid Fire
Movie Review: Problems with "Rapid Fire" disc
Summary: 3 Stars
I agree with Mr. Tindall of Colorado, I would have given "Rapid Fire" 4 and a 1/2 stars but with the problems with the discs I lower my rating to 3 stars. (I realize this is not a 2-disc set, I will clarify my statement in a sec!) I enjoyed this film in which Brandon Lee starred as student Jake Lo.It was a great film, and it was great to see veteran stunt actor Gene LeBell as one of Cerano's ( Nick Mancuso ) thugs. Gene LeBell ( former pro-wrestler Hank Hangman ) has been in tons of movies over the years most recently ( to my mind ) as the cabbie that pulls his gun on both Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the first "Rush Hour" movie. It's ironic and rather fitting that Gene also appeared with Brandon's dad Bruce / "Kato" on the TV show "The Green Hornet" as seen on the Brentwood Home Video DVD collection. Gene the burly redhead can be seen in "Rapid Fire" in the big shootout in the bar between Powers Boothe's cops and Cerano's thugs in the middle of the movie. Gene is the one wheeling out the big portable mounted machine gun.
It is here notably, that I experienced my problem with the disc. The next scene where Brandon / Jake fights with Cerano's big Lummox behind the bar, like Mr. Tindall I experience a pause flutter that I have to skip to get around. I've returned the DVD and bought other copies to have them all stop / "flutter" in the same spot. I have a second generation DVD player (i.e. pre- DTS, progressive scan) yet I have played 100's of DVD's in my collection without such problems. I've only experienced one other American DVD problem (I won't touch on problematic import discs) and that is Disney's "Emperor's New Groove" (Similar pause-stop/ flutter at the beginning of that film). I'm curious if this was a bad print run of discs, if anyone else has experienced this problem, or if the defect is in the "Master". I would appreciate if anyone who has bought this DVD without this problem would state so, just so I know good copies exist!
I have been a big fan of Brandon Lee and have eagerly awaited this film to be made available on DVD. Brandon's death greatly affected me, more so than his famous father's for I was very young when Bruce died (I'm close to Brandon's age). It's hard to imagine what a vacuum Bruce's untimely death left in young Brandon's life. I can only begin to imagine what a large shadow Brandon had to grow into manhood under! I followed Brandon's career closely and rooted for his successes. I know "Laser Mission" sucks, but as a completist I have it in my collection. Brandon's fans are doing themselves a disservice if they ignore the little known Hong Kong film "Legacy of Rage". I enjoyed "Showdown in Little Tokyo" when Brandon played second fiddle to "Duh-Dolph", I felt he should have been first chair! (I understand! He was paying his dues) I enjoyed the fight choreography, Brandon's quips, the ever present Cary- Hariyuki Tagawa ("Pearl Harbor", "Planet of the Apes"2001). It was great up until Brandon uttered that embarrassing BS ego-trip line for Dolph's bruised self-esteem (talk about "cutting the cables" to the suspension of disbelief). "Rapid Fire" is a great fight fan film! With inventive choreography (for Hollywood!), remember this was pre- "Matrix", "Crouching Tiger"... Brandon displayed blossoming acting chops as well as kicks, which fans know bloomed in his poignant performance in "The Crow". His performances foretold of greatness tragically cut short by his accidental death. I viewed both "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", and "The Crow" with a heavy heart haunted by the prophetic nature of both films.
On a lighter note, I agree with the lady down under, who's review stated she enjoyed the fight at the end of "Rapid Fire" between Brandon and the little guy coming down the stairs. That "little guy" was Al Leong (not to be confused with "Aki"Al Leong). Al Leong the veteran Martial Artist / choreographer has been in many memorable movies (most notably as "Endo" the torturer in the first "Lethal Weapon", or as the candy eating terrorist in Alan Rickman's "crew"in "Die Hard". Al's presence these days seem relegated to quick death cameos (if you blinked you missed him in the Japanese fish cannery boat in "Godzilla"*American flop*, and in the end gun battle of Chow Yun Fat's American Debut "The Replacement Killers". Al seems to be more behind the scenes now choreographing films like "The Scorpion King" (Al's visible in the fight choreography documentary on that DVD) Al Leong can be seen in the films "Big Trouble in Little China"(a personal fave!), "The Perfect Weapon", as well as "Showdown in Little Tokyo".
I noted, as any fan of Hong Kong / Jackie Chan films would, that many Jackie Chan specific fight moves were borrowed and used in "Rapid Fire". Most notably Brandon's use of the rolling clothes rack to sweep the legs out from under the thugs at the laundry, and the motorcycle "crash / ride" of the thug on the front of the bike through glass cases was lifted from Jackie Chan's first "Police Story" movie. Oh well, as Colton said "Imitation is the sincerest of flattery".