It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A well-made, well-executed action thriller which has more than enough violence, shooting, and explosions for the average male movie fan. While the plot may be a clichéd and familiar one, along with the characters and the senseless sentimentalising (they even throw in a couple of flashbacks), a better cast than usual makes this film more enjoyable than most and the extended action scenes are slick and never less than exciting.There are plenty of amazing stunts, car crashes, and shoot-outs to keep the casual viewer occupied, but this film really comes into its own with the hand-to-hand combat scenes involving Lee and various opponents. These are well-shot and choreographed (by Lee himself), fast moving but not so fast that you can't see what's happening. Weapons, poles, knives, guns, motorbikes, and even fridge doors are brought into play during this film's course. The timing is just right. The fights are all in varied locations, ranging from the typical (office, factory) to the unusual (kitchen, train track).As for the acting, well, it's not brilliant but it'll pass. The best of the bunch is Powers Boothe, who is pretty good as a sympathetic cop (love that scene where he takes out a speeding car). Brandon Lee is okay as the hero, but still wooden, even if he is less wooden than pals Lundgren or Van Damme. The actors playing the bad guys are wonderfully evil in an over the top way. The little bearded Chinese guy from DIE HARD, Al Leong, turns up as a chief villain and has an excellent martial arts battle with our hero at the end. If you're a fan of B action movies, then you're in for a treat with this one, as rarely are they as well polished as this is (check out any of Chuck Norris' movies if you want a clear example). When a film has more action and excitement than plot, you know you're on to a good thing, so check it out!

Being the son of a legend isn't easy, especially when you're the son of Martial Artist Bruce Lee. That was the predicament that Brandon Lee was put in, and soon comparisons to his dad were hard to avoid. Even with his first film in Showdown in Little Tokyo, Lee was clearly going to get some kind of comparison to his dad. Of course Brandon never was as great of a martial artist as his dad, but to me he was a better actor despite being dealt with bad one liners in his debut. For his second effort he goes solo, though he doesn't do so with the most convincing act.Clearly a star vehicle for Lee, Rapid Fire delivers what it needs to and no more. The action does enough to be entertaining due to decent production values, but the story is mostly third rate at best. Jake Lo (Lee) is a college student who is good at drawing, especially a model that takes an interest in him. After being dragged to a party, he witnesses a murder by drug kingpin Antonio Serrano (Nick Mancuso) and somehow escapes his clutches.Of course he doesn't get away clean and ends up being arrested. That is until he tells the cops the story, and he is transported to Chicago to testify against Serrano. But when a few dirty agents want to take him out, Lo goes all out and has to team up with local cop Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe) if he wants to live another week. Eventually Ryan uses Jake as bait to lure Serrano into giving details about a drug deal, but all hell breaks loose again and soon another drug dealer comes into play that Jake will have to take down as well.Rapid Fire is not without merit, but one cannot help that it should have had more action and less story. Story can only take an action movie so far, and perhaps it takes Rapid Fire too far to the point of near boredom. Of course with Brandon Lee as the star he never makes Rapid Fire boring, but he sure as hell doesn't make it as worthwhile as The Crow. When Rapid Fire sticks to the action, it generally entertains. When it goes for dramatics, they seem to bog down Rapid Fire's fast pace approach.The basic story of Rapid Fire is adequate, though not the most intelligent story you could get out of an action film. When Lee kicks ass despite being a pacifist, it creates unexpected thrills and actually keep us in the movie. When he flashes back to his past, it gets a little too sappy and adds little depth to a movie that should contain more action. As the film progresses, the story seems to run out of energy and never quite knows where to end. The main problem is that Rapid Fire gets tangled into too many subplots that feel rather irrelevant, and they seem to restrict what Rapid Fire could have been.Lee was capable as an action star, but as a leading man he wasn't quite ready to make the leap. He looks the part and seems to fit the leading role, but he doesn't take charge the way his dad did. He feels more like an afterthought in Rapid Fire despite being the lead attraction, and it's not just the story that makes him forgettable. It's the lack of truly impressive action pieces that make Lee barely better than Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme here, even with a few glass shattering sequences that occasionally entertain.The villain, or villains, are mostly just nameless presences that don't add much to the story other than characters that get their asses kicked by Brandon Lee. The cops that help Lee are somewhat amusing, but they're played out typecast roles at best here. Only Boothe gets some kind of background story, but even then we don't feel all that much emotion for a cop who gets too greedy in trying to nab a drug kingpin. In giving us another villain, Rapid Fire gets desperate at creating more thrills when it should have stuck to a better story.Some of the action pieces in Rapid Fire work, but not many of them seem to work well. They sustain our attention just enough to get some joy out of Brandon Lee kicking ass in his first lead role, but to be honest they don't make us cheer enough for the good guys. When the story is at its most basic, the action actually can be entertaining. But with layers of story there comes a price, and the price that Rapid Fire pays is thrilling action. Rapid Fire isn't weak, but it never seems to be better than the best Jean Claude Van Damme effort.Grade: C

Nice guy college art student and ace martial artist Jake Lo (an extremely likable and charismatic performance by Brandon Lee) finds his life in considerable jeopardy after he witnesses ruthless and flamboyant Mafia kingpin Antonio Serrano (deliciously played with lip-smacking hammy aplomb by Nick Mancuso) bump off a Chinese rival. Tough renegade cop Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe in peak brooding and rugged form) and his feisty partner Karla Withers (a wonderfully spunky turn by the lovely Kate Hodge) use Jake as bait so they can nab Serrano. Ably directed by Dwight H. Little, with a nonstop snappy pace, fluid, glossy cinematography by Ric Waite, gritty urban Chicago locations, plenty of exciting and well-staged fights and shoot-outs (Lee's fierce chopsocky confrontation with the ubiquitous Al Leong rates as a definite thrilling highlight), a smidgen of tasty female nudity, a roaring trashy rock soundtrack, some steamy soft-core sex, a rattling, rousing score by Christopher Young, an amusing line in welcome sarcastic humor, and loads of gloriously excessive bloody violence, this gleefully ridiculous actionfest may be wildly far-fetched and implausible from the get-go, but it's still a great deal of over-the-top loony fun all the same. Best of all, Lee not only displays real charm and appeal in the lead role, but also shows remarkable skill and agility in his numerous rough'n'tumble fight set pieces. The supporting cast likewise impresses, with especially praiseworthy work from Mancuso (his blithely evil villain almost steals the whole show), Boothe, Hodge, Raymond J. Barry as crooked fed Agent Frank Stewart, Tzi Ma as vicious drug lord Kinman Tau, and Tony Longo as Serrano's brutish bodyguard Brunner. A real bang-up flick.

"Rapid Fire" is without a doubt Brandon Lee's best movie. I know that if he were alive now he would have exceeded this with ease and improved himself as an actor! He was on his way to stardom, I am sure of that. In "Showdown in little Tokio" he already showed that he was a good actor. In my opinion it was an insult that they gave the lead role to Dolph Lundgren. Brandon Lee was more charismatic than him and he was the reason for me to watch that movie. In that movie is also apparent that he is the better martial artist. But anyway in "Rapid Fire" he has the lead role and literally explodes. His presentation of martial arts skills was wonderful. I knew that he had learned jeet kun do (bruce lee's invented style) but I never realized that he was this good. The things he does is just a tour of force. His skill as a martial artist combined with his skill as an actor made him a serious threat to other actors in this genre. He would have been one of the greatest action stars. Due to his tragic death we are denied to witness this. Other reviewers complain about this being an average story with good action. Well hello,isn't that the point. The plot is not important. It is all about the action and it is a plus if the story is exciting! The acting (Powers Boothe,Nick Mancuso) is more than great and gives this action movie an extra flavor. This movie is a marvelous action movie which you will enjoy!