Lifeline by Johnnie To Kei Fung (1997)
31 January 2007This really is Hong Kong’s version of backdraft, but done with so much more style and with much more dangerous looking stunts, as well as a less ridiculous storyline, which to me at least, helps it to improve on the original. In this instead of the ridiculous story of a fireman setting his own fires to get more money for firemen, we have a story which is just about these firemen and their characters, and of course the big fire they eventually have to fight, but we also get insight into their lives outside of this dangerous world. If you though the stunts looked scary in backdraft, you are in for a treat here because this movie has some insane fire stunts, and many where you can see the actor’s faces, like the shot from the trailer with Alex Fong Chung Sun running out of a wall of fire carrying another fireman, or the myriad of shots where you can see it is Lau Ching Wan in the middle of this blaze! Not only that, but this Celestial Region 3 Release of this film looks gorgeous. After the previous horrible DVD release I did not have much hope for this film getting a nice release, but this version has done it.
This is the story of a group of firemen known to their contemporaries as the “Ill fated jinxes” because of the injuries and accidents that happen around them. We have the Chief, who leads the rescue team (Lau Ching Wan) who gives up promotions because he would rather attempt to save lives than follow procedures, the lady boss played by Roby Wong Cheuk Ling whose husband wants to get her pregnant so she will leave this dangerous work, and the young, inexperienced and excited rookie (Raymong Wong Ho Yin) as well as their first station boss (Yuen Bun). On their first mission we see, they are to rescue 2 people in a broken elevator in a construction site, which they manage to do, but Yuen Bun falls 6 floors in the elevator. At the Hospital the chief sees a beautiful female doctor (Carman Lee Yuek Tung) getting broke up with her scumbag boyfriend (Kenneth Chan Kai Tai), and she turns out to be Yuen Bun’s doctor. Yuen Bun ends up being paralyzed from the waist down, so they get a new hard ass station boss, who takes no quarter (Alex Fong Chung Sun).
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
The Chief and the new Station Boss but heads, as does the Chief but heads with the Chief of Firemen (Damian Lau Chung Yun). And then the lady doctor gets drunk and is sitting out of her apartment building ready to jump because her boyfriend is seeing another woman. The Chief ends up trying to woo her, but she jumps and is saved by a rescue bag. Still he tries to woo her, and even brings her to his home with his mother, where she sleeps, but she ends up going off with her old boyfriend.
We have the rookie, learning the ropes, and even how to slide down a ladder, as well as having a kindly chef father who brings soup for everyone, but the new Station Chief kicks him out.
The Lady boss is always fighting with her husband because he hates condoms and she is allergic to the pill, but signed a contract that says she cannot get pregnant, but realizes he has poked holes in the condoms and gotten her pregnant, so she decides on an abortion until… They have a mission to rescue a baby dropped into a hole in a construction site, and it starts to rain, so she goes down the hole on a rope and saves the baby, though it later dies in the hospital, and she realizes she must have her baby.
The new station chief is having personal troubles, his ex wife shows up with their child who only speaks English, and tries to dump off the daughter so she can get married, even though she fought hard for custody when they got divorced. It turns out this isn’t the actual story, and she has liver problems from too much drinking, so the chief has to lighten up a bit and take in the daughter that he doesn’t even know.
Finally they get the big call for the level 4 fire, that many stations are going to. It seems a huge factory with only 2 entrances is ablaze. As they leave, the doctor shows up to see if the Chief really likes her, and he kisses her and rushes off, because he likes her very much.
The fire was set by an arsonist (a cameo by Johnnie To regular Lam Suet) They head for the big fire and get sent in, and end up rescuing another team in the exploding blaze, because their are many chemicals in the building that should not have been there, but they end up trapped when the stairwell is blocked, and must find another way out. This fire sequence is unbelievable, with the actors right in the thick of it. The team really works together and gains respect for each other, and thanks to the lady boss they save 2 female workers trapped in the elevator, but all are running out of air, and she and the rookie end up using air compressors. Finally they head into the sewer to escape, but see it is filled with methane, and it is old and sealed, so they are trapped. The Chief seals the rest into a smaller tunnel and then uses his fireaxe to light the methane and explode their way out. They all trundle out of the whole in the ground, including the chief, and all hug and wash off, but as soon as their is another call for teams to go in, they suit up and head off.
•••••
A vast improvement on Backdraft with a much smaller budget, and much bigger stunts, this really is a recruitment poster for Hong Kong firemen, which must be how they got so many firetrucks for this film. To made a great character piece with hugely exciting action sequences. It is amazing none of these actors were seriously burned.
This is really a must see!!!!
Feedback
You must be logged in to post a comment.