Fire of Conscience (火龙) is Hong Kong's latest police action thriller movie directed by one of Hong Kong's acclaimed director, Dante Lam.Fire of Conscience revolves around two Hong Kong Police Force officers and their team - Detective Manfred (Leon Lai, 黎明), a tough and determined officer from the homicide department and Inspector Kee (Richie Ren 任贤齐), a young suave and manipulative officer from the narcotics bureau.
The murders of two policemen and a prostitute, that initially seem to be unrelated, bring the two officers and their team members to work together. However, as Manfred's investigation goes deeper, he inadvertently uncovers that there's a traitor in the ranks.
Here are some excerpts from a rather good review (original link).
Both Lai's street smart crook basher and Jen's slick ladder climber are quite obviously set up as different sides of the coin, the film avoids the expected good cop bad cop clichés, and makes a real effort to explore their motivations, and more specifically, their demons. Both are interesting, flawed figures, and it's to Lam's (director) credit that he for the most part avoids drawing any big moral conclusions, depicting both men as sympathetic and driven.
Things do get very bloody in places, as policemen and thugs are gunned down in impressive numbers, or are quite literally blown to pieces by grenades and the like, with Lam and Chin (choreography director) showing a distinct liking for explosives. The film features several real standout sequences, including a botched raid on a restaurant which sees the supporting cast cruelly decimated and which is arguably one of the best Hong Kong gun battles of recent years.
Overall, if you fancy Hong Kong's police action movie, you won't be disappointed with this movie.
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