''Fire of Conscience'' () is a 2010

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-yin (, born 1 July 1964) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, actor and action choreographer. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often writes and supervises ...

and starring

Leon Lai Leon Lai Ming Silver Bauhinia Star, SBS Bronze Bauhinia Star, BBS Medal of Honour (Hong Kong), MH ( zh, 黎明; born 11 December 1966), is a Hong Kong actor, singer, film director, and businessman. He is one of the "Cantopop#1990s: Four Heav ...

and

Richie Jen Richie Jen Hsien-chi (, born 23 June 1966), also known as Richie Ren, is a Taiwanese singer and actor. He graduated from the Chinese Culture University's physical education department. Jen debuted in December 1990 with the studio album ''Ask ...

. A Hong Kong-Chinese co-production, the film was released in Hong Kong on 1 April 2010.

Cast

as Detective Manfred *

as Inspector Kee *

Wang Baoqiang Wang Baoqiang (; born 29 May 1984) is a Chinese martial artist, actor and director. Wang first received recognition in the film '' Blind Shaft'' (2003), for which he shared the Best New Performer prize at the Golden Horse Awards. He went on to ...

as Xiao Yong *

Vivian Hsu Vivian Hsu (; ; born March 19, 1975) is a Taiwanese actress, model, and singer. In 1990, at 15, she won first place in a talent show in Taiwan and formed Girl's Team (1991–1993). At 19, she moved her career to Japan, where she became active ...

as Ellen *

Liu Kai-chi Dick Liu Kai-chi (, 30 September 1953 – 28 March 2021) was a Hong Kong actor, best known for his everyman supporting roles. His career spanned over 40 years, with appearances in over 90 television series and 70 films. He earned eight nomina ...

as Cheung On *

Michelle Ye Michelle Ye or Ye Xuan (born 14 February 1980) is a Chinese actress and producer. She is best known for her roles in ''Eternal Happiness'', ''Triumph in the Skies'', and ''Lost in the Chamber of Love''. Her most notable role was in the 2009 fi ...

as May * Charles Ying as Sam *

Wilfred Lau Wilfred Lau Ho-Lung is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He is also known as "師兄" (C-Hing, Senpai) in the entertainment industry because he was the winner of the 16th annual New Talent Singing Awards International Finals in 1997, despite not ac ...

as Hoi

Production

Director Dante Lam explained that the title of the film originates from the traditional fire

dragon dance Dragon dance () is a form of traditional dance and performance in China, Chinese culture of China, culture. Like the lion dance, it is most often seen during festive celebrations. The dance is performed by a team of experienced dancers who man ...

that Hong Kong residents used to practice to drive off pestilence and that he believes that there is pestilence in every human's soul that must be beaten out. To prepare for the action scenes,

prepared for these scenes by exercising, jogging and swimming.

stated that Lam wanted him to "lose weight to add more shadiness to my character. But before making any extra effort, I found myself thinner thanks to the hot weather and so many fighting scenes to shoot." Lai suggested that both Jen and he should sing as a duet for the theme song for the film. Jen stated that he "felt strange. But I liked the song instantly when

Mark Lui Mark Lui (, born 9 July 1969) is from Hong Kong. He is a composer and producer of Cantopop music with the "On Your Mark" creative team, and part of the Artists and Repertoire Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a reco ...

finished it. We hope the song can lead the audience into a deeper understanding about the movie."

Release

''Fire of Conscience'' premiered at the Hong Kong Film Festival on March 23, 2010. It received wide release in China and Hong Kong on April 1, 2010. ''Fire of Consciences debuted at fourth place at the Hong Kong box office and charted in Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand. The film stayed in the charts for four weeks in Hong Kong. The film grossed a total of US$526,017 in Hong Kong and US$806,708 world-wide.

Reception

Perry Lam of ''Muse'' magazine writes, 'in designing and executing the action scenes, amfocuses too much on firepower and body count, and too little on their potential transgressive and transformational power.' '' Time Out Hong Kong'' gave the film a rating of three out of six stars noting that it was slightly less memorable than Dante Lam's previous film '' Beast Stalker''. ''

The Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'' gave a mixed review, saying that the film is "exciting, visually stunning movie, full of action and the bright punchy colours of a Sharp Quattron commercial. Unfortunately, it’s not much more than that." IFC gave a mixed review stating that "Lam's action is innovative and clever, but his approach to the characters is the exact opposite: predictable and obvious. We know these cops from so many previous movies. Not a single thing they do surprises us." ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' described the film as "the loudest of the year" and "Any real thought about the nature of duty and the law is swept aside for action, action, and more action – which is average for Lam but still superior to most." '' The Montreal Mirror'' called the film a disappointment of the Toronto Film Festival, noting "incoherent plotting" and that "Lam obviously has some action chops, but he doesn’t exploit them nearly enough here."

References

External links

* * *
Fire of Conscience
' at the

Hong Kong Movie Database The Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB) is a bilingual ( English and Chinese) website started in 1995 by Ryan Law. It provides a repository for information about movies originating from Hong Kong and the people who created them. The database was ...

*
Fire of Conscience
' at the

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, was a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The we ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Of Conscience 2010 films 2010s Cantonese-language films 2010 action thriller films Hong Kong action thriller films Police detective films Films directed by Dante Lam Media Asia films Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong 2010s Hong Kong films Films scored by Henry Lai Wan-man