Flash Point, also titled City Without Mercy, is a 2007 Hong Kong action and thriller film directed by Wilson Yip, starring Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Collin Chou, Xing Yu, Lui Leung-wai and Fan Bingbing.[1] Yen was also the action choreographer and a producer for the film. In this film, Yen plays a police sergeant who plants his partner (Louis Koo) as a mole in a pursuit against a triad led by three Vietnamese brothers (Collin Chou, Lui Leung-wai, and Xing Yu). Flash Point was repeatedly hailed as a prequel to the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang, which was Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen's first feature-film collaboration as director and star respectively. Yen denied the SPL prequel reports, claiming that Flash Point was a completely original film. Principal photography began in Hong Kong from November 2006 to March 2007. For his conception of Flash Point's major fight sequences, Yen relied on the use of mixed martial arts, working alongside an international group of martial artists. His work as a choreographer won him "Best Action Choreography" awards at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards and the 2008 Golden Horse Film Awards. Flash Point was released in Hong Kong on 9 August 2007. It was a box office hit during its two month theatrical run in China, despite receiving mixed reviews. It had also premiered at the "Midnight Madness" program of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Flash Point was later given a limited theatrical release in North America on 14 March 2008, before being released on DVD by The Weinstein Company as part of Dragon Dynasty's collection of films.
