IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
The firefighters of Hong Kong's Pillar Point division battle an out-of-control blaze that threatens to plunge the city into darkness.The firefighters of Hong Kong's Pillar Point division battle an out-of-control blaze that threatens to plunge the city into darkness.The firefighters of Hong Kong's Pillar Point division battle an out-of-control blaze that threatens to plunge the city into darkness.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 11 nominations
Jun Hu
- Fireman - Ocean
- (as Hu Jun)
Kai-Chi Liu
- Chief Fire Officer - CK Tam
- (as Liu Kai-chi)
Wai Keung Lau
- Director of Fire Services - Fong Sir
- (as Andrew Lau)
Susan Yam-Yam Shaw
- Winery's Owner - Mrs. Kau
- (as Susan Shaw)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsThe doors to the stairwells of the relevant section of the power station open toward the stairwell, via crash bars on the corridor side and via handles on the stairwell side. When Water and his two companions exit into the stairwell and rush down the stairs to the ground floor, they find that the handles of the door there will not budge because they are locked. In one shot, they are struggling to get the doors open, then there is a brief cutaway close-up shot to one of them beginning to reach for his smartphone, and in the next shot, the doors that they are standing before have crash bars rather than handles. It could be that these other doors were along an out-of-frame wall, but even if that is the case, the children's positions relative to one another do not match the previous shot, as though an entire sub-scene (of them trying to exit through this new door) is missing.
- ConnectionsReferences Police Story (1985)
- SoundtracksOi Jui Daai
Music by Nicholas Tse
Lyrics by Nicholas Tse, Kenny So, Kit@24Herbs & Phat@24Herbs
Performed by Nicholas Tse & 24Herbs
Featured review
My first cinema-going in 2014, Hong Kong director/writer Derek Kowk's fifth film is another eulogy to gallant firemen after Pang Brothers' OUT OF INFERNO (2013), which just released in the end of September. The thematic coincidence in such a short span definitely hurts AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT's box office performance, but the film per se, is a solid action flick hinges on an innovative concept of smoke, both literally and figuratively.
After a prologue manifests three friends' (Tse, Yue and On, all firefighters) divergence on an accident during their mission, On is the silent but ambitious one, Yue is the insouciant scapegoat, and Tse denies his oath to keep his hands clean, which sets the keynote of their distinctive path in due course, the film concisely concentrates its story on Christmas Eve 2013, one of the hottest winter in Hong Kong history (introduced by a shoddy apocalyptic advertisement for fireman recruitment stars Jackie Chan) and a typhoon is brewing, a fire hazard in a desolate factory nearby a power plant's gas pipeline and obstinate judgment made by idiotic plant decision-maker precipitates a monstrous conflagration in the plant and complete power blackout in a large portion of Kowloon Peninsula.
The rescue procedure follows a standard yet trite routine, some heroic sacrifice (a hammy Simon Yam is not alone here), some family embroilment (a father must save his son who is entrapped in the plant with his friends on account of the lamest plot arrangement, who invites a gaggle of schoolchildren to visit a power plant on Christmas Eve and unwittingly leaves three of them behind? Come on writers, you can make something less embarrassing!), some casual cannon fodder, some running and jumping set pieces, all in all, culminates with a final bravado invoking a (should be) sensational awesomeness to counteract the common happy ending.
Nicholas Tse anchors a more average Joe impersonation into the role (unlike the usual action hero staple, such as in the most recent THE VIRAL FACTOR 2012), battles against the "smoke" - his deep-rooted guilt, whose ultimate detonating slo-motion shots are sublimated with dashing aesthetic impact to swank the glamor of self-sacrifice. As I mentioned earlier, the smoke element penetrates the film relentlessly, its horror-flick intrusion and murky aura should be credited to the CGI teamwork from Post Production Office Limited (which was founded by Tse in 2003).
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast is plain serviceable, an amalgam of actors from both Hong Kong and mainland China doesn't mirror the awkward incompatibility as in the usual cringe-worthy outputs. Derek Kwok did a decent job superintending a sizable production work under his own belt (his previous wondrous dark horse triumph with GALLANTS 2010 is co-directed with Clement Sze-Kit Cheng, which won BEST PICTURE in Hong Kong Film Award in 2011) and he is positively on the horizon in the HK cinema showbiz.
After a prologue manifests three friends' (Tse, Yue and On, all firefighters) divergence on an accident during their mission, On is the silent but ambitious one, Yue is the insouciant scapegoat, and Tse denies his oath to keep his hands clean, which sets the keynote of their distinctive path in due course, the film concisely concentrates its story on Christmas Eve 2013, one of the hottest winter in Hong Kong history (introduced by a shoddy apocalyptic advertisement for fireman recruitment stars Jackie Chan) and a typhoon is brewing, a fire hazard in a desolate factory nearby a power plant's gas pipeline and obstinate judgment made by idiotic plant decision-maker precipitates a monstrous conflagration in the plant and complete power blackout in a large portion of Kowloon Peninsula.
The rescue procedure follows a standard yet trite routine, some heroic sacrifice (a hammy Simon Yam is not alone here), some family embroilment (a father must save his son who is entrapped in the plant with his friends on account of the lamest plot arrangement, who invites a gaggle of schoolchildren to visit a power plant on Christmas Eve and unwittingly leaves three of them behind? Come on writers, you can make something less embarrassing!), some casual cannon fodder, some running and jumping set pieces, all in all, culminates with a final bravado invoking a (should be) sensational awesomeness to counteract the common happy ending.
Nicholas Tse anchors a more average Joe impersonation into the role (unlike the usual action hero staple, such as in the most recent THE VIRAL FACTOR 2012), battles against the "smoke" - his deep-rooted guilt, whose ultimate detonating slo-motion shots are sublimated with dashing aesthetic impact to swank the glamor of self-sacrifice. As I mentioned earlier, the smoke element penetrates the film relentlessly, its horror-flick intrusion and murky aura should be credited to the CGI teamwork from Post Production Office Limited (which was founded by Tse in 2003).
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast is plain serviceable, an amalgam of actors from both Hong Kong and mainland China doesn't mirror the awkward incompatibility as in the usual cringe-worthy outputs. Derek Kwok did a decent job superintending a sizable production work under his own belt (his previous wondrous dark horse triumph with GALLANTS 2010 is co-directed with Clement Sze-Kit Cheng, which won BEST PICTURE in Hong Kong Film Award in 2011) and he is positively on the horizon in the HK cinema showbiz.
- lasttimeisaw
- Jan 8, 2014
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Biêt Dôi Cuu Hoa
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $15,973,348
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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