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Rapid Fire

1992

Director: Dwight Little

Stars: Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe

A college student (Lee) gets mixed up with a group of Chinese smugglers after he foils a robbery attempt. The cops (led by Boothe) want Lee to be a witness against the Triads, but since his dad got killed while trying to do good as a protestor, he won't have any part of it. Eventually, the Triads turn up the heat and Lee realizes he must help out the cops if he wants to survive.

Brandon Lee only filmed about five films before his death, and Rapid Fire is the best one among them. It's far above his first few movies like the horrible Legacy of Rage and has a tighter pace and better action than Lee's most celebrated film The Crow (which is highly over-rated in my book). It's true that Lee can't really compare to his famous father, both in terms of acting and fighting. But he holds his own well in Rapid Fire -- even if the plot is tired and some of the action sequences are almost totally ripped off from other movies such as Police Story. The film is still worth checking out, especially to get a glimpse of what Brandon Lee's career might have done if he was not killed at such a young age.

RATING: 6.5

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