I was given the chance to watch "Gau foh ying hung" (aka "As the Light Goes Out"). I knew it was a Hong Kong movie, that was essentially all I needed to know to be interested in watching it. I didn't know, however, what the movie was about or who starred in it.
Given the title of the movie, I must admit that I had expected to be in for a horror movie. But it turns out that "As the Light Goes Out" was an action drama about firefighters, for better or worse.
That being said, then I will continue on to saying that "As the Light Goes Out" was actually a surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable movie. And I can't really claim to find firefighting movies all that impressive. However, there was also an overshadowing element of the movie being cartoonish, at an unfortunate level, given the nature of the mainland Chinese firefighter Ocean (played by Jun Hu). That character was just a bit out of place and he seemed to caricature of a heroic firefighter.
"As the Light Goes Out" does have some nice acting talents on the cast list, which includes the like of Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Simon Yam, Andy On and Bing Bai. And it gets better, there is a hilarious appearance by none other than Jackie Chan himself. When he does make an appearance, I must admit that the movie had turned from realistic to being a bit too much. But then it turns out to be a nice surprise instead and the movie does revert to its normal course of action.
The action sequences in the movie with all the fire and firefighting was actually quite good, and it definitely felt very real and realistic, and that added a great level of enjoyment to the movie. Actually, I will say that director Chi-kin Kwok manages to make the movie very intense and thrilling, because it feels like you are right there alongside the firefighters in the blaze.
But overly this was a watchable, thrilling and entertaining movie for sure. If you enjoy Hong Kong cinema, then "As the Light Goes Out" is definitely well worth taking the time to sit down and watch.
