Expected more

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

They just don't make them like this anymore, do they? "Rapid Fire" is an action movie that thrives on how old-fashioned and clichéd it is, it fully embraces all the joys that come with making a B-movie. There's somewhat of a coherent plot, but obviously it's just an excuse to put in gun fights and explosions wherever they have the chance. And boy, do they see chances. This movie is chock full of people that have to die, you even get two lead antagonists for the price of one. There's almost no build-up, which normally is a bad thing but not when build-up is replaced by guys doing kendo. It also helps that Brandon Lee was a pretty good actor (to action movie standards), breathing life into his character and even totally selling the unavoidable love interest subplot. Director Dwight H. Little also does a fine job of making the movie look as dark and sordid as he possibly can, but that shouldn't be a surprise if you remember he made "Out For Justice". "Rapid Fire" is everything the title suggests, which should be enough for fans of the genre.

Rapid Fire starts in Los Angeles where Chinese student Jake Lo (Brandon Lee) is invited to a fun raising party in aid of helping those in his own country, while at the party a drug trafficker named Carl Chang (Michael Paul Chan) is murdered by Californian drug lord & mobster Antonio Serrano (Nick Mancuso) which Jake is witness to. Jake manages to survive Serrano's attempts to kill him at the party & is placed in protective custody as the only living eye-witness, various Government agencies have been after Serrano for years & it is felt that Jake's testimony could put him away for life but after being handed over to the FED's in Chicago another attempt on his life is made but again using his wits & martial art skills Jake manages to survive. Unable to trust anyone & with nowhere to go a cop named Mace Ryan (Powers Boothe) manages to convince Jake to trust him. Ryan has been after Serrano for ten years & sees Jake as the key to nailing him & together they team up to being Serrano down & those who grow & supply the heroin...Directed by Dwight H. Little this incredibly formulaic action thriller is perhaps most notable for featuring Brandon Lee the ill fated son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee in his final completed film as he would be accidentally killed while shooting his next film The Crow (1993), to be honest Rapid Fire is completely unremarkable in every aspect & while it's not terrible it's pretty forgettable & far from special. Rapid Fire just feels like it has been thrown together using every action thriller cliché going, the fish out of water hero, betrayal, one good honest cop willing to do what's right while those around him are corrupt, an American mobster, drug deals gone bad, Chinese gangsters & lots of men in grey suits who walk around trying to look tough. The whole script feels like it has been cobbled together trying to use just about every action thriller cliché & stereotype that it all became a bit of a blur & it was all too familiar. On it's own the familiarity wouldn't have been so bad if the action made up for it but even this is routine & predictable. The dialogue is pretty bland, the bland character's do little to life Rapid Fire above average either, there are many better action films out there with even the generic sounding title Rapid Fire not inspiring much interest. The script does try to inject a little human tragedy & give it's main character a little bit of background as the massacre in Tienanmen Square is featured but this angle is quickly dropped as is Lee's quest to find out the truth about his dead father.I suppose the biggest disappointment with Rapid Fire was that the action scenes are so dull, virtually every one is not much more than people shooting at each other & no-one seems able to hit Brandon Lee obviously even though they are a few feet away. When Brandon Lee does get to show off his martial art skills the film livens up a bit but they aren't used enough & over too quickly. There's not much other action, a car blow's up, a truck overturns & there's a fire at the end but not much else. The best sequence is at the end as Brandon Lee fights the Chinese drug lord on train tracks which leads to an obvious death for the bad guy but it's as good as the film gets really. The film looks alright but has no great visual style or substance.With a supposed budget of about $10,000,000 this has decent production values but even back then that wasn't a lot of money for a big action flick. The acting is alright, Brandon Lee is watchable enough while Powers Boothe doesn't seem that interested.Rapid Fire is as routine & forgettable a 90's action thriller as there is, Rapid Fire is the type of film that you think you have seen before & you definitely have except with different actor's as there really isn't an original moment in the entire 95 minute duration.

It was a huge blow when the news of Brandon Lee's death made headlines in the mid 1990s. The fact that the guy never managed to fulfil his opportunities as a successful action movie star and follow in the footsteps of his dad in that particular sense was tragic, considering just how good he was on screen. Showdown In Little Tokyo was a C-list martial arts epic, whilst The Crow- Brandon's very last movie he had starred in, was a horror movie, which whilst his martial arts skills were relatively limited, he still manage to display his acting graft as well as to show that he can act, in addition to kicking arse.Rapid Fire came out in 1992 amidst his previous effort, his collaboration with Dolph Lundgren entitled: 'Showdown in Little Tokyo', which was released the year before. In this movie, Brandon plays art student Jake Lo, who witnesses a murder and afterwards, finds himself on the run from a gang of evil drug lords, as well as a bunch of two-faced, backstabbing cops, of whom are enlisted and supposed to protect Jake but who turn out to be doing the dirty work for the bad guys. Thankfully, he has a good cop on his side and together, the pair, despite their dislike for one another, work together to bring them to justice.American martial arts films tend to be rather forgettable, run-of-the mill type of movies compared to the Hong Kong, Kung Fu-based flicks, but Rapid Fire in contrast is one of the much better efforts. It is action-packed, explosive and Brandon is not that bad of a fighter. He is exceedingly good and manages to combine his late father's trademark moves and aggression with Jackie Chan's athleticism, and his fast and frenetic movements. Another leaf he has taken out of his text book is when he takes an object and smashes it on his opponents head, for example.This is a good martial arts movie; alas, it is a glimpse of how great Brandon was and how great could have been and how far his career might have gone- had he still been alive today

i watched this movie years ago,and thought it was nothing short of astonishing.i guess our tastes change as we grow older.don't get me wrong,i still think it's a fairly decent movie.the problem is,many movies of this genre could be considered fairly decent.(and many would not be)there are 2 things which set this movie apart from some in the genre.1 is the fantastic and spectacular fight scenes.the other is the screen presence and charisma of the late Brandon Lee.without these 2 elements,i think this movie would be slightly above average.as a matter of fact,i was bored at times and thought the movie dragged.as it is,however"Rapid Fire" gets 3.5 stars from me.