Lifeline – Review

A warehouse thief busts into boxes before being chased out by security. He slips away underground without being seen. However, he can’t help but spark a cigarette in the sewer, which he accidentally drops. This creates an inferno ball that swallows him up. Oops.

Top fireman Yau Sui (Ching-Wan) and his entire squad hit the emergency room, all sick from food poisoning. Sui asks Dr. Annie Chan (Lee) for help in the hallways, who prescribes anti-nausea meds. After shitting out the demons, the crew is mostly ready for work again, which is good since they catch a call.

An elevator is stuck on a construction site between the 6^th and 7^th floor. They need to hustle as it is barely holding on… Will the crew save the day and snag the people before it is too late? After the tense situation is resolved, the construction members are saved, however an accident badly wounds on of the fire crew. Back to the ER they go, with an injured spine and bad news for their compatriot.

The fire crew get many rescue calls of various degrees, which are more common than actual fires. Due to this injury, Raymond Cheung (Fong) inspects the station crew, instructing them on procedure and statistics. He is known to be a tough drill sergeant and takes over as senior officer. Sui himself is looking to get promoted to Station Officer, but the recent injury weighs heavily on him. He and Cheung argue over tactics and are a bit at odds.

How will this group of firefighters and rescuers handle a deranged arsonist (Lam) who strikes the city? Will Sui and Cheung be able to set aside their differences or will their friction tear the crew apart? Will Sui be able to hold on to his romance with Dr. Chan? Enter drama, and tension!

I like director Johnnie To’s work quite a bit. He has a stylish visual eye and while most of his movies I have seen are “gun-fu” centric action and crime pieces, this one sets his focus on dangerous fire stunts. His flair behind the camera fits this world just as well as gun blasting action sequences.

This film is a bit slow to get going and focuses on plenty of life drama for its characters. It likely could have used a bit of trimming in the first few acts, but when it gets moving it definitely gets exciting while setting our heroes against a backdrop of raging fire of death and destruction. The acting is sound and features some good players in its main roles. While it may not be a revolutionary script, it does the job.