As The Light Goes Out

Brotherhood and bombast highlight Derek Kwok’s As the Light Goes Out, a robust firefighter action-drama that mixes Hong Kong cinema-style heroism with big-budget pyrotechnics. Nicholas Tse stars as firefighter Ho Wing-sam, who, along with fellow firemen Yip Chi-fai (Andy On) and Chill (Shawn Yue), breaks protocol during a deadly building blaze in order to save more lives. Their actions come with consequences, and while Chill takes responsibility, Sam avoids it and Fai places blame on the others. A year later, their friendships are strained, and Fai has risen to the rank of Station Chief at the Lung Kwu Tan Fire Station, with Sam and Chill now serving beneath him. On the hottest Christmas Eve on record, these conflicts are set to combust as a deadly factory fire spins out of control, leading to a power plant blaze and an unprecedented city-wide blackout.

As the Light Goes Out presents an epic-scale disaster, but devotes most of its screen time to the fire at the power plant. That fire makes for a dazzling second-half set piece, though the journey there has numerous issues. The film possesses temporal jumps that are difficult to reconcile, and the screenplay features many moving parts that meet too conveniently. But when the second half arrives, all bets are off. The firemen put aside their personal differences to do their jobs, and their dedication and teamwork is portrayed in rousing fashion. The cacophony of actors yelling, emoting and escaping from smoke and fire keeps tensions high, and Kwok also slows things down for striking montages that are absorbing in their melancholic, lyrical emotion. The unspoken honor and heroism of its everyday heroes propels As the Light Goes Out to a satisfying and cathartic end.

The film is less successful on the script level, with voiceover and dialogue that liken smoke to a person’s fear, doubt or insecurity. Characters talk about escaping from or conquering smoke, and while the verbal metaphor is somewhat strained, the film compensates with visuals and action. Smoke is portrayed almost like a living creature, snaking and billowing in search of its prey. Whenever As the Light Goes Out threatens to stagnate with its numerous character conflicts and grandstanding speeches, a stunning pyrotechnic or heroic display occurs to jumpstart the film. Kwok succeeds partially through audience familiarity and expectations of Hong Kong cinema, from the copious use of slow motion and montage to elicit drama and emotion, to the character archetypes, which seem to have been ripped from a heroic cinema handbook.

The male cast is among the strongest assembled in recent Hong Kong films. Besides Nicholas Tse, who shows intensity as the conflicted Ho Wing-sam, Shawn Yue is admirably cool as the righteous and assured Chill. Meanwhile, Simon Yam brings grizzled veteran presence as senior firefighter Lee Pui-tao, whose function in the film is predictable but no less compelling. Andy On cuts a sharp figure as another recognizable type: the compromised but still heroic senior officer. However, the standout may be mainland actor Hu Jun, who plays the newly transferred Ocean – a firefighter who’s so incredibly awesome that he memorizes floor plans in one glance and oozes deep passion without changing his tone of voice. Each of these actors embodies his archetype well, and fits into what’s essentially a tapestry of cinema heroes. As if to underline this point, the film even offers a cameo from Jackie Chan, starring in a firefighter promotional spot set to the classic theme song from Police Story.

Other notable cast members include rising idol William Chan as rookie firefighter Kit, plus a host of veterans from previous Derek Kwok films, including Susan Shaw, who has appeared in nearly every Kwok film to date and won two acting awards under his direction. Female characters are largely sidelined here, but that’s not surprising. This is a film about men and brotherhood, and an entertaining and rousing one despite its flaws. Hong Kong produced another recent firefighter film with the Pang Brothers’ Out of Inferno, but that was a more straightforward and mechanical genre entry. As the Light Goes Out sweats and struggles to put its passions on the screen, and the result stirs, thrillingly and sometimes inexplicably. Passion plus fire can be a potent mix.