City on Fire (1987)

Sadly Over-hyped

Load of rubbish!!

Fresh and Exciting

Beautiful, moving film.

After the death of an undercover cop, the Chief Inspector gets his nephew (also an undercover) on the job. The target is a band of armed jewelry thieves. On top of this the police have hired a new investigation team to help on the job, and they interfere with Chief Inspectors work. Nephew, haunted by the past of a criminal he once betrayed, doesn't want to do the job for fear the same will happen again. The ending has heavily influenced Reservoir DogsFeatures: cop killing in beginning, Ko Chow and girlfriend relationship difficulties, jewel heist turned shootout in mall, Ko Chow befriending Tiger and gang, armed deal in graveyard, showdown in bowling alley, police tracking Ko Chow, police brutality in station, Final Jewel heist; shootout in street, shootout in warehouse, mexican standoff(s) finale

This is a no frills undercover cop story directed by Ringo Lam. With an average budget the film tells its story quite tightly with fine performances. Chow Yun Fat stars as the undercover policeman who is also having relationship problems. Danny Lee pops up as the jewel thief who will basically befriend chow as the system pushes them closer together. Yueh Sun Stars as an older cop who has lost his son years ago in the force and is bending the rules to have Chow undercover.I think Ringo Lam takes inspiration as much from French New Wave cinema as he douse from Hong Kong. The simple shooting style, at times like documentary, captures whats he needs and he is just concerned with making it all happen for the camera with settings and performances that ring true for the lens. Films like Un Flic and Le Samorai from French director Jean Piere Melville may have been the inspiration for Lam's raw, simple style. This approach is effective.We all know what film it ended up inspiring and Ringo Lams comparisons with his contemporary John Woo, Rather than ad to the subject dominance of the former I will just comment on the latter in That Woo only made one film better than this and it was The KIller. Despite Woo's amazing and influential style he doesn't tell perfect stories. City On Fire has a story that keeps you interested in what will actually happen. The dramatics of this picture are excellent. The performances all good. The characters are all concerned about their own situations and feel them all. The film is occasionally quite funny. Chow has a bit of a gift for comedy that transcends language and cultural barriers. This film and Lam's other film starring Chow, Prison On Fire, always amuse me in their moments.I was taken by this film. I cared about Chow and his vice like position. His impatient girlfriend, complicated job, going undercover and being followed by another police unit as if a criminal are situations closing in on him. Chow Yun Fat is a wonderful actor to watch. He can make you laph with his dances, wooing woman and can entrance you with his glare when he means business. There are some wonderful long takes in this film that lets chow bring you into his character. In his roles of cops and killers he makes you sympathetic. A gift to the genre.Ringo Lam brings many of his regulars together to make a class production. You will recognise some of the cast if you have seen his other films. I figure he didn't have the permission to shoot on some of the locations and it informs the shooting style, undercover in itself. Cameras lens poking out the window of a moving car to shoot the characters on the street. He just gets this film made. He has a pretty decisive vision. I have read you have to be tough directing films in Hong Kong. The schedules are busy, the budgets are low and the Authorities are strict. You have to be able to improvise and break the rules. Take risks like they do with stunt-work.The script is way above average for a Hong Kong cop drama. This is a character driven film with less emphasis on action. A solid 80's picture. One of my favorite films from Hong Kong.

"Long hu feng yun" ("City on Fire") is a pretty damn cool action film. This film is directed by Ringo Lam and stars Chow Yun Fat. The film is about a cop that goes undercover in a violent street gang, the gang are planning to do a heist aswell. Some really great action sequences in this! definatly one for those who are lover off asian cinema (like myself) have to check this film out. Quentin Tarantino fans will definatly like this aswell as its what Tarantino played homage to in his smash hit debut film "Resevoir Dogs". I myself need to check out MORE films starring Chow Yun Fat and ones directed by Ringo Lam. Adams Rating - 8/10

City On Fire is an average crime drama from Hong Kong that is raised above the level of obscurity because of it's final forty minutes remarkable similarities to Reservoir Dogs. The rest of the film is rather ordinary, with a reluctant undercover cop being brought out of retirement to help catch a violent gang of robbers. At the same time, he is haunted by memories of his previous job where he befriended a criminal and then had to betray him. In an irrelevant addition to the plot his girlfriend gets annoyed at his delaying of their marriage and elopes with another man.But while this first section is decent if unspectacular, the final forty minutes are the important bit. This is where it becomes clear that the film was a very big influence on Tarantino. In fact, he's plainly nicked several moments of this film and inserted them straight into Reservoir Dogs in improved form. Three people all pointing guns at each other? That's here. Harvey Kietel shooting straight into the cop's windscreen for an extended period of time? That's here (minus Harvey Kietel obviously). The ending, where the dying undercover cop reveals his identity? That's here, though it's slightly different.Despite the fact that it's such a blatant rip-off, Reservoir Dogs is still probably the better of the two films. It's more concise and slightly shorter, it has better dialogue, it isn't as dark visually. Overall, City On Fire is worth a look, as it's not a bad film by itself, and definitely because of what it inspired.