City on Fire (1987)

An unpretentious quality thriller with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks

Famed among Tarantino's admirers and detractors alike as the film that inspired/was ripped off by Reservoir Dogs, Ringo Lam's City On Fire doesn't really provide much in the way of fuel or ammunition for either camp: in truth, it's a very different animal with only the last ten minutes bearing much resemblance to the massively-chinned fading wunderkind's breakthrough movie. Nor is it quite the classic of Asian cinema it is often held to be (presumably by those who haven't seen it considering how often it is wildly inaccurately described), but rather a solidly crafted Hong Kong cops and robbers flick that does its job well for 104 minutes but doesn't exactly sear itself on your memory. Yes, it does end up in a warehouse with three crooks having a Mexican standoff over an undercover cop bleeding to death from a stomach wound on the floor, but the bulk of the film is concerned with Chow Yun Fat's undercover cop trying to quit but forced into that fatal one last job infiltrating Danny Lee's gang of cop-killing jewel robbers.

Budget restraints restrict the amount of action, though what there is is typically well-handled, while as a dramatic character study it is somewhat diluted by the clumsy comedy with Chow's fiancée and the signs of the usual making-it-up-as-we-go-along Hong Kong thriller screen writing that sees Lee's character change from stylish city slicker in the robbery scenes to a rather more simple-minded working Joe as he and Chow bond while hiding out before the last big job. It's not too strong on logic either, with some of the police too happy to torture one of their own and conspire to arrest him for it not to seem like stretching dramatic contrivance to breaking point at times. Yet for all that, on its own terms it works as exactly the kind of audience picture it was intended as - an unpretentious quality thriller a couple of notches above the production-line norm for the genre with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks.

While there are a lot of problems with Tai-Seng's DVD (subtitles chief among them), unlike the Dimension DVD it's not the dubbed version and unlike the Hong Kong Legends UK DVD it hasn't had the color regraded from the cinematographer's original intentions. April 26, 2007

LOL~!

If you want UNCUT ORIGINAL version, ALWAYS look for ORIGINAL LICENSED Production. NOT US Release. Its a foreign film, it should not be US version to begin with~! HELLO!!!?? Why settle for LESS with US Version where they edit and cut so many excellent scenes especially with Jackie's Fighting Scenes. And US Release ruins the speed and sound as well.I found HK Version to be MUCH MORE in enjoyable, and HIGHER in Quality. American Market always like to "Americanize" and "Control". Regional Code Regulation thing is one of the example to CONTROL the Market. Why not let everyone enjoy the same HK Original Release move the same way REST OF THE WORLD enjoys it ?? No one makes Hollywood American movies to "French version" or "Chinese Version" ~! This what Americans are doing~! Well, enjoy the cheap "American version" then~! LOL February 5, 2006

Good Hong Kong Police Film

I would have preferred to have seen this film in it's original Mandarin language track but I do not feel it is necessary to knock this edition. I also take the unfashionable opinion that "Reservoir Dogs", Quentin Tarantino's homage(not rip-off) to "City on Fire", is the better of the two films. "Reservoir Dogs" beats this film in terms of style and characterization if not completely original. That said, this is a highly engaging film. It has a compelling central premise of a police undercover operative who not only has to fear the crooks he's infiltrating but his superiors who view him with contempt. There is action here for sure but it doesn't subvert the story. I recommend this film for any fan of Hong Kong action films but if a Mandarin edition becomes available check that out instead. November 7, 2005

good film...

this movie is most notable for being ripped off by quentin tarantino when he made 'his' film reservoir dogs. quentin=hack. this movie is much better, but don't watch it if you like reservoir dogs or quentin tarantino because you'll never view him or the movie the same way again. August 14, 2005

Great movie, good dubbing job, totally worth it

Movie: I finally got around watching one of Asian cinema's finest classics, Ringo Lam's "City on Fire." I must say I was really impressed. The film starts off on a little shaky ground but soon gains its footing and takes off when Chow's character (also named Chow) reluctantly goes undercover. I really like the scenes where he's first tailed and then actually *hunted* by rival cops who seem to want nothing short of him being dead. The ending is just incredible, not just the fireworks, but the way loyalty plays out. The film is worth watching just for the last 30 minutes, although the rest is also well-paced and the part with the girlfriend thing is a little boring but does add dimensions to the Chow character, thanks to Chow Yun-fat's good acting.

DVD: I know I'm not a purist when it comes to foreign films, and I usually don't like subtitles (esp. chop suey subtitles), so forgive me for saying I actually liked the dubbing job on this one. There's no Chinese soundtrack on this at all, just English dub. I thought the voice actors did a pretty good job, much better than any other dubbed foreign film I've seen. The ADR remix was also really good, and they even have an English song worked into a nightclub scene. I'm usually turned off by the high-pitched and cacophonous audio effects of Hong Kong films, but the American remix engineers did a very nice job at pairing surround sound audio with the great visual experience Ringo Lam has given us. April 27, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...