Plot: Chow Yun Fat plays a undercover cop trying to stop a group of jewels theifs running amuck in Hong Kong as well as dealing with his failing love life. After joining the theifs to get closer for a bust, he befriends one of the members played by Danny Lee. After this hes torn between his job and his new friend.
City on Fire was the second time i saw the pairing of Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee, the first being John Woo's masterpiece 1989's The Killer. Both play off each other very well with Danny Lee, like in The Killer, taking over the hero role during the last 3rd. Chow of course is Chow, funny, charming, and ready to jump into badass mood anytime. Also in a supporting role is Sun Yueh, who plays Chows father figure. His introduced in the film in the morgue is one of the film's highlights.
Action wise theres many great shootouts thur out and a car chase. With the shootouts there more down to earth then the Woo counterparts. Theres no jumping ti the air while firing shotguns at motorcycles or 15 minute gun downs. Instead the violence is more hard hiting and quick.
This is also my first Ringo Lam movie. Until this point i had heard about him because of this film and his Jean Claude Van Damme flicks. He Makes a super entertaining movie which makes me want to check out more of his output.
With this being a review i have to bring up the fact that this was the inspiration for Reservoir Dogs(1992). Now I'm not going to sit here and waste time and explain why I like City on Fire better in nit picky details,to sum up to me City is the fuller of the two films. RD is more word based and city is more story based. City just has more going on, with fuller characters,more action and a way better ending.
DVD Wise: I ordered the hong kong knock off DVD, after already owning the us DVD. The hong kong version is way better on all major acounts. Better sound track, credits, and it's uncut.
City on Fire was one hell of a crime movie that's really worth the watch. Just stick with the Hong Kong verison not the edited down us version.
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