City on Fire

City on Fire (Lung Foo Fung Wan) (1987)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: Ringo Lam

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Yueh Sun, Danny Lee, Carrie Ng, Roy Cheung

From: Cinema City

To address the elephant in the room right away: yes, I was like the many out there who first heard about this movie via its similarities to Reservoir Dogs. It's not an unofficial remake (not by any means) but some moments will remind you of Dogs, especially in the final act. As typical for QT, he used various films he liked in the past to create a new story. City on Fire is also about a jewelry store heist gone wrong and a cop undercover, although how they got to that point is completely different.

Here, we know that Chow Yun-Fat is an undercover cop from the beginning; he is asked by his superior-who happens to be his uncle-for another mission. He is forced to despite his protests as he is wary of continuing to turn against people he becomes pals with during the process. This new assignment is important as early on we see those robbers murder someone during another heist that doesn't go according to plan. There's also other investigators of that gang who don't know that Fat is undercover, causing the expected conflict.

There is wacky comedy involving Chow's lady which at best was goofy but at least that seemed to be a trend in HK movies around this time so that was not a demerit against City on Fire. It was always a movie that intrigued, and when violence occurred, it was of the intense and brutal variety. The score: of course I'd be tickled pink by something featuring both 80's electronic sounds and frequent wailing sax, which was actually diegetic in one scene. I couldn't even begin to describe the song sung in a club early second act-except that it did make me chortle.

Those that enjoy the HK scene of this vintage, Chow Yun-Fat or just want to see what the territory looked like at the time, this should be seen not just for its connections to a famous early 90's film.