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Simply Perfect

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

City On Fire is a gritty and bombastic action packed thriller and the first in the "On Fire" series by director Ringo Lam. The "On Fire" series also includes Prison On Fire 1 and 2(which also star Chow Yun Fat) and School On Fire. Roy Cheung appears in all four films and in this installment he is an overzealous cop at odds with Chow Yun Fat's character (Ko Chow)who is an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of violent jewel thieves. Chow Yun Fat gives a scathing and electrifying performance of an undercover cop who's life and career is on the edge of collapse. From his strained relationship with his girlfriend, to his reluctant undercover work with Danny Lee's gang and dealing with Roy Cheung's group of cops following and chasing him all over Hong Kong. Ko Chow is a cop with a lot on his plate, trying to make everything work and stay alive in the process. In a rare appearance as a criminal, Danny Lee is great as a charismatic but violent jewel robber with a code of honor. He and Chow Yun Fat have great chemistry and work well here and a year later in John Woo's classic The Killer. Make no mistake, City On Fire is also a classic. Ringo Lam, along with John Woo are ace filmmakers. Their styles are different however. Ringo's style is generally darker and rooted more in reality. John Woo is more over the top with a larger emphasis on action. Chow Yun Fat worked frequently with both directors, giving amazing performances for both parties. City On Fire is a very well made and brutal film and if you enjoy gritty crime thrillers, I give City On Fire the highest recommendation.

Anybody that lambastes Tarantino for stealing ideas should also recommend that all of Shakespeare's works be ignored because either plot lines or situations are ignored. It clear to even the most casual observer that there are numerous things taken directly from "City on Fire" i.e. the three way standoff, the undercover cop taking one in the gut, and the likable thief taking out a squad car with a gun blazing in each hand.I'll even admit that these things were directly ripped off by Tarantino, but I firmly believe that "Dogs" absolutely stands on its own in terms of character exploration, and story structure, never mind acting, and cinematography. I liken it to "Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" which also directly lifts entire scenes from Hamlet, but is completely its own fully-fleshed work. Another reason this works is that old Billy himself didn't really invent any new stories because there are only about 14 stories anyway.Tarantino may have stolen more than a few ideas, but the Dog's story is made his own, and I mean come on, it's f***ing RESERVIOR DOGS. I didn't hear Steven Wright anywhere in City on Fire.The thing I enjoyed the most about COF is finally getting to see what went wrong in the Dog's heist.

"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

Ringo Lam's perhaps most famous and influential film is this, CITY ON FIRE, from 1987. It was Quentin Tarantino's inspiration for his Reservoir Dogs (1992), and Quentin wanted to express his admiration and passion for Hong Kong film makers and their films by updating Lam's themes for his debut film. Reservoir is definitely not any rip off like some have suggested, it a tribute. Chow Yun-Fat plays cop Chow, who has traumatic past as he betrayed his criminal friend to the police force. Danny Lee plays criminal boss Fu, whose gang is terrorizing the town with numerous robberies and the forthcoming, big robbery of a jewelry store. Chow and Fu become friends as Chow's mission is again to go undercover to Fu's gang and give details to the police about the robbery so the criminals could be arrested and sent to jail. Unfortunately, Chow notices it is too late to undo what he's done again, and again he finds himself betraying a friend, but this time the results are more horrific.The theme of the film is friendship and loyalty between two people at opposite sides of the law. Chow and Fu start to like each other and more importantly, Fu starts to trust Chow, who in this case isn't a trustworthy friend. The end scene again is pretty harrowing as Fu learns the truth and Chow gets to know the price. Two years later Danny Lee and Chow Yun-Fat would play similar roles in John Woo's The Killer (1989), in which Lee is the cop and Chow the criminal/killer. These themes are very usual in Hong Kong action thrillers, in which people love and value their friends and are ready to die for them. City on Fire is pretty gritty and violent gangster depiction and the finale in the storehouse is the film's most memorable and stunning segment. The lightning and blue color is used to the maximum effect and it gives the kind of punch only Hong Kong cinema seems to be able to give. Never have I seen such a strong use of atmospheric smoke and blue than in these Hong Kong films, and the finale of CITY ON FIRE is as gorgeous looking as the scenes in Danny Lee's true crime thriller Dr. Lamb, 1992. CITY ON FIRE, however, suffers a little because of weak characters and that especially Chow isn't too well written and doesn't act as believably as possible. For example, the difficulties he has with his girlfriend are not handled too carefully as we don't know does Chow love her and want to live with her or not. Occasionally he seems to be in love with her, but then he may leave her waiting for him hours and seems not to understand what she's so sad for. Their relationship should have been more carefully and deeper written. Also, the scene in the restaurant when Chow informs about his willingness to delay their wedding because of his mission is almost unbearably cold and unemotional as the girl visibly suffers and cries inside and doesn't even get a proper answer or reason for this from Chow. Not very well written scene at all.Also I'm little irritated by the fact that the gunshot wound in the stomach is depicted so un-painfully. Tim Roth suffers the whole Reservoir Dogs's running time with a bullet in his stomach, and that is definitely a realistic depiction of such a horrific result of violence. In CITY ON FIRE, the character (without spoiling) just sits there and holds his tummy a little and seems not to bleed or suffer at all. There should have been little more realism as was in Tarantino's film. Otherwise the brief gun battles and acts of violence are realistic and not glorified: when bullets hits a person, he most likely dies as in real life, too. CITY ON FIRE isn't a so called "bullet ballet" film with huge amount of gun play action, and the violence in CITY ON FIRE is brutal and remorseless and never without its consequences.I give CITY ON FIRE 7/10 and it is still very remarkable film because its interesting themes and the gorgeous atmospheric finale which should be seen in big screen because this film, like many others, suffers and loses its power when seen on video and small TV screen. Ringo Lam is among my favorite Hong Kong directors and his real, unbelievable, masterpiece FULL CONTACT (1992, starring again Chow) finally established him among the greatest Hong Kong directors and in the action genre, at the same position with John Woo.