Brothers, Guns, and Doves - City on Fire (1987)

Director: Ringo Lam

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

Country: Hong Kong

Rating: R

Run Time: 105 minutes

Chow Yun Fat exploded onto the Hong Kong filmmaking scene with his breakout performance in A Better Tomorrow in 1986. While the film was not the very first "heroic bloodshed" film, it set the standards for how all future heroic bloodshed films would be made and popularized star Chow Yun Fat and director John Woo. While Chow Yun Fat's performance in A Better Tomorrow is an incredibly dramatic and action centric role, his performance in 1987's City on Fire is arguably even better and one of his finest roles in all of his career.

City on Fire is a fantastic heroic bloodshed film from master filmmaker Ringo Lam. While most action films from Hong Kong are heavy on action, City on Fire has only a measly two action scenes. Therefore, stars Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee have to carry the film with their acting and not just their action scenes. The film is a tense and powerful action film that covers the themes of honor, friendship, and undercover cops. Even though the film is lacking in excessive violence and gunfire, the film's incredible tension, memorable soundtrack, and devotion from star Chow Yun Fat make it one of the best heroic bloodshed films to ever come out of Hong Kong.

Now that's what I call a beautiful title card.

The film opens with an undercover cop calling the police station to alert them to some crucial information regarding a potential jewel heist. Unfortunately, a fellow gangster overhears the cop and stabs him to death. Saddened by the loss of one of his men and his lead in the jewel heist, Inspector Lau (Sun Yueh) calls up another one of his other undercover cops. That other cop is Ko Chow (Chow Yun Fat). Lau asks Ko Chow to look into the gang and integrate himself into the group until they make their move on a jewelry store. What follows is an hour and forty five minutes of Ko Chow befriending the thieves, running from other cops who don't know that he is undercover, and struggling with his eventual betrayal of his newfound friend Fu (Danny Lee).

City on Fire is as "heroic" as a heroic bloodshed film gets. For those not in the know, a heroic bloodshed film is a drama or an action film primarily made in Hong Kong featuring lots of double handed gun play, a massive body count, highly stylized action, cops and robbers, and themes of honor and friendship. While not packed to the brim with countless corpses and excessive gun play, City on Fire meets everything on this check list. 

The themes of honor and friendship are more prevalent and powerful than most other heroic bloodshed films because City on Fire is primarily character driven. While the two or three action scenes in the film are solid displays of gun fire, they are made better by the characters and drama that inhabit them, not just the squibs and blanks. City on Fire is heavily reminiscent of other Hong Kong efforts such as Man Wanted (1995), The Infernal Affairs Trilogy (2000's), Drug War (2013), and even American productions like The Corruptor (1999), The Departed (2006), and most infamously Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). I also recommend John Woo's The Killer (1989) because the film is a complete role reversal of this film that places Chow Yun Fat in the role of the criminal and Danny Lee in the role of the cop. It makes for a great compliment to this film if you are curious for more Chow Yun Fat/Danny Lee collaborations.

Danny Lee looks in awe at his handy work.

If being a heroic bloodshed film wasn't enough, City on Fire also has the benefit of being a Christmas time action film! The final half of the film has several scenes with lots of Christmas music in the background and decorations all around. The one scene that sticks out to me is when Danny Lee and Chow Yun Fat watch a Christmas party across the street from their hangout. They point and smile and admire how much fun the patrons are having. But the best bit of Christmas spirit that works its way into the movie is during the final action scene. As Fu drives his car away from the police, a bystander pulls their car right in front of him. When Fu plows through the car, a rendition of "Joy to the World" starts to play as the film's score. It's quite bizarre for such a serious film to do such a silly thing but I liked it. As soon as they crash their car the song stops so at least Ringo Lam knew when to pull back. Otherwise, there is just enough Christmas cheer, music, and decorations in the final half of the film to quality it as a Christmas time action flick like Die Hard, Die Hard 2, First Blood, Invasion U.S.A., and The Long Kiss Goodnight. You've gotta love an action film set during Christmas time.

One of City on Fire's strongest aspect is its lead performance in Chow Yun Fat. Chow plays a character named Ko Chow (how convenient) and really goes through the ringer in this film. Ko Chow wants to help the police however possible. However, he also has to balance a love life, avoid the cops on his tail that don't know he is an undercover cop, and deal with the fact that he is going to betray the jewel thieves that he is befriending. All of these things stack up and cause immense stress in Ko Chow's life. You really feel the stress piling up on Ko Chow; especially when he loses his fiance forever. I found the most emotionally tense moment of the film to be when Ko Chow walks up to his fiance as she tries to run from him at the airport. As she walks towards the plane Ko yells, "Run away! Don't come back!" The cops than grab Ko Chow and arrest him as he screams and yells at her. Ko Chow is a tragic character and Chow Yun Fat nails this role so well. It's truly one of the best roles of Chow's career as far as combining both his dramatic chops and action chops.

Danny Lee and Sun Yeuh do a fine job with their roles. They aren't given as much screen time as Chow Yun Fat so they don't get as much of an opportunity to flesh out their characters. However, they occupy their roles just fine and give solid performances. One thing worth noting is that Danny Lee gets all of the bad ass action scenes in the film. Chow Yun Fat surprisingly fires a gun in only two scenes. He steps back and lets another actor fill the action shoes; much like his performance in A Better Tomorrow III.

Chow rocks an awesome coat as he runs from the police.

The heart of City on Fire is Ko Chow's struggle to please everyone. He tries so hard to get everyone off of his back and simply wants to do the right thing. His character is made far the more tragic by the nightmares that haunt him. This is the icing on the cake of the film. Ko Chow integrated himself into a gang once and turned them over to the police. However, a scuffle occurred and the police were forced to shoot down the man that Ko Chow betrayed. Ko Chow has several nightmares of this betrayal and it haunts him throughout the film. When he befriends Fu, Danny Lee's gangster character, he starts to have nightmares of betraying Fu. You can really feel that it is tearing up Ko because he wants to love his friend but also wants to do the right thing and stop the thieves. I won't spoil the film's conclusion, but it is a very sad and tragic one that exemplifies why I love heroic bloodshed films so much.

As I stated before, City on Fire is very light on action scenes. There is a jewel heist at the beginning of the film, a small foot chase in the middle, and a big jewel heist turned car chase turned epic shootout at the end. The heist at the beginning of the film is pretty good. When the police show up on the scene to stop the heist, Fu steps out on to the street and fires away at the oncoming cop cars. He shoots a car and causes it to flip over, slide, and than explode. But the mayhem at the end of the film is the action pay off of the flick. After the final jewel heist goes wrong, all of the jewel thieves and Ko Chow make off in a car and run from the cops. Once their car crashes, they roll out and engage in an insane shootout right in the streets. I love this final action scene for its impressive stunt work and dramatic implications. Kudos to Ringo Lam for crafting dramatic action scenes with purpose behind them.

There is also a great musical tune that plays during the heists and tense scenes of the film. It's a great piece of music and it screams "1980's."

Danny Lee pops a cop right in the head during the final shootut.

I love City on Fire because it is a heroic bloodshed action film starring two of my favorite Hong Kong action stars, Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee. The film also comes from masterful filmmaker Ringo Lam who also directed one of my favorite action films of all time, Full Contact (1993). However, many people search out this film simply because it is the inspiration and source of Quentin Tarantino's very popular Reservoir Dogs.

It's a shame that people would only want to watch this film for that reason because City on Fire and Reservoir Dogs are completely different films. City on Fire tells the story of a cop who integrates himself into a gang that plans on robbing a jewelry store. The film ends with a big jewelry heist and a huge car chase / shootout. Reservoir Dogs picks up right where City on Fire ends. The film finds all of the characters after the heist gone wrong and turns it into a low budget character drama that makes use of flashbacks and lengthy monologues. The films could not be more different. 

Yes, there are several scenes and beats lifted straight out of City on Fire. The most obvious ones are the similar final Mexican stand offs, the story of a cop integrating himself into a gang and regretting the eventual betrayal, and the action beats where Danny Lee fires two revolvers into a cop car just like Harvey Keitel does in Reservoir Dogs. But beyond that, both films are entirely different and I hope that no one calls Tarantino a copy cat or City on Fire a lame and weaker film.

The typical Hong Kong Standoff.

City on Fire is a great heroic bloodshed film that all action and drama fans should check out. It's not one of the absolute best Hong Kong action films but it is definitely one of the most confident and dramatic. The tension is unbearable, the action is bloody, and the lead performance is outstanding. Chow Yun Fat gives one of the best performances of his career as the tired and tragic Ko Chow. Danny Lee also does a great job as Fu, the friendly but criminal jewel thief. I highly recommend this action film and consider it to be one Chow Yun Fat's strongest films. And yes, people who love Reservoir Dogs might want to check this out. But do look at it for what it was back in 1987 and not just that old film that Tarantino ripped off.

Rating: 8/10 - A powerful, tense, and thrilling crime drama with two great action scenes thrown into the mix to wet the action aficionado's pallet.