Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE (1987)

Something something "The way to criticize a film is to make another **film" and so on. But first thing to know is this is strangely enough more in common with The *Departed to me than Reservoir Dogs. And yes, everyone knows that Reservoir Dogs was inspired by/ripped off City on Fire for its jewelry heist and story of a mole double crossing everyone. What this book means to puport is: maybe it isn't(??:p)

The thing about City on Fire that made me pleased and so locked in was that this is its own thing, up until there is that point when Tarantino himself said he did lift the climax of the picture (complete with Mexican stand-off, which the HK filmmakers themselves "homaging" Spaghetti Westerns must have veen a nice surprise to discover). 

It is a story where you really do come to loathe like all but one of the cops (because well, by and large, ACAB, I know that is a contradiction but leave me be, I'm just a caveman, etc), in particular how they make undercover and had-his-full-of-it cop Chow (one and only Chow Yun Fat) into a totally miserable wreck as one inspector won't let up on his men trailing him despite the guy who covers him, Uncle, trying to make sure he is protected.

When I say it reminds of the Departed I am not being that facetious: I have to wonder if DiCaprio studied what Yun-Fat was doing here in his performance more than in Infernal Affairs, as this is a man who is so at his wits end and needing to drink and sweat from every pore he has. One thing that makes the film so engaging though, on its own terms, is how much of a jolly cad he makes Ko Chow in this story, in large part around his girlfriend and-maybe-fiance, who is threatening to leave on a trip to Canada where she may not return for a while. Can Ko Chow get out of this? Fat chance, which just amplifies how much he has to hide his desperation behind cigarettes and a saxophone on the soundtrack.

Thinking about the idea of Reservoir Dogs as film criticism and Tarantino commenting on what he liked about City on Fire and wanted to alter, it is fascinating to see what is superior in Ringo Lam's film, primarily the unlikely but firm bond that forms between Ko Chow and Fu (Danny Lee, and jeez what is is about these two actors becoming fast friends in movies, first this then The Killer, and I saw both in the same week but that is on me, I digress). I really like how the film shows little by little how they do grow closer, or that maybe Ko is getting to like this ruthless jewel thief despite himself - or because of the pungent irony that the one guy who isn't out to bust him against a wall is him - and that is something that you get to see more and developed than with Mr. Orange and Mr. White in Dogs.

On the other hand, where I can figure Tarantino thougut he could do better was by fleshing out the rest of the Jewel thief gang and eschew (with just two exceptions) the police really being characters in his story altogether. But what you get in City on Fire is a fast-paced but never too much so melodrama where we see this guy at times literally running for his life, and it is amazing to see just how bad everyone is at their jobs here from the cops to the criminals, this despite Fu/Danny Lee seeming to have it the most together out of anyone.

I mentioned it somewhat before but it shouldn't be looked over how important those early scenes are for the rest of the film to work as it does, from the first almost-but-not botched robbery early on to those scenes where we see Ko Chow being more well-rounded and even joyful around people he cares about (or he thinks are his one respite), especially since he has been in this for longer than he would care to remember. While everything involving the dueling chief inspectors and how much danger there are in scenes like the sort of trial by fire at the cemetery for Ko Chow, what you remember most are the quieter character scenes that makes everything else matter so much more.

By the time it gets to that ending, it is very bloody and bombastic and the way everyone yells at each other is as big and loud as you might expect given that this is a ballsy Hong Kong action movie. There are some things that may not work great or hold up (when he catches up to his Fiance at the airport that just didn't ring true to me how it plays out), but what works here is hair-raising and featuring at least a couple of the best actors in their time and industry performing the fuck out of what they got. There is a reason the DNA from this volcanic pot-boiler got to many other filmmakers over the years.

(*these are called jokes, folks, please clap)

(**fuck off, this is spectacular)