The city is on FIRE!
A cop has been working undercover for the past few years. After his last assignment, he wants to quit working as an undercover cop. But the boss wants him to do one last assignment before he quits. The boss wants him to infiltrate a gang that robs jewelry stores, and this gang needs firearms. So the cop has to give them some guns they can use under the robbery that he will take part in. But it’s not so easy for his boss to get hold of the firearms.
City on Fire is the first movie in Ringo Lams, on Fire series. The other movies that followed after City on Fire are Prison on Fire, School on Fire, Prison on Fire II, and Sky on Fire. City on Fire is the movie that Quentin Tarantino borrowed a lot from when he made Reservoir Dogs.
Chow Yun Fat has the lead role, and in this movie, he hardly uses any firearms. One would think a movie called City on Fire, which has Ringo Lam as the director, should have wild and energetic shootouts. When you also have the king of charisma, Chow Yun Fat, in the lead role, you would think City on Fire is an action movie with a capital A. But no, it’s the opposite. There are two action scenes, and that’s all. And they don’t last long.
Ringo Lam focuses on the protagonist and his inner demons after he has deceived people who thought he was an actual friend and villain. But it turned out that he was a cop who tricked them. That angle works well.
What doesn’t work well is when the protagonist infiltrates the criminal gang, and he gets closer to one person in the gang. Suddenly they are best friends, without me as a viewer fully understanding why. Ringo Lam chooses a very simple solution that I didn’t buy. If you join such a gang as we see in City on Fire, the newcomer must always prove that he’s trustworthy. The things we see in City on Fire aren’t enough. They usually experience something that brings them closer when they stare death in the eye. But we don’t see that. So the way they are bonding doesn’t feel right at all.
And Ringo Lam just had to force in a romantic love story that leads nowhere and which is uninteresting. What the heck is the protagonist seeing in this slut?
Then we have the police and the incompetent job they perform! Two cops who hate each other have to cooperate and lead this operation, and most of it goes to hell. They don’t think about the safety of the cop who has infiltrated the criminal gang. They don’t show pictures of him to the police officers taking part in this operation, so they don’t shoot the undercover cop by accident.
Roy Cheung, who plays the cop who’s leading the operation, is ridiculous and useless. The boss of the protagonist, who should be on his side, only thinks of himself and his reputation. And he makes some strange decisions that destroy a lot of the movie’s credibility. But he’s not alone., The rest of the cops are also useless clowns in City on Fire!
Ringo Lam plays with the camera, and there are some beautiful scenes here. The few action scenes in City on Fire are very good. And the movie is suspenseful when the protagonist has to shake off the cops who are following him around.
But City on Fire has scenes that make the movie boring at times. They could have used these scenes on the bonding between the protagonist and the character he gets close to in the gang he infiltrates. I wanted to get under the skin of these two. It’s these two characters that are the interesting characters in City on Fire.
City on Fire is a good movie, but it has its problems.