CITY ON FIRE is not in the mold of A BETTER TOMORROW or FULL CONTACT. It's a drama about the emotional pressures an undercover police officer faces when he is ordered, against his better judgement, to infiltrate a gang of violent, gun-toting jewel robbers.
That Ko Chow (Chow Yun Fat) is having problems with his fiancée makes the situation all the more difficult for him. He's unable to explain why it is he can never keep a date with Hung (Carrie Ng) as only secrecy is keeping him alive. Even his fellow officers don't know he is really an undercover cop and pursue him relentlessly as they (rightly) suspect him of supplying arms to the robbers.
The negative points are that the drama between Ko Chow and Hung is never convincingly explored. Even if Ko Chow couldn't tell Hung that he was having meetings with the leader of the jewel thieves, he could at least tell her something. No wonder she leaves him for a sixty- year-old millionaire.
Also, Ko Chow's deep bond of friendship with Fu (Danny Lee) is a bit easily formed. It just doesn't convince that one conversation between them about their childhoods would make them so close that one would die for the other.
In this respect, the script construction of CITY ON FIRE is a little weak.
However, credit should be given to director/writer Ringo Lam for bringing the theme of misplaced loyalty to the undercover cop genre.
And though RESERVOIR DOGS is criticised here for stealing the core plot elements of CITY ON FIRE, it has to be said that the structure of Taratino's film is far superior to Lam's. But it would be nice to think Quentin had paid Ringo something for using his ideas.
That Ko Chow (Chow Yun Fat) is having problems with his fiancée makes the situation all the more difficult for him. He's unable to explain why it is he can never keep a date with Hung (Carrie Ng) as only secrecy is keeping him alive. Even his fellow officers don't know he is really an undercover cop and pursue him relentlessly as they (rightly) suspect him of supplying arms to the robbers.
The negative points are that the drama between Ko Chow and Hung is never convincingly explored. Even if Ko Chow couldn't tell Hung that he was having meetings with the leader of the jewel thieves, he could at least tell her something. No wonder she leaves him for a sixty- year-old millionaire.
Also, Ko Chow's deep bond of friendship with Fu (Danny Lee) is a bit easily formed. It just doesn't convince that one conversation between them about their childhoods would make them so close that one would die for the other.
In this respect, the script construction of CITY ON FIRE is a little weak.
However, credit should be given to director/writer Ringo Lam for bringing the theme of misplaced loyalty to the undercover cop genre.
And though RESERVOIR DOGS is criticised here for stealing the core plot elements of CITY ON FIRE, it has to be said that the structure of Taratino's film is far superior to Lam's. But it would be nice to think Quentin had paid Ringo something for using his ideas.