Lung fu fong wan (1987)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Ringo Lam

Writers:

Ringo Lam (story)
Jack Maeby (English version)

Release Date:

13 February 1987 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

An undercover cop, played by Chow Yun-Fat, infiltrates a gang of thieves who plan to rob a jewelry store. The film shows how he infiltrates the gang.

Plot Keywords:

Undercover Cop | Lounge Singer | Male Bonding | Hawaii | Gold

Awards:

2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ko Chow (as Chow Yun Fat)
Danny Lee	...	Fu (as Danny Lee Sau-Yin)
Yueh Sun	...	Inspector Lau / Uncle Kung (as Sun Yueh)
Carrie Ng	...	Hung
Roy Cheung	...	Inspector John Chan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chi Fai Chan
Jessica Chau	...	Lily
Maria Cordero	...	Lounge Singer
Yeh Fang	...	Chow Nam
Victor Hon	...	Bill
Tom Konkle	...	Fu (voice: English version)
Kong Lau	...	Inspector Chow
Elvis Tsui	...	Chan Kam-Wah
Kwong Leung Wong	...	Kwong
Parkman Wong	...	Ah Man
Mengxia Zheng		(as Mang-ha Cheung)

Also Known As:

City on Fire (Hong Kong: English title)
Long hu feng yun (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence.

Runtime:

UK:101 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Cinema City Film Productions

Quotes:

Fu: [Fu talks about his family life] You know, my father was a crook. I got it from him. I just hope my son doesn't turn out like me.
Ko Chow: Is your old man still in jail?
Fu: He's been dead for ten years. My father was stupid. He got shot by the police.
Ko Chow: So you despise them?
Fu: Not at all. They were just doing their job, so why should I?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One Minutes (2009)

Ringo Lam's gangster thriller

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.