Fans of Chow Yun Fat may be disappointed with their action icon when they watch CITY ON FIRE. Chow Yun Fat exploded into international action hero status when he starred in John Woo’s THE KILLER (1989) with Danny Lee. Two years later, John Woo and Chow Yun Fat exceeded the adrenaline of their previous hit, with the ultra-violent HARDBOILED (1992). These two films took the crime thriller genre to new heights, with both Hollywood and Hong Kong unable to capture the magic of the John Woo/Chow Yun Fat equation. Fat also appeared in a variety of dramas that might surprise his action fans. Back in 1987, Fat was cast (along with Danny Lee) in the uneven crime drama, CITY ON FIRE, directed by Ringo Lam. Despite Lam’s great track record with action thrillers (which culminated with 1992’s FULL CONTACT), CITY ON FIRE was Lam’s first true venture into the genre, and it shows. Lam just doesn’t know what to do with Fat, make him charming or make him a badass. Usually in this genre you cannot do both. So instead of blowing away bad guys, Chow Yun Fat plays an undercover cop who runs around trying to rekindle his romance with Carrie Ng, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate a gang of jewel thieves. This time Danny Lee is actually the true bad-ass in the picture. When Dimension first announced they were going to release CITY ON FIRE on DVD, it was advertised as being in Cantonese with English subtitles. HK fans were ecstatic that perhaps Disney was finally coming around, but no such luck. Dimension’s version of CITY ON FIRE is indeed English-dubbed only. The English dub track is the worst I’ve ever heard; those old-school Kung Fu films seem wonderful compared to this piece of crap. To add insult to injury, Dimension sees fit to record an entirely new score.

Chow Yun Fat plays Chow, an undercover officer who tries to woo his fiancé (Carrie Ng) back from another man. At the same time, an undercover police officer is killed in the line of duty by a gang of jewelry thieves. Chow’s Uncle Lau (Sun Yueh) is the police captain who tries to recruit his nephew to go undercover in order to catch the gang. When the gang pulls off another jewelry heist and escapes leaving police cars exploding into flames, a special branch of the police is called in to handle the threat. As Uncle’s position on the investigation is jeopardized by a young upstart, Chow agrees to go undercover. When he infiltrates the gang, he strikes up a friendship with a cop killer named Fu (Danny Lee). The gang prepares for the final big heist and Chow wrestles with his guilt, as he has made friends with the criminal element before that led only to disaster. This time Chow is (figuratively) prepared to take the bullet.

Quentin Tarentino borrowed heavily from CITY ON FIRE and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 for his most acclaimed film, RESERVOIR DOGS. Both this film and Tarentino’s deal with a jewelry heist, only RESERVOIR DOGS does it from the perspective of the thieves after the fact. Director Ringo Lam (who also co-wrote the script) is more concerned with delivering a character study rather than an action thriller or crime drama. The script and pacing take a back seat to Chow trying desperately to hold on to his girlfriend. But she is so shortsighted and self-effacing that it’s hard to identify with her (I can identify with Chow though, because Carrie Ng is da bomb). Seeing Chow Yun Fat running around like a lovesick puppy just goes in the face of everything he has become. Granted, this was his pre-KILLER days but I don’t want to see Fat acting cute and doing the Jackie Chan thing. The most compelling thing about the script for CITY ON FIRE is Chow’s friendship with Danny Lee. But even this angle is rushed and never fleshed out.

Chow Yun Fat does a good job with the thin material handed to him. He convincingly juggles emotions of loyalty and guilt, as any real undercover specialist would in his predicament. However, some of scenes where he acts "cutesy" left me cold. Danny Lee, on the other hand, is excellent in his limited role. Sun Yueh is also one of the better actors in CITY ON FIRE, and his performance grabs the audience’s attention in establishing the subplot about Uncle Lau facing up to his younger and insecure superior. Carrie Ng should not be judged on her dysfunctional character, but she gives an admirable performance, and she sure is great to look at. The worst thing about watching this Dimension version of CITY ON FIRE is the really poor vocal talent who provides the voices for the cast. Chow Yun Fat sounds like he was voiced by a ninth grade drama student with a squeaky voice! Most of the voices sound as though they are coming from the same two voice actors. This makes Columbia Tristar’s dubs sound like Shakespeare in the Park.

The only extras are trailers for LEGEND OF DRUNKENMASTER, SUPERCOP, and THE YARDS.

-  Phil Chandler