City on Fire (1987)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | City on Fire |
| Original title | City on Fire / 龍虎 風雲 |
| Country of production | Hong Kong |
| original language | Cantonese , English |
| Publishing year | 1987 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK Unchecked and Indicated |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ringo Lam |
| script | Ringo Lam |
| production |
Karl Maka , Ringo Lam |
| music | Teddy Robin Kwan |
| camera | Andrew Lau |
| cut | Wong Ming-Lam |
| occupation | |
| |
City on Fire ( 龍虎風雲 / 龙虎风云 , Lónghǔ Fengyun , Jyutping Lung 1 fu 2 Fung 1 wan 4 ) is one in Hong Kong produced Gangsterfilm from the year 1987 under the direction of Ringo Lam with Chow Yun-Fat in the main role. The film is about an undercover agent who infiltrates a group of jewel thieves. The film did not have a regular theatrical release in Germany and only appeared in various video formats. The German video title Cover Hard 2 simulates a sequel to the film Full Contact from 1992; apart from the fact that the director and leading actor are identical, there is no connection between the two films (in addition, Full Contact was released five years after City on Fire ).
The film made Chow Yun-fat internationally known after his role in City Wolf . The film was also a strong inspiration for Quentin Tarantino , who took over several scenes in very similar form for his film Reservoir Dogs .
action
The police officer Chan Kam-wah, who was undercover investigating a gang of jewelery thieves, is exposed and attacked and stabbed by three men in a marketplace. Inspector Lau, the man's superior, then instructs Ko Chow (also an undercover agent) to continue the investigation. Ko Chow is reluctant to accept this. He doesn't really want to conduct any more undercover investigations because the last time he was on duty he exposed someone who trusted him as a friend.
The gang raids a jewelry factory, but a passerby manages to alert the police. After an exchange of fire with the approaching police, the perpetrators manage to escape with their prey. The police leadership appoints the young inspector John Chan as head of a special commission. A strong rivalry develops between Lau and Chan, as Chan sees Lau as old-fashioned and overwhelmed and Lau in turn sees Chan as inexperienced and arrogant.
In order to establish contact, Chow offers the gang weapons for sale through the intermediary Tai Song. During his first meeting with Fu, a member of the gang, he was followed by officers from the Criminal Investigation Division (who report to Chan and have not been informed that he was an undercover agent). After Kam-wah's funeral, Chow meets with Lau, who gives him a key to a locker in a bowling alley where the weapons are deposited. Chow advises Lau against handing over real weapons, but he thinks this is necessary, otherwise the trail of the robbers would be lost. In any case, they would then get other weapons on the black market.
Chow meets with his girlfriend Hung, whom he had recently proposed to marry. The appointment at the registry office is two days later at ten in the morning, but Chow asks her to postpone the marriage until his current case is resolved, after which she leaves the room dissolved.
Before handing over the gun that was picked up from the bowling center to the robbers, Chow ties a tape recorder around his waist. He meets with three of the gang members in an underground car park, from where they drive to a cemetery. Chow is scanned, but the tape is not detected by a diversionary maneuver. Fu is satisfied with the delivered weapon and would like to meet in two days at 12 noon to buy more weapons including ammunition.
The next day, Chow meets with Lau and asks him for the guns. Lau needs time to get them and ensures that they will be returned to the bowling center at 10 a.m. (two hours from the agreed handover to Fu). Meanwhile, Hung is packing her things in order to take a flight to Canada at 2 p.m. the following day with the older businessman Tso, who had already made advances for her to leave his wife for her. When Chow finds out about this on the phone, he proposes to her to change her mind. Hung replied that if he was serious he should show up at the registry office tomorrow at 10 a.m. At this time the next day, Hung waits in vain with her friend Rose for Chow to appear.
Chow is shadowed by police officers on the way to the bowling center to collect the guns. When he notices this (and since possession of the guns is a criminal offense), he calls Lau, who tells him that this is Chan's team, that Chow should proceed to collect the guns and that he would clarify the situation with Chan. Opposite Chan he calls Chow an informant but withholds his work as an undercover agent. Chan brusquely rejects his request and expels him from the office.
Now on his own, Chow manages to shake off his pursuers at a metro station by boarding a train that is just departing. He goes to the bowling center and when he is picking up the bag with the weapons, he sees that he is on foot in the center. As he is about to leave the building, the police are just arriving again. Chow manages to escape by jumping from the first floor and is picked up on the street by Fu, who has just arrived in a car and drives away with him. They drive to the hiding place of the gang because the leader wants to meet Chow. He hands over the three weapons and 200 rounds of ammunition. The leader is very satisfied and offers Chow to take part in an upcoming large-scale raid.
Fu drives Chow to the airport, where he meets Hung, whom he had transferred to the registry office. She is about to take a flight to Canada with Tso. He tries to change her mind, but is arrested by the police (who are wanted for the arms trade) while Hung takes the flight. Chow is beaten and tortured at a police station by Chan's team to determine who he sold the guns to. When Lau enters the room and sees this, he threatens Chan with his weapon and an argument ensues. The boss of the two hears the noise, intervenes and orders Chow to release the bonds, and orders Chan and Lau into his office. Lau admits to having given Chow the weapons to thread the arms trade so he could arrest the gang for illegal gun possession, and that Chow is an undercover agent. However, since illegal gun possession would only result in short sentences, Chan suggests catching the perpetrators in the act by having Chow participate in the robbery. Lau thinks this is too risky. Ultimately, however, Chan prevails and the police chief orders the use of Chow as a participant in the planned raid.
The gang (and Chow) could target four jewelry stores, all of which have poor security, lots of valuable goods and are on major roads. After the attack, they plan to go to a hiding place at the harbor, where they should pick up a boat the next day. The police do not know where they will strike, but plan to have a special task force ready.
On the eve of the crime, the gang's boss calls everyone in an apartment. Everyone has to spend the remaining time together for security reasons and hand in their pagers . Chow writes the address of the planned hiding place on a piece of paper, but does not manage to get the message to his colleagues when he finally puts the piece of paper in his wallet. Chow and Fu share a room and talk about the past and future plans. Fu is illiterate and has been a professional criminal since Father who was killed by police in a police station robbery about ten years ago. His wife left him and he never saw his son again. Chow also tells him that his girlfriend has left him and the two men become increasingly familiar with each other. In the evening, Chow reads a letter from Hung in which she writes that she did not go to Canada with Tso, but would be waiting for him in Hawaii.
The next morning, the police command decides to withdraw the Special Operations Command (SEK), as an imminent attack is no longer expected. However, this is a misjudgment, the leader of the gang calls his men together in the morning, distributes the weapons and names the Tai Kong jeweler as the target of the attack. With the withdrawal of the SEK, it is only guarded by two police officers in a patrol car. The robbery begins when four of the robbers enter the shop and demand the jewelry with their guns drawn. Fu and Chow wait in front of the entrance of the shop to keep an eye on the street and the boss of the group is at the wheel of one of the getaway cars. When Fu raises the collar of his coat to avoid being recognized, Chow realizes that Fu is the man whom eyewitnesses described as the murderer of Kam-Wah.
When the jeweler's alarm goes off, Joe - one of the robbers - shoots a saleswoman. While they are trying to escape into the cars, they are shot at by the two policemen who shadowed the shop and Bill (another gang member) shot. One of the getaway cars is pushed aside by the police and brought to a stop. Fu, Chow, Joe and Big Song have to leave Bill behind and flee behind a ledge for cover in the hail of bullets. Joe is also killed by a bullet while Big Song tries to short circuit another getaway car. In a daring maneuver, Fu jumps towards an approaching police car and shoots the four police officers sitting in it, where he is also hit in the shoulder. Chow saves Fu's life by killing the policeman who shot Fu. When he realizes what he has done, he pauses in shock, whereupon Fu saves his life by pulling him out of the line of fire again.
Fu, Chow, Big Song and Bony (the fourth surviving robber) flee with the stolen car to the hiding place at the harbor, a hall where they meet the leader who is already waiting for them. Chow's wallet is found at the scene of the shooting and the police learn of the perpetrators' target.
The boss suspects that there is a traitor in the group because there were so many police on site despite the careful planning, and accuses Chow of having recently joined the gang. Big Song and especially Fu defend Chow and there is a Mexican standoff : Fu in particular is on Chow's side, since he saved his life and threatens to shoot anyone who touches Chow.
When the police arrive and surround the hiding place with a large contingent of dozen men and the SEK, the gang members let go of each other. When Chan calls them over a megaphone to surrender, Big Song shoots the police officers. These return the fire massively and kill him. Bony tries to surrender and is killed by the boss for it. When he then tries to shoot Chow and Fu, they shoot him. Chow was also shot by a police bullet and his injuries are too severe to attempt to escape. He confesses to being an undercover agent for Fu and asks for a quick death. Fu doesn't want to believe it at first, but fails to kill Chow. While the SEK police storm the hall and arrest Fu, Chow dies at his side. Lau is so angry about his death that he knocks down Chan (who is already boasting to his superior about the solution to the case) with a brick and angrily away.
reception
At the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards , Ringo Lam won the award for best directorial work and Chown Yun-fat won the award for best male actor. In addition, the film was nominated in seven other categories.
Web links
- City on Fire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- City on Fire at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 7th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards. LoveHKFilm, accessed September 19, 2017 .