Chow Yun-Fat is Ko Chow, an undercover cop caught in a City on Fire in Ringo Lam’s iconic piece of Hong Kong cinema.

Ready to leave his undercover life behind, Chow is persuaded by Inspector Lau (Yueh Sun) to take on on last case. When an undercover cop ends up dead, Chow has to infiltrate the gang of thieves the dead cop was trying to bring down. They are planning on a jewelry store heist, and Chow is the one who is going to supply them with the guns.

Some of this may sound familiar, as it helped inspire Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

As the case explodes around him, he finds himself under suspicion by other cops, who don’t know he’s undercover, and the violence and mistrust of the gang, including the dangerous Fu (Danny Lee).

But not only is he handling his job, he also has lots going on in his personal life, including a possible wedding to his girlfriend, Hung (Carrie Ng).

Who can Chow trust to get him through this or is he on his own?

Filled with solid action sequences and big moments, Yun-Fat carries the film easily, looking cool and charming throughout, and demonstrating why he is such a cinematic icon.

Barely running an hour and a half, the story still takes its time setting up Chow’s journey, as well as the case and characters around him. It looks great, especially for being shot in the 80s. Sure, some of it is dated, and would undoubtedly be shot different now, but it remains awesome.

It’s a crisp and violent tale that still works brilliantly and you can see its influences on Hong Kong and North American filmmaking. And while I don’t love it as much as John Woo’s work with Chow Yun-Fat, it is a damned fine film.

The only thing I didn’t really like is the song that is used twice in the film. Perhaps it’s just the subtitled translation. It just seemed a little silly to me, though I get the intention behind it. The rest of the score works well, in fact, everything works great. The violence when it happens is brutal and shocking, and Chow seems out of his depth when it erupts. He just wants to finish this case and get out.

There’s some great stuff, including the final showdown, with the building completely ringed by police. Shot at night it looks cinematic, big and intense. Lam is a helluva director. I really enjoyed this one, and it also serves to remind me that there are tons of Hong Kong cinema that I really need to dig into.

So far, I seem to be making solid choices, let’s see what else is out there.