After the success of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow which released in the Summer of 1986, lead actor Chow Yun Fat further cemented his reputation as Hong Kong’s hottest new action film megastar with his electrifying performance in Ringo Lam’s City on Fire released only 6 months after the John Woo classic. City On Fire is one of the most beloved examples of the ‘heroic bloodshed’ subgenre and a highlight for films fans since its release in 1987. I first discovered this film in the early to mid 90’s having watched John Woo’s The Killer and John Woo’s Hard Boiled. These two films opened up a whole new set of films to check out and that included City On Fire, a film which has been talked about by Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino as being a huge influence for his film Reservoir Dogs

Ko (Chow) is an undercover cop on one last job, assigned to infiltrate a gang of jewel thieves committing armed robberies across Hong Kong. When another police officer is killed in the line of duty during one of the gang’s heists, Ko finds himself caught in the crossfire between the police force desperate to catch the culprits at any cost, and the trigger-happy thieves who begin to smell a rat in their midst. As the bullets fly and the body count rises, Ko’s only hope for survival might be his burgeoning friendship with weary gang member Fu (Danny Lee)…

I mentioned the influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and whilst you can see much of Res Dog’s DNA within City on Fire, it most certainly isn’t a carbon copy of City on Fire, it is as Quentin says ‘a huge influence’. For Tarantino fans, City on Fire is most definitely worth checking out. City on Fire isnt the bullet-fest that many of John Woo’s films are but Lam’s film is a very gritty and dynamic crime thriller that surprised Hong Kong cinema audiences who at that time werent used to this type of violent cop thriller. 

City on Fire has been restored from the original negative and is finally unleashed on home video again in all its lethal fury, looking and sounding more spectacular than ever before. Way beyond any of the VHS presentations that have been around for years. Far superior to the 4:3 VHS that I first saw the film on back in my video store clerk days.  City on Fire was always a a treat to watch but here in this Arrow bluray its even better! Great restoration, great extras and watching it on my big TV rather than the smaller one Id previously watched City on Fire on, was a pure treat for me.  Whilst there are of course many films coming out nowadays that are worth watching there is something extra special to revisiting a classic film especially when it looks, sounds, and is as great as this one is.  Fingers crossed that Arrow Video line up the John Woo films that are begging for a restoration release here in the UK. I have my fingers firmly crossed for The Killer, Hard Boiled and Bullet To The Head.

Wonderfully in this release of City on Fire we get the choice of the original Cantonese dialogue or an English dub version. Choose wisely! and by that I mean choose the Cantonese language version, but hey the English dub is fine if you prefer.  This set is also filled with extras, over two hours of interviews and featurettes plus a full length commentary for those who love chat tracks (me!) 

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless Cantonese and English mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the Cantonese soundtrack and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• Brand new audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto which is excellent and not only takes you through the production of City on Fire, but also gives you a great education on Hong Kong cinema.  
• Burn It Down, a brand new interview with screenwriter Tommy Sham which runs for 18 minutes.
• Hong Kong Confidential, a brand new 11 minute appreciation by author Grady Hendrix
• Some Like It Hot, a brand new appreciation by film historian Ric Meyers which runs for 33 minutes.
• Burning Rivalries, a brand new appreciation by critic Kim Newman which lasts 14 minutes.
• An archival interview with director Ringo Lam which runs 11 minutes.
• Portrait of Anger, an archive interview with cinematographer Andrew Lau which is a 22 minute featurette
• Long Arm of the Law, an archive interview with co-star Roy Cheung which is 26 minutes long.
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
• Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Dylan Cheung

The same extras are included in the LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY set other than of course the 4K UHD disc.