Cover Hard 2 (1987)

Cover Hard 2: Directed by Ringo Lam. With Chow Yun-Fat, Yueh Sun, Danny Lee, Carrie Ng. An undercover cop infiltrates a gang of thieves who plan to rob a jewelry store.

“Ringo Lamu0026#39;s perhaps most famous and influential film is this, CITY ON FIRE, from 1987. It was Quentin Tarantinou0026#39;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 Lamu0026#39;s themes for his debut film. Reservoir is definitely not any rip off like some have suggested, it a tribute. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChow 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 Chowu0026#39;s mission is again to go undercover to Fuu0026#39;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 heu0026#39;s done again, and again he finds himself betraying a friend, but this time the results are more horrific.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 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 isnu0026#39;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 Woou0026#39;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. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCity on Fire is pretty gritty and violent gangster depiction and the finale in the storehouse is the filmu0026#39;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 Leeu0026#39;s true crime thriller Dr. Lamb, 1992. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCITY ON FIRE, however, suffers a little because of weak characters and that especially Chow isnu0026#39;t too well written and doesnu0026#39;t act as believably as possible. For example, the difficulties he has with his girlfriend are not handled too carefully as we donu0026#39;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 sheu0026#39;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 doesnu0026#39;t even get a proper answer or reason for this from Chow. Not very well written scene at all.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso Iu0026#39;m little irritated by the fact that the gunshot wound in the stomach is depicted so un-painfully. Tim Roth suffers the whole Reservoir Dogsu0026#39;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 Tarantinou0026#39;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 isnu0026#39;t a so called u0026quot;bullet balletu0026quot; film with huge amount of gun play action, and the violence in CITY ON FIRE is brutal and remorseless and never without its consequences.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI 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.”