Die xue cheng shi

Let me start by pointing out that this film has not to be confused with the more famous "City on Fire" (that one starring Chow Yun-fat and directed by Ringo Lam), this is a pretty boring and cheap Taiwanese action flick.

I expected your average gangster/triad actioneer, but after 30 minutes the fantasy element comes in, we discover that two characters have supernatural powers (but it's not explained why or how they got them, and besides, they use these powers only in about three scenes), i was even going to write the plot, but it's a disjointed mess (probably because of some of the uninteresting subplots).

The action scenes are nothing special, there are only 2 action scenes that save this movie from being a total borefest: - A (brief) fight scenes featuring Michiko Nishiwaki (she pretty much appears sporadically throughout the picture) - The final action scenes.

There are also some stolen musics from: Terminator 2, The Mission (the Roland Joffé film) and even from Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.

IMDb lists this movie as being released in 1983, but other sites (such as HKcinemagic and HKMDB) list this movie as being made in 1993.

This is one of the greatest films Hong Kong has ever made. A crime drama that takes a serious of twists and turns as you follow an undercover Hong Kong detective. Its beautiful, and very unique cinematography and camera angles are some of the best you will ever see; and are what inspired Quentin Tarantino to make Reservoir Dog's. A must watch for any one with a love for good film, a well written/executed story, and a lover of Reservoir Dog's.

The director uses the play of light and shadow do show the emotion of a situation or character in a tasteful way. The camera angles are something I still marvel at after all the films I've seen and the acting breaks through the language barrier better then most any foreign film.