City War (1988)

Thanks for the memories!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

City War is a gritty, grim and hard hitting melodramatic action movie .Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung team up again (this was released one year after A Better Tomorrow 2) for some more heroic bloodshed . Even though our protagonists are cops , I do consider this a heroic bloodshed film. Ti Lung is a tough , bad tempered cop named Kerosine Ken. Ken put away triad baddie Ted Yiue( played most vicious by Norman Chu) and now that he is out of prison is looking for revenge.CYF plays Ken 's buddy is a smooth talking hostage negotiator and ladies man.There is a little comedy early on but disappears as the film builds to its violent, nihilistic climax.As things rapidly go to hell CYF and Ti Lung go all out for revenge.Director Sun Chun did a fine job on this film . While in the same vein as John Woo's films, City War is much darker, gritty and gloomy in tone and style .With the incredible talent and chemistry of CYF and Ti Lung , City War really holds up well as an awesome work of heroic bloodshed.

while not a great film, of the first round of 'new wave' action films to come out of Hong Kong in the later 1980s, this has been the most imitated - not the films of Woo and Lam.Probably the main reason for this is that the characters wear their emotions on their sleeves. When it's time to have fun, they do nothing but have fun, when it's time to cry, they cry rivers. And of course, when it's time to fight, they go at it with a fury rarely seen in action films - which of course makes this a very good action film, since such fury is really what action film fans want to see.This emotional openness invites over-acting, and there are certainly moments of that here, especially from the usually more guarded Chow Yun-Fat. On the other hand, this is a perfect venue for Ti Lung, who was trained in the more histrionic method expected of all Shaw Bros. stars of the '70s; and Ti Lung's performance really makes this film believable, despite some rather twists in the relationships presented here (such as the odd respect everyone pays to the aging triad boss).It's a tough, dramatic story, and the gun-fight at the end is among the best in Hong Kong action cinema. Certainly not a classic like "The Killer" or "City on Fire", but you won't go wrong watching this, even a couple times.

A movie containing Chow Yan Fat en Ti lung cannot go wrong and it doesn't. The chemistry between them is wonderful. You will laugh with them and cry with them. This movie is more about their friendship. For fans who expect a movie like "A Better Tomorrow", do not worry because the exploding finale makes the movie worth watching. Forget about the plot,their is none.But the interactions between Chow Yan Fat and Ti Lung compensate that. Also there is not much style except for the action scenes. They are done superbly. Very surprisingly there is also a lot of humor and romance ,which shows the talent of Chow yan Fat. This movie can be described as an average heroic bloodshed title.

City War is yet another Hong Kong-action flick with friendship, vengeance and honor as the main-ingredients. Chow Yun-Fat and Ti-Lung makes this a good movie, and its worth seeing if you like these films. But I would also like to mention that there are other far better Hong Kong-movies available like The Killer, Hard-Boiled and the A Better Tomorrow-series (chapter one and two).City War is just another action flick from Hong-Kong, but it is viewable because Chow Yun-Fat is in it. 7,5/10