City On Fire is an average crime drama from Hong Kong that is raised above the level of obscurity because of it's final forty minutes remarkable similarities to Reservoir Dogs. The rest of the film is rather ordinary, with a reluctant undercover cop being brought out of retirement to help catch a violent gang of robbers. At the same time, he is haunted by memories of his previous job where he befriended a criminal and then had to betray him. In an irrelevant addition to the plot his girlfriend gets annoyed at his delaying of their marriage and elopes with another man.
But while this first section is decent if unspectacular, the final forty minutes are the important bit. This is where it becomes clear that the film was a very big influence on Tarantino. In fact, he's plainly nicked several moments of this film and inserted them straight into Reservoir Dogs in improved form. Three people all pointing guns at each other? That's here. Harvey Kietel shooting straight into the cop's windscreen for an extended period of time? That's here (minus Harvey Kietel obviously). The ending, where the dying undercover cop reveals his identity? That's here, though it's slightly different.
Despite the fact that it's such a blatant rip-off, Reservoir Dogs is still probably the better of the two films. It's more concise and slightly shorter, it has better dialogue, it isn't as dark visually. Overall, City On Fire is worth a look, as it's not a bad film by itself, and definitely because of what it inspired.
But while this first section is decent if unspectacular, the final forty minutes are the important bit. This is where it becomes clear that the film was a very big influence on Tarantino. In fact, he's plainly nicked several moments of this film and inserted them straight into Reservoir Dogs in improved form. Three people all pointing guns at each other? That's here. Harvey Kietel shooting straight into the cop's windscreen for an extended period of time? That's here (minus Harvey Kietel obviously). The ending, where the dying undercover cop reveals his identity? That's here, though it's slightly different.
Despite the fact that it's such a blatant rip-off, Reservoir Dogs is still probably the better of the two films. It's more concise and slightly shorter, it has better dialogue, it isn't as dark visually. Overall, City On Fire is worth a look, as it's not a bad film by itself, and definitely because of what it inspired.