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The Dominator reviews
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 101 minutes
- Year: 1987
- Pressing: 1996
- Sides: 2 (CLV)
- Chapters: 41 (20/21)
- Cat.no: HK 003L
- Sound: Mono
- Widescreen : 1.85:1
- Cantonese language with English subtitles
- Price: £29.99
- Extras : None
Director:
- Ringo Lam (Twin Dragons, Maximum Risk)
Cast:
- Ko Chow : Chow Yun Fat (The Killer, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow)
Fu : Danny Lee (The Killer, Just Heroes, Tiger on the Beat 2)
City on Firestars established Chinese film actor Chow Yun Fat as Ko Chowas a maverick undercover cop who has nightmares of a colleague, Shing, who wasmurdered at a crime scene which went wrong, and his feelings of betraying Shing.
Shortly after the film begins, another colleague is dead. This time it’s Wah,a cop who was on the trail of a gang of ruthless jewellery thieves, and nowChow has no choice other than to take on from where Wah left off. He has togo in to the store where the heist is taking place and infiltrate the robberyby pretending to join in. After being wounded during the bloodshed that occursinside the store, he becomes trapped in the gangster’s hideout as they try towork out who the traitor is in their gang…
If all this sounds rather a lot like the plot of Quentin Tarantino’sReservoir Dogs, then in a nutshell it is, although there will of coursebe a number of differences between that of the new kid in Hollywood, and anexperienced director of Hong Kong action films, especially in the way thatthe violent scenes are handled. One other difference is that Lam’s film showsthe heist taking place and the reaction of the police once the gangster’s havegot away. Tarantino’s classic never showed the heist, just talked about itafterwards, and as well as being told in flashback, never cared much for thefate of the cops.
In fact, this film is essential viewing for those who are big fans of theaforementioned Reservoir Dogs, and want to make the comparisons andsee the scenes mentioned in ‘Dogs’ which were never part of the film, such asMr. White’s reference to Blonde’s shooting of the female bank teller, “Howold was that girl? 20?…21?”. Well watch City on Fireand check itout for yourself.
The print of the film is very clean, with the 1.85:1 widescreen ratio beingat the top of the screen, and the black bar below housing the subtitles.The mono soundmix is functional. It would be nice to hear all the bulletsricocheting around the room in surround sound, but at least this luxury is beingprovided as directors such as Lam and John Woo trade Hong Kong for America thesedays, the latest film from Lam being the new Jean Claude Van Damme actioner,Maximum Risk. The disc is very well chaptered with 41 altogether forthe 101 minutes running time.
City on Fire is one of four PAL laserdiscs released by Made in HongKong, the other three being,The Heroic Trio,The Killerand Black Cat,the latter being a reworking of Luc Besson’s well-respectedNikita, starring Jade Leung.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.
Check outMade In Hong Kong’s Web site !
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.