City on Fire (1987)

John Woo may have pioneered the heroic bloodshed genre with A Better Tomorrow, but Ringo Lam was hot on his heels, borrowing ABT star Chow Yun-fat for City on Fire, a rip roaring cops and robbers film on the streets of Hong Kong, full of gunfire, explosions, car crashes and intrigue.

Ko Chow is a young cop about to quit the force, who's persuaded to go undercover to infiltrate a gang of vicious jewellery robbers. But is he in too deep? And should be more scared of his new friends killing him if they find out who he really is, or his old colleagues killing him if they don't?

This was a huge influence on Reservoir Dogs (ie. Tarantino completely ripped it off) as well as Infernal Affairs, and in turn The Departed. The two leads, Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee, would later be cast as the leads in Woo's stunning The Killer.

Want a succinct trailer that ties to explain the plot to a backdrop of metal? Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9nBxswxG50

Or maybe you'd prefer a much longer trailer with everyone speaking Mandarin to the sound of smooth sax? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XANYgukszA0

Tickets here, I'm in D4. We can congregate outside afterwards and discuss the film over a drink somewhere.