Quentin Tarantino gives a big shout-out to City of Fire with Reservoir Dogs, a reinterpretation/extension/Americanization of the last 15 minutes of the film. And while City of Fire has a killer ending indeed, the guts of the film are so-so at best.

Chow Yun-Fat stars as an undercover cop who infiltrates a jewelry crime ring but develops a friendship with one of the criminals while arousing genuine suspicion in the police force. This is a lot clearer in retrospect than while watching the film -- the whole affair being confusing and poorly explained.

For those interested in seeing some of Chow's earlier career work (he was once much thinner and had a lot more hair!), City of Fire is a decent time. Too bad the action is lackluster (lots of straightforward gunplay is about it) and the plot is muddy as can be.

Aka Long hu feng yun.