City War (DVD) (Joy Sales Version) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All

Meanwhile, on the wrong side of the tracks, Norman Tsui gets out of prison and climbs right back into his triad zoot suit, picked up in a limo at the prison gates. Growling at everyone who comes within spitting distance, he quickly teaches his girlfriend how they do things in prison. Ouch. Her feelings hurt, she falls for Dick whom she meets while singing in the kind of bar where everyone swizzles champagne and the ladies wear mesh gloves with jumbo ruffles around the wrist.

Playing as a straight drama for three quarters of its length City War offers three good actors (Chow, Ti, and Tsui) taking turns chewing up the scenery, and each other. When conflicts crop up they are as often resolved through negotiation as bloodshed lulling the viewer into a sense of security that this is nothing more than a tense drama. But it's not. It's a Shaw Brothers movie. Not technically, but Sun Chung got his chops at Shaw, and he knows how to turn on the afterburners. Which, in one sudden burst of bloodshed, he does.

The filmmakers sprung for the family-sized squibs which are held in reserve until the final third of the movie when they explode promiscuously. The bad guys stage the final showdown during an arms deal, providing everyone with plenty of firearms, although Ti Lung and Chow Yun-fat have thoughtfully brought their own. Spurting squibs and blood in a grotty bus terminal, everyone gets punched so full of holes by the end of this film that they look like lawn sprinklers. A serious remake of Tiger on Beat, City War is low-key but lots of fun.

by Grady Hendrix