Yee daam hung seon

A movie containing Chow Yan Fat en Ti lung cannot go wrong and it doesn't. The chemistry between them is wonderful. You will laugh with them and cry with them. This movie is more about their friendship. For fans who expect a movie like "A Better Tomorrow", do not worry because the exploding finale makes the movie worth watching. Forget about the plot,their is none.But the interactions between Chow Yan Fat and Ti Lung compensate that. Also there is not much style except for the action scenes. They are done superbly. Very surprisingly there is also a lot of humor and romance ,which shows the talent of Chow yan Fat. This movie can be described as an average heroic bloodshed title.

Oddly paced and strikingly shot, City War could have been a stone-cold classic of Hong Kong's vastly impressive line-up of heroic bloodshed actioners, unfortunately, it has to make do with writing that's painfully formulaic, extremely uneven and occasionally mindless. Yet, it's not all bad. The first two-thirds of the film takes on the form of a joyful romantic comedy, dominated by the happy-go-lucky presence of Chow Yun-fat's character. Then suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, the last third hits, and we are plunged into an abyss of gritty drama, graphic violence, tragedy and death. The massive tonal shift really upsets the film's balance but largely gets carried through the weaker moments thanks to the chemistry of Chow Yun-fat and Ti Lung being onscreen together again. It's all slickly directed by, Shaw Brothers graduate, Sun Chung with a bold use of colour while Michael Lai's score is suitably epic. Mashing together the stylings of Miami Vice with the Hong Kong criminal underground, City War isn't a classic by any means, it is a fully entertaining slice of 80s action and more than worthy of watching at least watch.

Ti Lung as Ken and Chow Yun-Fat as Dick are back as policeman only this time, Dick is the calm negotiator and Ken the hot head, flying off the handle. These guys are such good actors that they make their characters believable. City War has the usual very bad guys and lots of guns and bloody battles. But it also has some music and domestic scenes with Ken's family - and Ken's wife fixing Dick up with a woman and the funny scene with the two of them getting acquainted.

The scene of Chow dancing with the villains girlfriend Penny (before he knows who she is), is one of the most erotic ever in one of his films. This guy can do anything - he is just amazing and each film shows another of his great portrayals.

This is not a must have but for true CYF fans, or Ti Lung, it is one to see at least once.

City War is yet another Hong Kong-action flick with friendship, vengeance and honor as the main-ingredients. Chow Yun-Fat and Ti-Lung makes this a good movie, and its worth seeing if you like these films. But I would also like to mention that there are other far better Hong Kong-movies available like The Killer, Hard-Boiled and the A Better Tomorrow-series (chapter one and two).

City War is just another action flick from Hong-Kong, but it is viewable because Chow Yun-Fat is in it. 7,5/10

Oddly enough, then I hadn't heard about "City War" (aka "Yee dam hung seon") before now in 2021, as I had the chance to sit down to watch it. And with it being a Hong Kong movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I jumped at the chance to watch it.

And with it being watched now, I must admit that "City War" was a fairly typical movie in the Hong Kong action genre. Sure, if you are new to these movies, then "City War" will prove to be quite interesting. But if you are familiar with the genre and have seen more than your share of the movies, then chances are that you will find "City War" to be just another generic run-of-the-mill action movie that are found in great abundance in this period of the Hong Kong cinema.

For me, it was the somewhat stale storyline that was holding the movie back, because the action sequences in the movie were definitely good, and there was quite a bit of action throughout the course of the movie. But the storyline was just a bit too generic and mundane to properly entertain me. Now, don't get me wrong here, because "City War" is certainly a watchable movie, it just wasn't and outstanding movie.

The movie did have some good lead actors to portray the main characters, those being Yun-Fat Chow and Lung Ti.

Writers Lu Tung, Wai Ting Leung and Kai-Cheung Chung just seemed to put their money on the safe bet and go for something that everyone else was doing at that time in the Hong Kong action cinema. And that made for a somewhat mundane addition to the genre.

My rating of "City War" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars. If you enjoy Yun-Fat Chow movies, then there are far better action movies with him in the lead role.