Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE (1989) blu-ray

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Has anyone seen the Fortune Star / Kam & Ronson blu-ray of CITY ON FIRE ? Yep, it's on a blu-ray. But one never knows about Hong Kong releases until you put it in the player. Can anyone recommend this blu-ray?

I've always intended to upgrade the Buena Vista DVD which by all accounts isn't very good.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I've got the Fortune Star DVD (in the 'On Fire' boxed set), and am very happy with it. Prior to that, I owned the Hong Kong Legends DVD (with the funky colour timing) - and the old MIHK VHS. In terms of the presentation of the film, the Fortune Star is miles ahead of the HKL disc (in my view).

I love this film and would have bought the Fortune Star BD when it was released, but at the time I remember reading some convincing reviews or comments (perhaps on one of the Asian movie forums on the web) that the release contained an upscaled transfer. That said, even if this is true, it's probably an improvement over the US Buena Vista disc - especially as the US disc contains only an English-dubbed version of the film.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

A Hero Never Dies has a review.

"Kam and Ronson's blu ray of City on fire is a definite upgrade from any previous dvd release, how much of an upgrade will depend on which dvd you have. Compared to my Universe HK dvd the difference is night and day, however, it's significantly less so compared to the HKL disc. The problem is the source material, like many HK films of this vintage, is very soft to begin with so the gain in resolution doesn't add much in the way of detail. I can't imagine the film will ever look any better than this release, as I said if you have the HKL disc the difference may not be enough. The audio is vastly superior to the dvd releases with the exception of the added foley effects, which while not as intrusive as on some titles, do stand out particularly in fight scenes. Teddy Robin's score sounds superb though on the Dolby TrueHD track. Is it worth the money? I guess it depends how much you can pick it up for, what version you already have and of course, how much you like the film. For me I think it's worth it, just. "

A post at Blu-ray.com says that it's not an upscaled transfer.

I just might have to get this myself. I also still have the lousy old Buena Vista disc.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

A Hero Never Dies has a review.

"Kam and Ronson's blu ray of City on fire is a definite upgrade from any previous dvd release, how much of an upgrade will depend on which dvd you have. Compared to my Universe HK dvd the difference is night and day, however, it's significantly less so compared to the HKL disc. The problem is the source material, like many HK films of this vintage, is very soft to begin with so the gain in resolution doesn't add much in the way of detail. I can't imagine the film will ever look any better than this release, as I said if you have the HKL disc the difference may not be enough. The audio is vastly superior to the dvd releases with the exception of the added foley effects, which while not as intrusive as on some titles, do stand out particularly in fight scenes. Teddy Robin's score sounds superb though on the Dolby TrueHD track. Is it worth the money? I guess it depends how much you can pick it up for, what version you already have and of course, how much you like the film. For me I think it's worth it, just. "

A post at Blu-ray.com says that it's not an upscaled transfer.

That's a relief, Ian. Those K&R BDs seem to be pretty hit-and-miss at the best of times, and at the time of its release I was convinced by the suggesting it was an upscale. I guess this will be closer, in terms of its colours, to the Fortune Star disc than the HKL release. The absence of the original sound mix is problematic, however. I may mull this one over...

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

UHD coming from Shout! in July, no details on extras yet but here's the cover art.