City War is basically a poor man's Lethal Weapon with a few added role reversals to throw the audience off. Ti Lung plays the hot-tempered cop Ken, who instead of being a suicidal loner has a loving family. Chow Yun-Fat plays Ken's partner Dick. Dick is the single nice guy cop who is looking for love in all the wrong places. When psycho ex-convict Ted (Tsui Siu-Keung) shows up and harasses Ken for putting him away for ten years, it's Ken's family that suffers the consequences.
     In response, Dick helps Ken hunt down and take revenge on Ted outside the confines of the law. When Dick gets involved with Ted's main squeeze, lounge singer Penny (Tien Niu), it looks like things may get complicated. But, they never do because the writing in this movie has absolutely no thought put into it whatsoever. This is simply a formulaic vehicle that reunites the stars of A Better Tomorrow. The action in City War is drab and lifeless, the only redeeming quality being the affable charm and acting ability of the two leads. Chow and Ti could play potatoes growing in a field and it would be watchable. Beyond that, City War is not really worth the time. (Magicvoice 2002)