# Gong pu II (1995)

### reviewed by
Ralph Beard

    City Cop (1995)
    also known as Public Servant II

Or under the Cantonese title Gong Pu II

    Reviewed By Ralph "Leechboy" Beard

    Directed by Herman Yau

    Written by Anna Lee

    Starring=20

Michael 'Rambo' Chow as Michael 'Rambo' Chow

    Ben Ng as Brother Ng

    Parkman Wong as Inspector Wong

Danny Lee as Inspector Lee (Do you see a pattern here?)

Rating: 7.5 out of ten or ** 1/2 stars out of 5 (You decide)

PLOT SYNOPSIS: Two cops of contrasting ages and policing styles are partnered up to catch a ruthless Jewel heist gang. Much zaniness ensues

There's something strangely heart warming about finding out that cop movie cliches can apply anywhere, all over the world. Hotheaded cops are always teamed with by-the book veterans, they will grudgingly become friends and when a chase scene comes, some poor street vendor will always have his cart or boxes in the way. It's a given, and, let me point this out now, City Cop does not stray from this tried and true formula. Of course, there is the wonderful Hong Kong exception to the worldwide rules of action flicks, that allows us the uncertainty of whether our hero(s) will survive past the final scenes. And, without giving too much away, this does fall into that category too. Yet for some reason, I just don't feel like I'm doing this flick justice by calling it well made, but unexceptional.

Just about everyone does a better than average job, the exceptions? Well, Michael "Rambo" Chow doesn't live up to his nickname. He just doesn't have the kind of screen charisma to pull off the hotheaded cop. When his character does his life endangering stunts, it doesn't come across as something his character would do naturally. Ironically, the guy with the charisma to play that role is City Cop's villain, the ruthless and brazen jewellery store robber Brother Ng (Ben Ng). When Ng appears on screen, you take notice. When he interrupts his getaway from one heist so he can go back and shoot the guy calling for help, you know that's something he'd do. It's a dynamite performance, and I'm looking forward to watching Ng in some other flicks soon.

As for the others, Parkman Wong is fine as the by the book cop. But unsurprisingly it's Danny Lee (Who is also the producer) who's the scene-stealer. He and Wong's scenes together are far more interesting, and better written, than those between Wong and Chow.20

Technically, the film is okay, apart from a score that seems to be made up of production cd tracks, and, what at one point seems to be the music from Duke 3D. Director Herman Yow keeps things moving along nicely, (Though he does seem to be overly fond of doing a left to right tracking shot while two characters talk to each other) and the action scenes have a chaotic quality that is miles away from the vicious ballet of John Woo. Even when a main character dies, he spends little time focusing on it, and gets on with the action, good move. What Yow has working against him is the unremarkable plotline and paint by number characters, but hell, I'm not going to penalise anyone for unoriginality. I'd rather watch a well-made formula movie, than an original piece of crap any day.

The Verdict? City Cop is better than average Lethal Weapon-style flick that I would gladly pick up again.

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