Year of the Dragon
Cimino is absolutely cooking here. He comes this close to making a great movie about a shitheel cop chasing a shitheel Triad boss. There's a moment of identification after a stellar chase scene at the end that almost anticipates Heat. 594
There's enough of that movie in here to make it completely worth the watch, plus some absolutely psychotic moments of excess violence for your money. Still can't entirely escape the 80s cop movie bullshit, even though it feels like it desperately wants to: <PERSON> shows up in <PERSON>'s apartment in the obvious setup for the hero to get the girl, then she says "I'm not gonna have sex with you", and then they have sex. <PERSON> sends <PERSON> undercover in the Triad's front business as an obvious setup for the sidekick character to die, then he says "I'm not gonna die for you" and then he dies for him. Really makes me better appreciate To Live and Die In L.A.'s total commitment to not doing that. 698