The Longest Nite

Tony Leung Chiu Wai is cast against type as the corrupt and violent Police officer in this Noir thriller. He gives his most deepest and powerful performance since playing the mentally tough protagonist of John Woo's Bullet in the Head(1990). In the tradition of the pessemistic noir pictures of the 1940s. A complex and thrilling story with surprising plot twists. Mixture of Martin Scorsese, Fernando Di Leo, John Woo, and Takeshi Kitano.

Another fabulous movie from Patrick Yau with his tight and taut direction. Has Patrick Yau done anything recent as it seems he hasn't done anything since Expect the Unexpected(1998). The most talented director from Hong Kong of the late 1990s. Involved in the production was Johnny To who is known for his dark and grim action and crime thrillers. The sequence in the warehouse is stunning.

Ching Wah Lau is terrific as the cool and enigmatic stranger. The whole gangster poltics in the movie echos the ideas of Martin Scorsese's mob flicks and Fernando Di Leo's Italian Crime movies especially Il Boss/The Boss(1973). The gunbattle between Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Ching Wah Lau reminds me of the best of John Woo. The final scene reminds me a lot of the final sequence from the Takeshi Kitano movie, Violent Cop(1989). The Longest Nite(1997) is more closer in tone to Takeshi Kitano than John Woo.

Patrick Yau is a great and talented director. I haven't seen anything else by him yet than this, THE LONGEST NITE (1997), but his other works include The Odd One Dies and Expect the Unexpected, which have also been hailed by HK fanatics and specialists. However, THE LONGEST NITE alone shows the director's talent and this is easily among the most interesting and memorable HK films of the late 90's.

Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan are the two leads here. Tony is a wonderful actor with smooth and kind face, yet his character here is anything but nice or kind. He plays a rawly violent and corrupted policeman who solves some mysterious triad war in which he is himself somehow related, too. Also a mysterious bald headed stranger soon arrives in Macau (Lau), and soon these two men are against each other and time. It all happens during one night filled with depravity, violence and seemingly no hope for a better tomorrow..

I think the plot and story is very hard to follow after one viewing and the less you are experienced with English (subtitles), the more times you will have to see this film in order to understand the whole plot and its turns. I have seen this twice now and still there are elements which I cannot yet explain, but they're not so important as the things this film gives and has are already visible to me.

The film lacks every imaginable bit of the usual lightening humor and slapstick attempts. The film is as serious and gritty as they come, and the film is produced by the legendary Johnnie To, a director/producer specialized in this kind of gritty and dark stuff in Hong Kong cinema. One of his most incredible achievements is a triad thriller The Big Heat (1988) starring Waise Lee, which is among my personal all time Hong Kong favourites in its insanity and over-the-top dark and infernal atmosphere. Johnnie has done many other great films, too, which include The Heroic Trio (1993) and its sequel, both directed with the choreography genius Ching Siu Tung.

THE LONGEST NITE features a nice soundtrack which is little like Giorgio Moroder's music in De Palma's Scarface (1983), and it adds very well to the atmosphere of the film. But the strongest element in THE LONGEST NITE is the photography and lightning, which are often very gorgeous in the hands of a talented Hong Kong director. Films like Dr. Lamb (Danny Lee, 1992), City on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1986) or Red to Kill (Billy Tang, 1993) would not be as powerful as they are now without the usage of haunting colors like blue which bath in fog and mist, usually the light, or should I say darkness, coming through windows. The final gun battle between the two protagonists in THE LONGEST NITE is among the greatest scenes I've seen in Hong Kong cinema in recent times, and it features exactly this usage of blue nearly as powerfully as possible.

The violence and brutal world the film is set in is often off putting but never gratuitously graphic and exploitative. There's no blood spraying all over the walls, but realistic aftermath when someone decides to hurt some other. Violence never pays in this film as it doesn't in real life either. THE LONGEST NITE doesn't glorify violence at all, it just depicts people who are so desperate and weak they use it very often, and so the film (and ending) is pretty pessimistic, too. Unlike in many Hollywood action no-brainers, like the Steven Seagal films, in THE LONGEST NITE wickedness and violence always has its consequences and results.

THE LONGEST NITE is very welcome addition to the gritty triad films genre of the Hong Kong cinema and due to its great and believable performances and characters, gorgeous visuals and overall honesty, it will last many viewing times without losing its power and impact. I gladly give this 8/10 and maybe my rating will rise after subsequent viewings.

The Longest Nite follows Tony Leung as a corrupt detective struggling to keep his head above water when he ends up caught in a crossfire between two gang rivalries. Meanwhile a mystery begins to unravel where Leung faces some serious career-ending dangers in which he must take specific actions to avoid. Lau Ching Wan plays a riddle in an enigma who hides in the shadows to conduct and puppeteer the actions of many other characters. Leung is consequently one of many mice who must compete to stay alive through what might possibly be "the longest night" of his life. This is a very strongly written thriller with moody cinematography throughout the nighttime streets of Hong Kong, an excellent film of Johnnie To's one of his best. The performances by Leung and Lau are great as well they really make great adversaries like you'd expect from the cover. Although the reason I don't rate this thriller higher are some erratic moments of absurd bloodshed which are almost comical in execution. "R-rated Looney Tunes styled death sequences". They only last but seconds, regardless they were enough to take me out of the film. Another detractor is the sense of limited closure on specific characters which I would have liked to see more development on in the conclusion. Besides a few minor complaints I still love this movie, and will enjoy watching it again. -8/10

Of all the great Johnny To / Lau Ching Wan collaborations this is my favourite. Reason: Patrick Yau directs and Tony Leung Chiu Wai co-stars with a performance that gives many academy award winners a run for the money. Think of "The Usual Suspects" set in Macao and you get an impression of the tense atmosphere in this film. It's a violent world where nobody can be sure to survive the next day. Although Leung's character is quite clever and unscrupulous for a cop he's just not clever enough for the intricate set-up that he is pushed into by a mysterious man in the background. The plot-twist at the end is even more surprising IMO than the end of "Expect The Unexpected", Yau's other great film.

A must see for all fans of hardboiled crime stories (and for all people with good eyes, because the Milkyway- subtitles are tiny!)

It is violent, gritty, bloody a bit confused too, not really easy to follow. Produced by Johnny To, we then understand easily that stuff is not lousy. Macao by night, helped by the Giorgio Moroder's and Nino Rota - GODFATHER's music - score, where it is question of gang wars, triads, and when a borderline rotten cop is on the loose too, expect action, torture, in this fast paced and never boring Asian crime film. The quality of this feature can't be denied and I think it deserves a better release. It is short, not as long as Korean crime movies for instance, but the atmosphere is very close and far from Hollywood clichés. Unlike some Asian films that I have seen recently.