Two gangs are currently fighting for control of Macau, one lead by the brutal Mr. K, and the other by the equally ruthless Mr. Lung. Though their men are frequently clashing the two desire to form an alliance, no matter how uneasy, because there is something that unites them in fear. They both dread the imminent return of the big boss of Macau, the elderly Mr. Hung who is most unhappy with the situation in Macau, undoubtedly the two warring gangs are costing a great deal of money and preventing business from running smoothly. Things have been made more difficult however because a rumour has been started that Mr. K has in fact put out a contract on Mr. Lung, and the source of the rumours is highly sought after. Sam (Tony Leung Chiu Wai - In the Mood For Love, Infernal Affairs) meets up with his boss Mr. K one night, who is more scared than Sam ever remembers seeing. K is greatly on edge because of the rumours of the contract and the threat posed by the return of Mr. Hung. K is also greatly concerned about his son Mark, and asks Sam to keep an eye on him – a short-tempered man who knows only how to solve problems with his gun. Tony is soon to have something else to worry about too, as a mysterious shaven-headed man, forever carrying a battered old kit bag, is headed into town.

This enigmatic stranger is Tony (Lau Ching Wan - Big Bullet, Running Out of Time) who books himself into a hotel before going for a spot of lunch at a quiet restaurant. He makes a couple of phone calls while he's there, telling ‘Mark' to meet him that night and leaving the establishment's phone number with someone else before sitting down to his soup. Soon after Tony and some cronies enter the place and head over to another patron. It seems Tony told this guy to leave town some time ago but he's still there, and after a gun is found on his person he's held down while Tony pounds his hand to a pulp with a succession of ketchup bottles. Tony ignores the violence and eats, also answering the phone and speaking to ‘Maggie', telling her everything is arranged. After he's finished mashing up this fellow's hand, Sam and company go to leave until Tony catches his eye. Not liking the look of this outsider (and who could blame him) he warns him to get out of town at the earliest opportunity. Sam then goes to see Uncle Fat, another of Mr. K's men, who has captured a traitor who knows the person who originated the rumours of K's contract on Mr. Lung's head. He's being tortured but refuses to talk, even when Sam helps out by removing a fingernail. Sam has to split however because he receives a call to go to his apartment where a decapitated body has been dumped, but the head is nowhere to be found. Not only this, as Sam enters the scene we see that Sam is in fact a high-ranking policeman. Tony meanwhile goes to a club and meets up with Mark, Mr. K's son, a confrontation that takes a bad turn when one of the club hostesses accidentally vomits on Mark's jacket and Mark nearly shoots Tony, only the intervention of the club's manager Mr. Lo averts disaster. Tony leaves but encounters Sam and his cronies, one of which forces him to drive to the sea port in a taxi cab to make sure he gets out of town. Tony deals with this policeman in unique style, shattering the windscreen with his own head before hitting the breaks and sending him flying through the glass. Meanwhile Mr. Lo agrees to take the scared hostess home, who fears Mark will come back and kill her, but Mr. Lo is mysteriously shot dead after they leave.

Sam has to look into the killing of Mr. Lo, which get a great deal more complicated when the shaken hostess fingers Mark for the killing. This is bad news because the club is in Mr. Lung's territory, and the local dons will only give Sam three hours to settle the situation, after that they won't be able to stop their men from exacting their own revenge. Sam soon tracks Mark down in a bar and requests that he just come quietly to the police station with him so they can keep the peace. However Mark doesn't take well to the accusation, insisting he didn't do it and draws his gun. In the chaos that follows he makes a run for it into the bar's kitchen, and escapes after causing a fire. Frustrated, Sam goes back to the station and receives the news that Tony escaped and put his man in hospital. Even more aggravated, Sam goes to the hostess and forces her to change her statement and say that she saw Tony kill Mr. Lo, the terrified woman agrees. Meanwhile Tony deposits his old kit bag in a public locker, but leaves it unlocked and throws the key away shortly before being arrested. Under significant duress the hostess says she saw Tony (who registers just a flicker of acknowledgement when he sees her) kill Mr. Lo, and Tony is thrown in a cell. Despite the beating he has just taken and his incarceration, Tony sits causally in his cell, totally cool with what's happening. Sam is called up once again and rushes to see Uncle Fat. The traitor finally gave up the information before he died, he showed an amazing amount of loyalty staying quiet through the incredible agony he suffered before spilling the beans. Things are about to take another turn as the source of the rumours is named, as Sam himself...

Patrick Yau's second film is a wonder, combining a strong script chock-full of plot twists, innovative cinematography, and benefiting greatly from two extremely strong leading men. From the Milkyway Film company which struck gold in recent years with numerous films directed by Johnnie To such as the huge domestic hit Running Out of Time, The Longest Nite is a cool, slow-burning thriller of the highest order. Though a touch bewildering for the first forty minutes, the second half of the film falls together beautifully as you realise that Yau didn't show you anything which wasn't of some significance to the plot. The twists and turns that punctuate the rest of the film up to the fitting climax show the film blossoming, while the seemingly random events of the first part of the film seem incoherent, the viewer's patience is paid off ten-fold by the jarring revelations of the web the film's narrative has been secretly weaving all along. Surely this is the best kind of thriller, the kind that deceives the viewer into believing one thing before turning everything on its head, that everything has a purpose and everything was planned to go just as it did. One cannot help but smile as the multitude of plot strands all come together the way they do, and while it may be a little bit of an ordeal for some to get there, its entirely worth it.

Lau Ching Wan and Tony Leung flourish in their roles, showing that despite the departures of Hong Kong cinema greats like Chow Yun Fat, there is still an amazing amount of talent to enjoy. This scribe is used to seeing Leung in far more benevolent roles, the gentle retiring nature of his character in Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood For Love or his compelling performance as the conflicted, pained undercover cop in Infernal Affairs, but here he plays what can only be described as a complete bastard. He's cruel, threatening, and brutal – one cannot help but wince as he so routinely crushes a guy's hand with an excessive amount of blows with a solid glass ketchup bottle (so many as to almost become comical, almost) and has no trouble ripping off the fingernail of a captive. Diminutive in frame, his violent nature is tempered with a near-constant nervousness, frequently mopping his brow with a handkerchief and looking more and more frustrated, scared and alone as events unfold around him. All in all Tony Leung is superb, but then that's what we've come to expect from him. Possbily more compelling however, and benefiting more from the cinematography on display, is Lau Ching Wan's Tony, an ambiguous and extremely interesting character. Played incredibly coolly, though always with a wry personality dwelling just below the surface, Lau Ching Wan provides one of the film's central mysteries – just who is strange character, what does he want, and how much of what happens to him is mere chance? Lau Ching Wan shows here what a great actor he truly is and is every bit as versatile as his co-star with a stellar performance, holding a great deal of screen presence and never letting us truly penetrate the barrier of cool which hides his true intentions. The supporting cast, while by no means ever likely to overshadow the two leads, are more then solid and feature some faces you might recognise such as Lung Fong (God of Gamblers). Overall an excellent cast, especially considering this is no big-budget extravaganza.

A great pity is that so far the director Patrick Yau has so few films to his credit, as his direction here is extremely impressive. One can complain about the pacing of the film, and indeed the first half suffers from a rather random narrative which though is nicely resolved later in the film, can initially seem a little daunting. Yau extracts great multi-layerd performances from his leads however, and knows the right times to let the story be told with a minimum of distracting flash, and when to bathe the film in atmosphere and style. Indeed there are great contrasts between the very routine, straight-forward way of showing the brutal violence and giving the dialogue room to further the plot by itself, but then other scenes are full of moody lighting, interesting camera angles, and slow motion. Macau is portrayed as a dull, soulless place which while full of bright neon and fancy clubs and casinos, is also a place of shady back-rooms where people lie dead on the floor in pools of their own blood. Yau's superb use of light and dark play an important part in the proceedings, most easily shown in one of the central scenes of the film – a verbal confrontation between Tony and Sam in a jail cell, the darkened cell split in two by a shaft of brilliant white light. Another interesting touch is the use of light around Tony Leung, at times making him look very pasty and ill in his dank surroundings. Yau has a good eye for getting the best from his performers too, and doesn't fail to capture the small touches and mannerisms that both Lau and Leung incorporate into their characters, helping to make sure their excellent performances are fully utilised. The music soundtrack must also be noted, it's an eclectic mix of different styles that doesn't seem like it should work, but somehow it does and effectively adds to the already engrossing atmosphere.

The Longest Nite comes with the highest recommendation, and is well worth the time and patience needed to acquire and watch the film. While the early pacing is a little difficult, and the enjoyment is lessened on repeat viewing once you know what all the plot twists are, the performances, script, and direction still provides much to enjoy. A darker, more intriguing thriller will be difficult to find. Thank you and Good Nite.

Macau, a melting pot for triads and rivalry. Arriving is Tony (Lau Ching Wan), carrying one bag, and knowing exactly what the night holds in store. There's a chance meeting between him and bad cop Sam (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) at a restaurant and without knowing it, Tony has begun orchestrating a very elaborate plan for Sam that will take place during this long night...

There's heap of praise to be lauded upon The Longest Nite but I do have to address some of my, albeit fairly minor, quibbles with the film. Yau Nai-Hoi and Szeto Kam-Yuen's script manages to pack quite a lot of events and characters into the short running time but skillfully ties it all together into coherency (via small voice-overs and non-intrusive exposition at times). I do feel that the script is almost too clever though or rather the action and characters within it are. The setup of Sam and the twists that occur are the stuff of criminal masterminds but almost borders on silliness in its perfection at times. It can detract a little, in particular towards and at the very end. Ultimately, it doesn't in the long run hurt the hard hitting, relentless and violent ride that is The Longest Nite.

I'm going to ignore the Johnnie To "ghost-directing" aspect to the film, since it is indeed Patrick Yau who is the director of credit, when we're now going to talk about that area of production. I went into The Longest Nite with high expectations, wasn't particularly disappointed but you tend to think that there's not much greatness on display at the beginning. Triad conflicts as a plot point in Hong Kong films have been seen countless times but Yau and the script layed before him involves via sly hints at what's coming. It's a plot structure that's going to evolve right up till the very end we sense and drawn out shots such as Tony dialing a number are clear hints at something crucial. Not all viewers may be receptive of this drawn out storytelling but the great films are there to interest you all the way. The Longest Nite does that by dropping in those kinds of images and it's not tedious wait at all before the movie REALLY ignites. We're at the 25 minute mark when sequence upon sequence are thrown at us causing us to divide our mind between confusion and interest, with emphasize on the latter. As mentioned, it's clearly a film where we're not supposed to have a heads up as to where the plot is going.. We're merely spectators of a vicious triad war, taking place in a short span of time.

Yau gives us an edgy atmosphere with absolute zero to sympathize with. That's not negative at all because it's not about feeling for anyone of these people. No honorable criminals taken from John Woo's films can be found here but the viewer should be into The Longest Nite to watch, not feel and that works equally well. Raymond Wong's score, particularly during the restaurant scene, almost makes the atmosphere border on comedy though but throughout, despite filling the entire running time almost, the music is well conceived for the grim mood of the film. Some main cues can also be heard in A Hero Never Dies, another Raymond Wong scored Milkyway production. The Longest Nite reaches its status as a Milkyway classic as the intensity is turned up big time by Yau. Again, it could've been easy to get lost in the twists and turn but despite the pace of events, there's great focus on what's going on but obviously you need to be prepared as a viewer to take a lot in, in regards to character motivations and relationships.

During the screening, you begin to wonder if some character depth should've come with The Longest Nite. We actually get no such thing but considering that the film does take place in such a limited period of time, the filmmakers choice of establishing people in a basic, mysterious or harsh ways is suitable for this story. For instance, in the case of Sam, it's enough to know that he's a bad cop, going to extreme lengths to get what he wants. Speaking of unsympathetic, the two scenes of violence towards Maggie Shaw's character are not going to sit well with some of you but the filmmakers wouldn't have done if it didn't have a purpose in the long run. I don't see any other way of conveying this stuff and going into its reasons anymore wouldn't be beneficial for this spoiler free review. It's again not a film that will cater to your sympathy and you as a viewer have to decide for yourself whether you can enjoy a film on that level.

A quick not about the action choreography in the film. Yuen Bun does appear in the film but for once someone else is handling the action duty, namely Wu Chi-Lung (co action-directed A Chinese Ghost Story). With Milkyway films such as The Mission, we've seen a different, slow paced, hypnotic style to gunplay but films like this one and To's A Hero Never Dies has nicely taken the ballistic nature of Hong Kong gunplay of yesteryears and made it a solid part of late 90s filmmaking. The character confrontation towards the end of The Longest Nite is a good, well-made set piece to warrant that praise upon late 90s gunplay.

Performances are good all around and you need a tough exterior and charisma to main characters. Not surprisingly, by casting Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Lau Ching Wan (sporting a totally badass shaved head) you almost have that demand guaranteed. Not disappointing performances in any way. I like some of the playful but definitely ultra dark traits to Lau's character in particular and fans of Tony expecting a cute, cuddly character may want to think again as he uses extreme violence towards some people in this film. Maggie Shaw, Lam Suet and Mark Cheng also appear, among others.

Whatever problems there were between Patrick Yau and Johnnie To, Milkyway could proudly add another high quality (with a nasty edge to it) crime thriller to their roster with The Longest Nite. The creative forces within the company had better visions and less laziness and with it produced some of the best Hong Kong cinema had to offer during this period in time. A unavoidable creative slump occurred for a few years but it seems like Milkyway are slowly getting Hong Kong peoples trust back again in 2004 as we've been seeing ever so slightly more consistent and challenging products from them.

REVIEW:
Hong Kong cinema certainly has action and style down, and they put together some great stories with good themes and characters. But, one thing that seems to be lacking are the movies that really keep you guessing. The ones that mess with your head. Enter Milkyway productions with The Longest Nite. This movie will set your head spinning, and you may not even realize it at first. It has some pacing questions, but is a welcome deviation from the norm in HK cinema.

While this film isn't exactle Memento, the viewer will slowly find his head trying to wrap around the story and figure out exactly what is supposed to be going on. In fact, the film doesn't immediately show that it is going to get to the viewer's head. The beginning of the film is actually kind of a jumble. Understandably, much is left unexplained as Lau Ching Wan is supposed to be a mysterious character and viewers aren't supposed to understand everbody's motives and loyalties. Unfortunately, as it does this near the beginning, it seems like there is so much jumping between different characters and events, that the film actually gives the mind time to wander and doesn't motivate the viewer to get involved with the plot..

It is only as the layers of the plot are revealed well into the film that it starts to really get interesting. Suddenly, everything comes together and viewers see exactly where everything fits. At this point, one realizes how much the movie has been playing with the mind. I am honestly a sucker for mind games in movies, so at this point my attention became far more focused than in the first half. In fact, I probably went overboard on my praise for this movie on the first viewing because of this. Nonetheless, it gets pretty fulfilling once all the layers have been revealed and we see how everything works out. The film does putter off toward the end in a stylish, but unnecessary action scene that, while adding some excitement, pulls viewers away from the plot and mindgames that have made the film what it is.

Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan are both excellent in their roles. Lau Ching Wan is particularly good at being mysterious, yet affirmative - only being aggressive when pushed. Some of the other smaller parts in the film aren't quite so well performed, as there are a good few overboard performances and a few that are just lifeless. Luckily, as the focus of the flim is heavily on our two main characters, this really doesn't become terribly noticeable.

Stylistically, the film is right on the money. It has a dark, gritty look that fits the mood, appropriately described by the title "The Longest Nite". Small things are used to great effect to enhance the mood of the film. In particular, one may notice many dark scenes with lots of little particles or something floating around in the air. I don't know how, but somehow it really just adds a lot to the atmosphere. There is a very well done final action sequence that, while unnecessary, is quite interesting and does manage to fit into the style of the film.

If you want something more than the straightforward plots we are used to in HK cinema or just want something different, "The Longest Nite" is a good choice. It has some problems with pacing and viewer interest at the beginning of the film that really hurt it (and this, in fact, is actually amplified on multiple viewings), but once the revelations come along, the film becomes very satisfying. Credit goes to all involved for doing something stylish and different, and hopefully we can see more movies that stretch out like this in the future.

This merciless and amoral crook role fits perfectly to Tony Leung. We get used to seeing him playing sensible and likable characters with loyalty and code of honor. May be his best performance was in Hard Boiled (a John Woo film, with Chow Yun-fat) where he played an undercover cop hesitating between Good and Evil (or may be it was on Chungking Express....). Anyway, since Cyclo, a film made by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, Tony Leung wanted to improve his way to act guy roles not very nice, but not too mean. The kind of guy who inspires both disgust and fascination. Concerning Lau Ching-wan, he is great as an ill-treatment fake victim, but he doesn't care. He is as cool as a cucumber in any circumstances. We discover little by little that everything was orchestrated in the dark since the beginning. No room is left to hazard. That's why the survival chances of Sam are compromised.

This is a real Hong Kong thrilling thriller, short but condensed, without any "John Woo Touch", but finally effective and entertaining. It gives us a view of the very hot districts in Macau, where life seems enjoyable... Director Patrick Yau takes us for a night through gangster insane and calculating brains, who messed up the Macau streets. Here, you'd better not be a hitman in the gang playground. Everything is tricked, everyone is trapped, even the audience! A short and mean spirited low budget film. I've written that it is a "little film", but this is a great movie thanks to we still can believe in the future of the MADE IN HONGKONG cinema.