Viewer Comments:The Longest Nite
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Dark as f***, with some really nasty characters and such tension that I almost started sweating watching it! Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan both kick ass in this one!
Rather good until the final gun fight. That was a joke. Too bad this movie was spoiled by overdoing the ending action scenes. Still the plot was quite impressive.
| Surprisingly riveting hunter/hunted story with enough plot twists and gradually explained plotlines to result in a hearty payoff at the end. Lau Ching-Wan plays the stoic hitman in town for a job that isn't readily apparent at the outset of the film. Tony Leung is the hard-nosed cop willing to do what it takes to get crime out of his city. There are a trio of mob bosses embroiled in a feud which none seems to know the proper next step to resolve. The cop and the crook cross paths, each seeming to gain the upper-hand, until the end, when things begin to unravel, and each is seemingly played against the other via a puppet-master's strings.
The Longest Nite really does demand your attention throughout if you wish to keep up with the labyrinthian plotline. Making sure just who is working for who is a constant source of mystery. The film presents the emotion of the two main leads very well, not afraid to stop and use some artsy camera angles or ambient sound to enrich the atmosphere and sense of heightened anxiety. It is readily apparent that this film was lovingly made, as every shot is deliberate and perfectly planned. For me, the ending was straight out of left-field, especially since I was just beginning to put together the pieces of the puzzle of the main story. The ending might have been too abrupt for some, but it will grow on you. The only thing I found lacking were the subtitles, which seemed to leave out and/or poorly convey a lot of the workings of the film. It's never good to have to fight both the plot and the hackneyed subs to enjoy the film. But even so, The Longest Nite is still one of the best HK crime caper flicks on record. |
| Among the best films of 1998, Patrick Yau's The Longest Nite is one of the bleakest, and one of the best crime films I've seen in a long time. The plot is a rich tapestry of betrayal, mystery, and deceit, all handled to perfection by two of Hong Kong's most accomplished veterans, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Lau Ching-wan (who sports a shaved head). These men give rich, multidimensional performances, and generate so much chemistry on screen together that it is an exhilarating experience on it's own. Although highly convoluted, and sometimes illogical, the film keeps you glued during it's short 85 minute duration. My only real gripe is the obligatory action sequence, which is interesting enough, but brings the film's realism and intrigue to a screeching halt. Yet despite this, I wholeheartedly recommend The Longest Nite, a refreshing new masterpiece that is another winner for the Milky Way Image company. (Note- all VHS and VCD copies sport small, nearly unreadable subtitles that is especially evident during Tony Leung and Lau Ching-wan's tense prison scene (which is filled with bright, glistening lights, making the subs disappear). If you really want to enjoy this great film, I'd suggest you view the DVD, which have large, remastered subs, while retaining the original widescreen scope.) |
| "The Longest Nite," directed by Patrick Yau, (Odd One Dies, The (1997); Expect the Unexpected (1998)) is another film with Johnnie To as producer, and it has his fingerprints throughout. In this movie the hero and villain are pitted against each other in a battle of wits. The hunter becomes the hunted, a very oft used dramatic theme. Tension builds as we travel with the characters to see what the outcome for each chess move will be. People are not what they appear to be. The good guy becomes the bad guy, and sometimes we note how each is despicable and cold and totally unsympathetic. We root for one and then the other as we are thrown off balance. These are all classic film noir themes, where the hero is doomed from the very start. You get that creeping sense that everything is going awry. Incident upon incident rolled into one rushing ball of trouble from which the hero can never escape or recover. Tony Leung becomes a pawn in Lau Ching-wan's game. Everyone is caught in the web of deceit. The viewer is led through a maze of confusion that is as lurid as the cinematography, exemplified in the jail cell scene where Tony looks to get a confession out of Ching-wan, only to be thrown off guard by one of Ching-wan's henchmen, nee cop. The air is filled with dust and cold snow-blue light, where we get the sense that nothing is as it should be. From the onset, the viewer is set up to dislike Tony's crooked cop, but by the time we enter the jail cell we don't know anymore. To say more would spoil your viewing pleasure. Its as if we were passing a car crash--its ugly, but we just can't take our eyes away from the gruesome scene. Tony Leung puts in another outstanding performance. He has a way of conveying pain and confusion, all in one glance. The climax in the mirror factory, obviously melodramatic, was effective in obscuring and transposing the characters played by Leung and Lau. Suffice to conclude that the fun is in the hunt, not for truth, because nothing seems real, but for the trapped feeling we dread in "The Longest Nite." |
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