Nessieldwi
Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
jadavix
"The Longest Nite" is a deliriously entertaining Hong Kong crime flick with style to spare. It also has an unexpected dash of humour to offset the grim proceedings.Crooked cop Sam (played by the usual charming "Little Tony", Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is attempting to broker a meeting between Triad figures in Macau. He is a brutal figure, shattering a man's hands with a sauce bottle in a restaurant, and doling out gruesome torture to an alcoholic hostess played by Maggie Siu.A suspicious, menacing bald man, Tony (played by Lau Ching Wan) appears out of the blue and becomes an ever-present thorn in Sam's side. Who is he? And what does he want? Well, I'm going to level with you, reader: I don't really know. Presumably the movie revealed that at some point, but I don't think it's really important. This movie was riveting, entertaining from start to finish, with many humorous and nasty touches. Lau Ching Wan was perfect as the shadowy bald man, and although the camera loves little Tony, I think he may have been a bit miscast as the crooked cop.I didn't understand every aspect of the plot but I'm not sure you're meant to. I mean, have you ever understood every detail of a Hong Kong crime flick?
Russell Brisson
At the expense of sounding a bit cliché, it wasn't on par with the best of the genre (Such as John Woo's better films), and in my opinion it wasn't quite on par with a more closely related title, The Big Heat. Why? The constant music was nothing special, and at it's worst, slightly annoying.There are a few somewhat wooden performances. Tony Leung Chiu Wai was far better in Hard Boiled. I don't think Tat-Chi Yau knew how to wring all of the potential Tony has out of him for this film, and it shows.There was a certain dynamic that's almost a staple of the HK action/crime genre missing... The power of the weapons wasn't conveyed as I've seen it numerous films over the years. What I mean is that the guns didn't truly seem as powerful as they should of. The shots, underpowered, and it's a bit underwhelming when I'm used to even pistols coming across as these loud, near deafening, definitive things. Small thing but it ran through the entire film and I think it's worth mentioning.Could of been about 20 minutes longer, with more characters being fleshed out a bit more. Film could of benefited a lot from that.Bad subtitles. Quite a few misspelled words and I'm sure I missed the gist of multiple things because of the poor subs. Ah well.Those are all relatively small issues I had with though, and on the flip side it's got a lot more positive things going for it. A great build-up of suspense at multiple times through the film, a pretty complex interweaving plot, two very interesting, I might dare say original action scenes which made me grin...To boot, it was brutal and uncompromising. No humor (Though the random, unexplained vomiting kind of teetered on it) A few nice, brutal for this kind of film scenes that pleased the inner gore hound in me. The coloring throughout the film, as mentioned by others, was nice and added a nice dynamic to the film.Hehhehehee, the movie also stars, without a doubt, the most unrelentingly sweaty character in the history of film. Tony Leung literally wipes his face down with a towel every few moments for almost the entire film. Hey, it's the little things that I get a kick out of. He kept washing his hands and what not too. I think he had some kind of sanitation issue.Overall, a 7.5 out of 10 in my very personal opinion. Well worth hunting down and adding to your collection, as it's a very solid entry in a sadly still declining genre.
marquis de cinema
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.
ChWasser
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!)
