Directed by:
Tung-shing YeeScreenplay:
Tung-shing YeeCinematography:
Kwok-man KeungComposer:
Peter Kam Pui-tatCast:
Daniel Wu Yin-cho, Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, Alex Fong, Kar-lok Chin, Anson Leung Chun-yat, Suet Lam, Hop-hi Wong, Na Tsui, Paul Che, Alexander Chan (more)Plots(1)
A deadly car accident threatens to cause a violent gang war on the crowded streets on Hong Kong's Mongkok district in writer/director Derek Yee's thriller One Night in Mongkok. Officer Milo (Alex Fong)'s task force is assigned to the case when a gangster's son is accidentally killed during a drunken dispute with a rival gang. He soon learns that a hitman has been hired to take out the rival gang leader. While Milo and his crew desperately try to find and stop the hired gun, fearing all-out war in the streets, Lai Fu (Daniel Wu), a smart but inexperienced killer from a small town in the mainland, arrives in Hong Kong to do his job. A decent sort, he intercedes when he sees a thug threatening a prostitute at his hotel. She turns out to be Dan Dan (Cecilia Cheung from Running on Karma), from a small town not far from his own. Dan Dan is a very practical young woman, and when she sees the wad of cash Lai Fu is carrying (half of his payment for the job), she pretty much latches onto him. Since she knows her way around town, this turns out to be a help to Lai Fu when he finds out that the contractor who hired him has ratted him out to the cops. As it turns out, Lai Fu isn't really that interested in killing for money, and has an ulterior, more benign motive for his trip into town. But the cops and assorted bad guys are closing in anyway. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (3)
The beginning and the entire daytime part is so incredibly trivial. The creators don’t know what to focus on first, making this a rather boring genre movie that steals motifs from famous Western colleagues. But only up to the point when Christmas-time Hong Kong is hit by a black-out and the streets of Mongkok begin filling with people; then everything suddenly becomes different. Much better. The atmosphere in this part of the movie is simply splendid, and in places hypnotically captivating. Also, interesting things start actually happening and there is an all-over build up to the perfect ending where you will gladly forgive the filmmakers for using a few screenplay crutches that they shamelessly use to help things along. This creates a movie that first lulls you almost to sleep, only to awaken you rudely, suck you in and not let you go.
()
Well, is somebody fucking kidding me 76%? For what? This movie almost gave me a heart attack, a stroke and an epileptic seizure all at once, what the hell was that all about? No action, no fights, no twists, unlikeable characters, no pacing, no sex, mediocre visuals and an uninteresting story, there was nothing in this movie that I expect and demand in movies! Absolutely no interest on my part, it is mostly a crime drama. If I showed this to a girl, she will break up with me immediately! Great for the intellectuals, torture for me! 30%
()
One Nite in Mongkok is everything that its title promises. It is an intense ballad about a particular place and its atmosphere, essence and variable heartbeat. It contains everything that we would find in Mongkok itself, whether triads, prostitutes, young people, cops, immigrants, junkies, merchants or operators of small hotels. All of them have their own stories connected with Hong Kong and the present day. Their lives contain a mix of the cultures of the West and China, poverty and modern luxury, extreme capitalism and Chinese collectiveness, and incredible hecticness and moments of meditative peace. Derek Yee succeeded in packing all of this into a single suspenseful and pulsating thriller, thus creating one of the best works of contemporary Hong Kong cinema.
()