Hong Kong sure loves a good body count, don’t it? Sure, it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, but … bodies! You know what that means … more bodies. Don’t worry; there are a lot of extras and, just in case, there are several long shots, so dudes can recycle the same corpses cuz we won’t be able to tell.
Set in “alternate” Hong Kong, 1994, Sons of the Neon Night tells the story of a drug war in which there’s a lot of violence, a lot of confusion, and a lot of bodies. Oh, I said that part. Did I mention there were a lot of bodies? The film begins with a big causeway explosion, killing many people, but one of actual significance, so a plot can happen. Pretty soon, there are warring factions and guns galore.
Louis Koo is in the film, so you know he’s playing a complicated tough guy. I think he’s an assassin, which is darn-near useless as half the cast is assassins. The plot is mostly driven by Li Mo-tung (Takeshi Kaneshiro), an heir to a family with a checkered past; he’s out to clear his family name. Good luck, buddy, this thing is wall-to-wall violence. But, hey, what’s a public square massacre or two, anyway? I’m sure your family name will be cleared with just another bombing or two.
Is this an inside job? Is there
a crooked cop? Is there a kidnapping? Is there a dying child to avenge? Is there all of the above? Yeah, probably. I can’t stress enough that it’s really difficult in this film to tell good guy from bad guy, thus spoiling our rooting interests.
Sons of the Neon Night is one of those films that is shot in color but looks like it has been shot in black and white for a grittier feel. It doesn’t really matter. The plot is too complicated for its own good meaning we’re stuck on the look of the picture. The picture looks cool. The title is kinda cool, too. Too bad I don’t care. About any of it.
There’s more crime than a normal share
At this alternative Hong Kong we stare
Ignitions are a plenty
Count corpses by the twenty
And if it were shorter, maybe I would care
Not Rated, 125 Minutes
Director: Juno Mak
Writer: Man Yu Chow, Juno Mak
Genre: Gritty grit gritty gritty grit grits
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of the Hong Kong crime scene
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “What exactly is going on here?”
