Sons of the Neon Night
Juno Mak’s Sons of the Neon Night is a paradox of a film – opulent in scale yet shockingly vacant, stunning to look at but difficult to care about. It unfolds like a grand, sprawling reimagining of The Batman (2022), steeped in inky blacks, steely greys and unrelenting shadow, with a snow-laden, decaying 1994 Hong Kong standing in as a grim, alternate Gotham – all brooding atmosphere and urban decay, but lacking the mythic weight to match.
Aesthetically, Sons of the Neon Night is a triumph of noir maximalism. 90s Hong Kong is reimagined as a cyber-noir labyrinth, equal parts Heat (1995) and Ghost in the Shell (1995), with an oppressive coldness that feels deliberate, even artful. Snow falls on worn concrete, fluorescent lights flicker in rain-drenched alleyways and Mak’s experience with music videos surfaces in vignettes of pointed framing and melancholic grandeur.
Yet, for all its attention to detail, the film stumbles over its own convoluted plot. After a striking opening – a frenzied shootout and explosion in the city centre – the story veers into increasingly incoherent territory. Moreton Li (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a pharmaceutical heir waging war on drug trafficking, might have been a compelling centrepiece, but the fast-paced script never allows the character – or any of the ensemble, for that matter – the space to breathe. We’re introduced to a sprawling cast on the fly, with backstories hinted at but never told. The supporting players – crooked cops, lone assassins, scheming wives – drift in and out like avatars in a story-driven shooter, often reduced to archetypes. Unlike The Batman (2022), which relied on the audience’s built-in familiarity with its world and characters, Mak plunges us into his bleak vision without context or foundation, expecting emotional investment where none has been earned.
The film’s most technically impressive sequence – the assault on Causeway Bay – unfolds with explosive scale but lands with the flatness of a cutscene, more akin to a high-budget video game than cinema. It’s a dazzling display of skill, yet curiously devoid of tension or texture, squandering the potential of Hong Kong’s chaotic street life. Still, there are moments of undeniable flair: a funeral so meticulously shot it borders on the operatic, and throughout, Mak’s potential for atmospheric world-building is never in doubt. But as a narrative experience, Sons of the Neon Night is more exhausting than exhilarating – a noir epic so focused on looking the part that it forgets to fill the void at its centre.
Christina Yang
Sons of the Neon Night does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch the trailer for Sons of the Neon Night here:
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