00:00You can celebrate Chinese New Year with lots of beautiful ladies as Dao Wong tries to keep his
00:05crown as the Night King. Set in 2012, Wong manages club EJ, the last hostess nightclub standing in
00:11Hong Kong's East TST area and a shadow of its glory days. When Wong's godfather who owns the
00:17club suddenly dies, his ex-wife and rival Sammy Cheng swoops in to become the new CEO and the
00:23two struggle to control the club. But when Cheng's partner, trust fund brat Yeo Chun Yip betrays her
00:29to try and take the club for himself, the former couple will have to work together to save club EJ.
00:34So Night King is one of the big releases for Chinese New Year, which is usually associated
00:38with big comic star vehicles like Jackie Chan's City Hunter. Night King fits that description to a
00:44tee and it re-teams Dao Wong with director Jack Ng, who previously worked together on the legal drama
00:50A Guilty Conscience, which won Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, but this is much more light-hearted.
00:56The early portion of Night King is the strongest, especially with a lot of broad comedy and fast-paced
01:01dialogue that will test the speed-reading skills of subtitled viewers. A lot of the humour is very
01:06much catered for local audiences, and some of the gags based around the club's horny clientele,
01:11some of whom are quite into young-looking girls, register as a bit creepy. But more successful is
01:17the early battle of the sexes rivalry between Wong and Cheng as they compete to run the club,
01:21which is classic rom-com fodder as they only hate each other so much because they truly love one
01:27another, but are too busy bickering to realise. When the film turns more dramatic, the scenes where
01:32they reflect on their failed marriage are some of its best, and the actors have a poignant chemistry,
01:37with Cheng being especially good when she reveals the vulnerability she hides under a ruthless
01:41comparativeness. But unfortunately, Night King starts to lose its way around the middle when the humour
01:46gives way to sentimental melodrama, with seemingly every member of its massive cast getting a sob story.
01:52Night King is inundated with subplots, with Fish Lu's hostess getting two. She's sleeping with Wong,
01:59but he's too busy rekindling his old marriage to notice that she's in love with him, but she's also
02:04getting seduced by an older high roller, who thinks she resembles the hostess that he fell for when he
02:09was younger. There's a lot of sappy silliness and dance montages that should have been cut back,
02:14but the editing is erratic, with random slow-mo shots and flashbacks to part of earlier scenes
02:19that we never saw in the first place. And that's before the extended finale, where the club tries
02:24to con the Nepo baby baddie out of his money, which is so intricate and protracted that you can easily
02:29see why the film has a ludicrously bloated 130 minute runtime. Apparently the director is known for
02:35social commentary, and it does seem like the club might be a thinly veiled allegory for Hong Kong itself,
02:40and the sense that its own best days are behind it. Um, Happy Chinese New Year?
02:46Um, Happy Chinese New Year?
02:46GoodPose
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