Mr Long (Ryu san, 2017): Japanese / Hong Kong

Reviewed by Zinan He. Viewed at AFI Fest 2017.

Japanese filmmaker, SABU’s Mr. Long, is the complete package concerning an action-packed movie. Sabu is known to spice his work up by adding some strange combination of violence, fantasy, and humor. Mr. Long is a must-see movie for action film fans. The movie takes a pace from the beginning scenes which make it clear that the movie will present a lot of thrilling and action scenes.
Throughout the movie, it manages to pull off a lot of surprises and suspense followed by electrifying action sequences. Well-paced cinematography, thrilling action scenes and astounding editing paved its path to the Berlin Film Festival. Mr. Long is directed by Sabu, his work in earlier movies have been more violent and action-packed. Beside Mr. Long, Chaska’s Journey was also inducted in Berlin competition and well received by audiences as well. I watched the movie Mr. Long on Netflix at home. Most of the parts of the story revolve around its central character ‘‘Long’’ who is a Taiwanese hitman played by Chang Chen. Since the story primarily focuses on ”Long”, I will not be mentioning other character’s name in this review.
Coming back to the movie, Long is a brave and lethal assassin who uses blades to take down his target. The actor successfully portrays the character of a hit man through his emotionless expressions which seemed impossible for such a charming actor at the beginning. Considering his profession and risk of involving someone close to him, Long prefers to work alone. The movie is catchy from the start, violent and action scenes begin along with the story which keeps audiences at the edge of their seats. During the first five minutes of the movie as Mr. Long is being introduced to the story, we can witness a blood spilling scene in the basement of a temple located somewhere in South Taiwan. Mr. Long speaks with his actions more than words; he finishes his task as soon as he begins. Further, for his next job he has to go to Tokyo, but it even a perfectionist fails sometimes, and this is seen in his Tokyo mission. He couldn’t get all his target and is defeated and left to die, and he’s saved by a kid named Jun and taken to his place for treatment. But there’s more to the character Mr. Long than his interest in murdering people. A familiar twist to such genre movie Long is good at cooking too as he prepares meals for himself and the boy and makes a really good impression.
We can see such surprises coming halfway through the film. As the movie reaches towards its end, it turns out to be a stereotypical drama film. Jun’s mother Lily who is played by Yi Ti Yao is a drug addict with a sad history takes the story’s spotlight. Lily is a former prostitute, and there was so much drama in her past that we get a flashback that shows her miserable life and pain. The motive behind this flashback seems on purpose to turn the story towards an emotional mood. This phase could be annoying for action fans such as me. Throughout these scenes, I barely enjoyed the presentation and theme, and it got me less hooked up to the story which previously had me on the edge of my seat. Mr. Long expectedly gets softened by the presence of Lily and helps her get cleaned even looks after Jun as a father figure. Thus the film ends with a happy family playing ping pong, making pottery and traveling around across oceans with calm and romantic music playing in the background. I found these scenes a bit cringe-worthy since it diminished the hardcore quality that the film first started off with.
To sum up, The characterizations are really up to the mark. Especially Chang Chen who is charismatic and cool yet self-conscious. Moreover, the camerawork is excellent and captures few fantastic scenes with various style. The music by Junichi Matsumoto throughout the movie is soothing and perfectly shapes the background story. Overall, the movie is entertaining and presents the traditional action film vibes to it. However, the movie could have maintained it’s hardcore theme of killing and violence. Nonetheless, the movie is indeed a one time watch.