Visually striking yet narratively incoherent, Juno Mak’s ambitiously staged yet lethargically paced Hong Kong crime saga Sons of the Neon Night finally arrives on home shores, more than a decade after the project was originally announced.

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Lau Ching-wan headline an impressive ensemble of onscreen talent, while the likes of editor William Chang and the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto ensure below-the-line credits are equally enviable. Unfolding in a fantastical snow-drenched version of Hong Kong, circa 1994, the story involves a violent struggle for control of the city’s drug trade that erupts in the wake of a kingpin’s murder.

Relatives, cops, hitmen, and a sea of enigmatic pretenders look to either shore up their positions, or usurp one another’s for personal gain, but in almost every case, these fiercely introspective players must wrestle with their own internal torments as fervently as with their rivals on the streets.

Read my full ScreenAnarchy review