The underdevelopment of the series’ villains has been a long-running criticism, even among diehard fans, but Leung emphatically reclaims the problematic racial caricature of The Mandarin, instilling in him an emotional complexity and clearly defined cultural identity that had been sorely lacking in the franchise.
9. The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)
Rarely praised for his comedic skills, Leung is in hilarious form in this enduringly silly martial arts extravaganza that exemplifies Hong Kong’s signature mo lei tau style of knockabout comedy.
Loosely inspired by Louis Cha’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the film sees Leung sporting ridiculous prosthetic ears and lips for most of the action, after his character accidentally poisons himself.
8. Cyclo (1995)
Leung takes a supporting role in Tran Anh Hung’s dream-like portrayal of Ho Chi Minh City’s struggling underclass in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, as his unnamed gangster and aspiring poet brings destruction upon an impoverished family.
Barely uttering a single word, but furiously chain-smoking through every scene, he brings a young cyclo driver (Lê Văn Lộc) under his wing in order to repay a family debt. In doing so he meets the boy’s beautiful sister (Trần Nữ Yên Khê), but is torn between starting a relationship and forcing her into a life of prostitution.
7. Hard Boiled (1992)
Leung’s character Alan lives on a boat, surrounded by origami cranes representing all the people he has killed while on the job. His introspection and despondency neatly foreshadow the character Leung would play in Infernal Affairs a decade later.
6. A City of Sadness (1989)
Director Hou Hsiao-hsien uses the recent lifting of martial law as the perfect opportunity to tackle the island’s tumultuous post-war history, specifically the 228 incident of 1947, in what is widely considered one of the finest Taiwanese films ever made.
Leung plays the fourth son in a family embroiled in the “White Terror” regime. Rendered deaf and mute following a childhood accident, he uses photography and poetry to observe his family’s struggles and those of the Taiwanese people as a whole.
Hired, somewhat cynically, to improve the film’s international appeal, Leung excels in a uniquely challenging and heart-wrenching role.
5. Lust, Caution (2007)
Never one to shy away from playing a flawed character, Leung is at his charismatic best as Mr Yee, a special agent and recruiter working in 1930s Hong Kong for Wang Jingwei’s puppet government, who is targeted for assassination by a group of radical students.
Tang Wei shot to stardom – only to be subsequently blacklisted in mainland China – as the young woman assigned to seduce Mr Yee, only to fall in love with him instead.
Notorious for its numerous explicit sex scenes, the film was a commercial and critical hit, despite falling foul of the censors in numerous territories.
4. Happy Together (1997)
It would be incredibly easy to fill this list with Leung’s collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, but few of those performances are as brave or vulnerable as in this exquisite romantic drama.
Happy Together: Wong Kar-wai on his classic 1997 gay movie
Happy Together: Wong Kar-wai on his classic 1997 gay movie
Moody and sultry, the film has been rightly championed by LGBT groups for its honest portrayal, but has also been embraced by romantics everywhere for its raw depiction of tempestuous love.
3. Bullet in the Head (1990)
John Woo’s melodramatic masterpiece draws shameless inspiration from Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter to tell the story of three friends (Leung, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Waise Lee Chi-hung) who head to war-torn Vietnam hoping to make their fortune.
Overwhelmed by the violence and betrayal that consume them, it falls to Leung’s character, Ben, to provide the film with its moral compass – that is, until he takes retribution into his own hands.
2. Infernal Affairs (2002)
The definitive film of Hong Kong’s post-handover era, this slickly executed crime thriller pits rival moles within the police force and a triad criminal gang against one another as the ultimate interpretation of the city’s fractured, schizophrenic identity.
Andy Lau has rarely been better than as the gang member who would rather keep living the lie of being an accomplished detective.
It is Leung who steals the show, however, with his vulnerable, humanising portrayal of an undercover cop who can no longer prove which side he is really on, and whose own tortured psyche is struggling to tell the difference.
1. In the Mood for Love (2000)
If a single performance could define Leung’s 40-year cinematic career, it is impossible to look beyond the lovestruck journalist and neighbour Chow Mo-wan in Wong Kar-wai’s visually ravishing romance.
In the Mood For Love: what Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Wong Kar-wai said
In the Mood For Love: what Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Wong Kar-wai said
A master of minimal effort for maximum reward, Leung stands unchallenged as Hong Kong’s greatest living screen actor.