''Ah Long Pte Ltd'' () is a 2008 action comedy film directed by

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Jack Neo Jack Neo Chee Keong (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean filmmaker, comedian and actor who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. He established a unique presence with his genuine and relatable stories that highlight societa ...

, starring

Fann Wong Fann Woon Fong (born 27 January 1971), known professionally as Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer, businesswoman and model. She has been referred to as one of MediaCorp's ''Ah Jie'' for being one of the most successful actresses from Sing ...

and Mark Lee. Co-produced by Mediacorp Raintree Pictures, Scorpio East Pictures and

Double Vision Diplopia is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object that may be displaced in relation to each other. Also called double vision, it is a loss of visual focus under regular conditions, and is often voluntary. However, when occ ...

(Malaysia), the film was mostly shot in Malaysia, in the city of

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, with a budget of S$1.2 million. This film is also the seventh collaboration between Mediacorp Raintree Pictures and Jack Neo. ''Ah Long Pte Ltd'' was released in Singapore on 7 February 2008, and in Malaysia on 13 March. Its languages consist of

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

(in a heavily

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

-accented version as spoken by Mark Lee),

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

and

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Plot

Shao He, a prominent triad based in Malaysia, led by its leadership of its de-facto outgoing leader Chen Jun, along with Emperor, Soldier Head, and Wang Lihua. Wang and the gang cross paths with Jojo Fang, a dance trainer, who was beaten by their gang after he criticizes their literacy on their signage before beating a nearby debtor to death, much to his terror about

loan sharks A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate ...

, although he dismissed the fact that it was choreography. Ahead of time, Shao He was monitored by Malaysian police and recently reform their identity through public awareness and commercial branding. This garnered the attention of Hong, the leader of the Qing Long gang, but Wang rebutted to them as she coerce into

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

. Furious on her coercion, Qing Long attacked Wang, Emperor and Soldier Head on broad daylight and split paths; Wang eventually ran to one of the dance studios where Wang's mother and Fang were. Fang, with the help of the crowd, the backup dancers, and a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

, came to stop the attack after Fang seeing one of Qing Long's henchman attacked Wang, forcing Qing Long to retreat. While the gang are recovering from the battle, Chen reprimanded Wang for her actions that caused the attack, although she refuted due to their gang's safety. Elsewhere, many members from Qing Long were arrested by police following a tipoff, prompting Hong to launch an ambush with Shao He again while Wang and Chen were caught off-guard. While conducting their punishment with her henchmen for failing their duties, she stabbed with her own knife and claimed her responsibility, leading Chen to renounce their gang's mission. Wang and Fang were married, not long before Chen arrived to interrupt the wedding, but was forced out by Wang's guests, accusing her of

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

. The next day, while Fang and Wang's mother went to toilet, Emperor and Soldier Head warned Wang that the debtors had called the police, with her advising to keep a low profile without using violence, but this warning was short-lived as Fang was again beaten up by her henchmen for intervention and Chen saving her again. Fang was then forced to work with Shao He in return with much success, and later revealed that they were once childhood friends after he accidentally finds a bookmark that was co-written by them. After Emperor's house was ransacked, Shao He visits Qing Long, accusing them as acts of revenge. After Hong was disappointed on their rivalry between the two, he proposed a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match with the losers forfeiting their territories to the winner, using a

durian The durian () is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognized species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the only species ...

as a ball. Shao He won the duel, but Hong refuse to concede and attacked them with more durians and

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

s. The police arrived on the scene, leading their henchmen to flee without arrest and become fugitives. The couple met with her friends after several days, while having supper, Fang received a phone call that their mothers were abducted by Qing Long; the couple then followed Hong to a hideout where he meet Chen to negotiate about an alliance in exchange of releasing the captives; Chen stabbed Hong while on a phone call, but Wang intervened him before he could deal the final blow with the help of Fang; however, all but Fang were tranquilized and were taken to a secret location. The person who led the capture was revealed to be one of the victims who lost their parents to loan sharks. She led a team of debtors who seeks revenge to the loan sharks as their purpose of the capture, with a photographer stealthily taking pictures as evidence for their wrongful actions. The debtors left before police arrive for their arrests, resulting in the dissolution of Shao He. Chen was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

while the rest were given jail sentences. Ten years later, Wang was released and was reunited with Fang, now working as a salesman in kitchen appliances; they were welcomed by a group of employees as a latest addition along with her henchmen, who were released two years earlier.

Cast

as Wang Lihua (王立华), the second-in-command of Shao He gang and Fang's eventual wife. * Mark Lee as Jojo Fang (方佐佐), a fitness dancer and Wang Lihua's eventual husband. * Richard Low as Chen Jun (陈军), the leader of the Shao He gang. * KK Wong as Soldier Head (兵头), the first-in-command of the Shao He gang. * Daniel Tan as Emperor (皇帝), the third-in-command of the Shao He gang. * Jack Lim as Hong Qinglong 洪青龙, the leader of the Qing Long gang, with a rivalry to Shao He. * Lai Meng as Wang Lihua's Mother Other roles include Koe Yeet with an unnamed role credited as "revenge teen", along with Michelle Tay,

Marcus Chin Marcus Chin On Kang (born 22 September 1953) is a Singaporean host, actor, comedian, singer, radio DJ, and businessman. Career Chin joined the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation during the 1970s. During the 1990s, he was mainly known for star ...

as an opera singer, Yoo Ah Min and David Bala; other mentioned roles include Muralitharan Murthy as a photographer, Jovi Theng, as well as Lim Cheer Yong and Tan Jeng Yee, who respectively played the roles as a young Jojo and Lihua.

appeared as a cameo in his role as a

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

in advice to Shao He on coming up in their theme song.

Production

Jack Neo feels that most people think that

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...

s are "heartless and evil", however after research, he has found out that there are "kind and caring" loan sharks as well. He was sure that the film would be well received by Singaporeans. The scriptwriting took 6 months to complete, while the film is shot in 35 days. Neo went against the social norm by using a woman as a loan shark (''ah-longs'' were generally male gangsters) and having her propose marriage (which is against traditional Chinese custom).

Reception

A series of roadshows were held at Ang Mo Kio Hub on 19 January 2008. ''Ah Long Pte Ltds commercial success was evident despite mixed reviews from the press. ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...

'' reported on 13 February that over the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

weekend, the film reaped a box-office takings of S$1.47 million, coming in second behind

Stephen Chow Stephen Chow Sing-chi (; born 22 June 1962) is a Hong Kong filmmaker and former actor, known for his mo lei tau comedy. His career began in television, where he gained recognition through variety shows and TV dramas. Chow's breakthrough came in 1 ...

's ''

CJ7 ''CJ7'' () is a 2008 science fiction comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced, starring, and directed by Stephen Chow in his final film acting performance, before he became a fulltime filmmaker. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong ...

'' ($2 million), while beating

Jay Chou Jay Chou Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...

's '' Kung Fu Dunk'' ($1.41 million). All three films were released in Singapore on 7 February 2008. ''Ah Long Lte Ltd'' broke the previous record for biggest opening weekend for local productions, a record it held until it was broken in 2012 by another Jack Neo film '' Ah Boys to Men'', which earned S$1.509 million on its opening weekend. The ranking remained the same as of 19 February, when the box-office earnings of ''CJ7'' was almost S$3 million ($2,840,282), ''Ah Long'' S$2.4m and ''Kungfu Dunk'' at S$1.96m. Reviews from local magazine '' 8 Days'' were largely negative. The film was rated as half a star out of five.

Criticism

Various film reviews indicated that this film had "copied ideas" from Cho Jin-gyu's ''

My Wife Is a Gangster 3 ''My Wife is a Gangster 3'' () is a 2006 in film, 2006 Korean film. It is a sequel to ''My Wife Is a Gangster 2''. Despite bearing the ''My Wife Is a Gangster'' title, the film has little to no relation to the previous films. Plot Korean gangs ...

''. There was also a scene in which Lihua performed soccer tricks, and was pointed out by critics for copying Stephen Chow's '' Shaolin Soccer''.

References

External links

* * {{Jack Neo 2008 films Films directed by Jack Neo Hokkien-language films 2000s Cantonese-language films 2000s Mandarin-language films Singaporean comedy films Triad films 2008 action comedy films 2008 comedy films