Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Alex Fong in One Nite in Mongkok

Alex Fong did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Inspector Milo in One Nite in Mongkok.

One Nite in Mongkok is a decent enough cop thriller about the police trying to find a would-be assassin Lai-fu (Daniel Wu) before he makes his hit.

Alex Fong plays the cop in charge of finding the assassin to prevent him from committing the hit. Fong is almost co-lead, but not quite, as Milo mostly because he's given few personal scenes, and when the film focuses on the cops it tends to show them in more of an ensemble type of view even if Milo is the lead one. Fong's performance is a very quiet and to the point performance since most of the film depicts Milo very much going through the process of tracking down the killer, although there is one brief scene that depicts his personal problem it is shown through some editing rather than really through Fong. Most of the film is focused on Lai-fu and his relationship with a prostitute who both are from mainland China opposed to Hong Kong. For the most part Fong is very much pigeonholed in his role, but that does not mean he does not still manage to create a more interesting character than the technically far more fleshed out true lead of the film.

Fong's very good in portraying frankly the events which have occurred before the film in which Milo had to shoot a suspect causing him to change especially since it contributed to his wife leaving him. Fong is effective in giving the constant sense of a certain depression that is simply part of Milo now. Fong's very good in portraying it as a lived in depression though as Milo is pretty much always on duty throughout the film therefore does not really have anytime to sulk. Fong's good in portraying the drive in Milo as he brings the needed underlying passion for Milo who still fulfills his duties despite his personal problems. Fong's quite good in making his performance always resonate somewhat even though his scenes often are far more focused on the chase than Milo. His performance always manages to show Milo as a real man reacting to each new development rather than just blank slate cop as he very well could have been.

The most major scene given to Fong is when one trigger happy cop accidentally shoots an unarmed man. Fong does make the most of his chance. Fong is very effective in conveying the way that Milo is basically running the whole situation through his head. On one hand he shows in his initial reaction the shock of the sudden action, and interestingly brings a warmth toward the support of the cop. Fong very naturally though brings a direct coldness as Milo works to cover up the mistake. Fong's really good here because although he shows Milo as forcing a cover up he always gives the sense that Milo is only doing it due to his empathy for his fellow officer. Unfortunately Fong is not given enough scenes like this, and I think it would have only aided the film if they had let Fong further explore Milo as a character. Nevertheless Fong handles the character of Milo quite adeptly by bringing a complexity basically between the margins of the film and makes us understand the character despite having few scenes to himself.