This Hong Kong/Japanese co-production tries to offer up a different take on your usual Asian crime drama movie, mostly via injecting some arthouse flavor. In some ways, the experiment succeeds, and, at times, The Sleepless Town is a compelling piece of cinema. Unfortunately, the film stumbles too often during the running time.

Taking place in the Japanese district of Shinjuku, The Sleepless Town tells the story of Ryu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a fence in the Chinatown district who is under fire from the local dai lo (Eric Tsang) after Ryu's partner Saihung (Yang Wei-Min) kills his brother. Given the task of killing his former friend before the start of Chinese New Year, matters get even more complicated for Ken when he meets up with Saihing's girlfriend, Natsumi (Yamamoto Mirai).

Generally, matters here are handled well. The film looks good, and the actors overall do a fine job. There's even a bit of the expected ultraviolence thrown in towards the end. But the viewer (at least this particular reviewer) is left feeling a little hollow, with the connections to the characters being tenuous at best. Part of this is due to the length; at a little over two hours, there definitely feels like there could have been some fat trimmed. The other aspect comes from a sense of deja vu that the more seasoned viewers out there will surely experience at least a couple of instances during the running time.

Despite the film-makers' attempts to craft something unique, at the end of the day, there really isn't anything all that new presented here. In the crowded world of Asian gangster cinema, it takes a lot for a picture to stand out from the pack, and ultimately, The Sleepless Town doesn't do quite enough to fully make its' mark and rise above the level of the average crime movie.

RATING: 6