# Exiled (放·逐)
**Exiled** (放·逐; also romanized Fong juk) is a 2006 Hong Kong crime film directed by [Johnnie To](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnnie-to), set in Macau in 1999 on the eve of the territory's handover to China, in which two hitmen sent to kill a former brother-in-arms are confronted by two others sent to protect him.[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) • [2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm) Produced by Milkyway Image, it competed at the [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival) and reunited the lead cast of To's 1999 film *The Mission*.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / production | Johnnie To; Milkyway Image, sold by Media Asia Film[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled) |
| Release | Premiered in competition at Venice on 6 September 2006; Hong Kong release 19 October 2006[5](https://m.1905.com/m/film/info/46695.shtml) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2006-10-12/12191280965.html) |
| Running time | 108 minutes, color, in Cantonese[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) |
| Principal cast | Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Nick Cheung, Simon Yam, Josie Ho, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet, Richie Jen[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) |
| Key creatives | Screenplay Szeto Kam-yuen and Yip Tin-shing with the Milkyway Creative Team; cinematography Cheng Siu-keung; music Guy Zerafa[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) |
| Awards | Venice competition and Toronto 2006; Golden Horse Best Action Design and Audience Choice Best Film (2006); Hong Kong Film Critics Society Best Director and Film of Merit (2007); Hong Kong Film Award nomination for Best Director[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) • [7](https://www.kff.tw/film/content/4864) • [5](https://m.1905.com/m/film/info/46695.shtml) |
| US reception | 80% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (64 reviews); US gross $49,400[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exiled) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The hitman Wo (Nick Cheung) has retired from gang life and returned to Macau with his wife Jin (Josie Ho) and their newborn son.[2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm) Boss Fay ([Simon Yam](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-yam)), whom Wo once tried to assassinate, dispatches Wo's old companions Blaze (Anthony Wong) and Fat (Lam Suet) to kill him; two other old friends, Tai (Francis Ng) and Cat (Roy Cheung), arrive to protect him.[2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm) • [9](https://www.scmp.com/article/568167/exiled) The four gunmen and Wo all grew up in the same gang, and after a shootout in Wo's apartment that damages only doors and mirrors, the five sit down to a meal and agree to let each other live.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled) • [10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/exiled/)
To secure money for Wo's family, the five take on a final job, an assassination of a Macau crime boss; the plan fails and Wo is killed.[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) The surviving four flee Macau, encounter Sergeant Chen (Richie Jen), a police officer involved in a gold smuggling robbery, at the border, and divide the gold with him before heading for the mainland.[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) When they learn that Fay is holding Jin and the baby, they return to rescue them for a final gun battle.[5](https://m.1905.com/m/film/info/46695.shtml)
## Style and themes
**A western in Macau.** Critics have read the film as a western transplanted to a former Portuguese colonial island, much as American westerns moved to Mexico for their locations.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled) The International Film Festival Rotterdam program calls it "an occasionally hard and virtuoso gun film, yet always filled with irony," and the New Zealand festival notes a visual style it describes as Leone crossed with Melville.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez, a New York Film Critics Circle member, wrote that To "channels the spirit of the western" and that a Morricone-style score would not be out of place; the lovehkfilm review likewise notes a harmonica by a campfire among the film's western motifs.[10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/exiled/) • [2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm)
Chance and fate drive the plot. When the men's plans break down, they flip a coin to decide what to do, and the toss of a coin determines crucial decisions throughout.[2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm) • [10](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/exiled/) The film's governing themes are brotherhood, sacrifice, and vengeance, and the condition of men who no longer belong to the world they inhabit.[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) • [11](https://sightlines.media/film/13807/exiled-2006) To dispenses with backstory and lets his protagonists be defined by their actions, in the manner of [Jean-Pierre Melville](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-pierre-melville) and [Walter Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-hill).[12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/cteq/exiled/)
**Relationship to The Mission.** *Exiled* reunites Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet, and Simon Yam from To's 1999 film *The Mission*, and is widely regarded as its spiritual successor, though the two films differ in tone and structure: in *The Mission* the men meet on an assignment, while in *Exiled* they are revealed as longtime friends.[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/) • [2](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm) • [12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/cteq/exiled/) Together with *Vengeance* (2009), it belongs to the sequence of gunfighter films To made between *The Mission* and *Vengeance*.[13](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%94%BE%EF%BC%8E-%E9%80%90)
The film was shot on a relatively small budget, but To and art director Tony Yu gave it the opulent look of a big production, with cinematography by Cheng Siu-keung that critics have compared to the classical style of *The Godfather*.[14](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3334342/how-johnnie-redefined-hong-kongs-gangster-genre-3-mid-2000s-classics) The hotel where much of the final act takes place was a roofless set built on top of the Milkyway Image office building.[15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796212)
## Reception
*Exiled* premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September 2006 and screened at Toronto the same year.[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) It won Best Action Design and the Audience Choice Best Film award at the 2006 Golden Horse Awards, and took Best Director and Film of Merit at the 2007 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards; To was also nominated for Best Director at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards.[7](https://www.kff.tw/film/content/4864) • [1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105) • [5](https://m.1905.com/m/film/info/46695.shtml)
Critical aggregation has been favorable: 80 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 64 reviews, with a critics' average of 7.10/10, and a Metascore of 73.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exiled) • [16](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0796212/criticreviews/) [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter) called it "an accomplished suspense-action piece that touches on universal themes of brotherhood, exile, love and honor," and The New York Times praised To's "refusal to condescend."[16](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0796212/criticreviews/) [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club)'s Noel Murray described it as "a clever homage to Sam Peckinpah, right down to the clouds of bloody mist that fill the barroom as To's anti-heroes make their last stand."[16](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0796212/criticreviews/)
The film's 2007 American release through Magnolia Pictures, opening in New York and Los Angeles in September 2007, was the widest distribution a Johnnie To film had received in the United States to that point, though it grossed only $49,400 there.[17](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-07-et-johnnieto7-story.html) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exiled) Reviewers have consistently singled out the choreography of the gunfights and the elegiac tone; the film's reputation rests on critical and festival reception rather than box-office returns.[11](https://sightlines.media/film/13807/exiled-2006) The South China Morning Post's contemporary review called it "not so much a gangster film as an exercise in auteurish style," brilliant in individual scenes but light on substance for critics seeking more.[9](https://www.scmp.com/article/568167/exiled)
## References
1. [放・逐, Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute](https://www.tfai.org.tw/zh/program/movieDetail/2c968082978c955401981194db6e0105)
2. [Exiled (2006), lovehkfilm, review by Kozo](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/exiled.htm)
3. [Exiled / Fangshu, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2007/films/exiled)
4. [Exiled, New Zealand International Film Festival 2007 archive](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2007/archive/exiled/)
5. [放·逐 详细资料, 1905电影网](https://m.1905.com/m/film/info/46695.shtml)
6. [《放逐》香港将首映, Sina Entertainment (2006)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2006-10-12/12191280965.html)
7. [放．逐, 焦點影人：黃秋生, Kaohsiung Film Festival](https://www.kff.tw/film/content/4864)
8. [Exiled, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exiled)
9. [Exiled, South China Morning Post, Paul Fonoroff (19 October 2006)](https://www.scmp.com/article/568167/exiled)
10. [Review: Exiled, Slant Magazine, Ed Gonzalez (10 October 2006)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/exiled/)
11. [Exiled (2006): analysis, influences and similar films, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/13807/exiled-2006)
12. [Exiled/Fongchuk, Senses of Cinema, David Sanjek (May 2007)](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/cteq/exiled/)
13. [放．逐, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%94%BE%EF%BC%8E-%E9%80%90)
14. [How Johnnie To redefined Hong Kong's gangster genre, South China Morning Post (2025)](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3334342/how-johnnie-redefined-hong-kongs-gangster-genre-3-mid-2000s-classics)
15. [Exiled (2006), IMDb trivia](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796212)
16. [Exilé (2006), Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0796212/criticreviews/)
17. [A chance to move beyond Hong Kong, Los Angeles Times (7 September 2007)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-07-et-johnnieto7-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2005–2009 films › Released 2005 to 2007*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license