# Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (九龙城寨之围城)
**Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In** (九龙城寨之围城) is a 2024 Hong Kong action crime film directed by Soi Cheang (郑保瑞), set in the 1980s in the [Kowloon Walled City](https://www.edgepedia.org/kowloon-walled-city), then a lawless enclave outside the effective control of Hong Kong, British, or Chinese authorities. It follows a mainland refugee, Chan Lok-kwun, who takes shelter in the walled city and is drawn into a gang war over its control. The film was a critical and commercial success in Hong Kong and mainland China, becoming the second-highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong box-office history and winning Best Film and Best Director at the 2025 Hong Kong Film Awards.[1](https://www.mediaasia.com/Zh-hans/Movies/Info/100/) • [2](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/1113/2024111300551_c.pdf) • [3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 1 May 2024 (Hong Kong), 125 minutes, Category IIB, action genre[1](https://www.mediaasia.com/Zh-hans/Movies/Info/100/) |
| Director and producers | Directed by Soi Cheang; produced by John Chong and Wilson Yip[1](https://www.mediaasia.com/Zh-hans/Movies/Info/100/) |
| Source material | Yu Er's 2008 novel *Kowloon Walled City*, adapted as a popular comic by Siu Kam-chau in 2011[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) |
| Budget | About HK$300 million[4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903) |
| Key crew | Action director Kenji Tanigaki; production designers Kenneth Mak and Chai Sai-wang[5](https://www.ccidahk.gov.hk/tc/publication/Hong%20Kong%20Film%20Industry%20Data%202024.pdf) |
| Hong Kong box office | Second-highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong history, with nearly 1.7 million admissions[2](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/1113/2024111300551_c.pdf) |
| Awards | Best Film and Best Director at the 2025 Hong Kong Film Awards; Hong Kong's entry for the 2025 Oscar for Best International Feature Film[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) |
| Franchise | A prequel, *Twilight of the Warriors: Dragon Throne*, and a sequel, *The Final Chapter*, have been announced[6](https://english.dotdotnews.com/a/202507/24/AP6881ae7be4b08d2905303a0d.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
The story is set in the 1980s, when the Kowloon Walled City was still a "three-no-management" zone, administered by none of the authorities that claimed jurisdiction around it. Chan Lok-kwun (陈洛军), played by [Raymond Lam](https://www.edgepedia.org/raymond-lam) (林峯), is a refugee who sneaks into Hong Kong and, after crossing a gang boss, flees into the walled city seeking shelter. There he befriends a group of younger fighters, Sin One (信一, Terrance Lau), Twelfth Master (十二少, Tony Wu), and Four仔 (四仔, German Cheung), who follow the city's patriarch Cyclone (龙卷风, [Louis Koo](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-koo)). Together they resist the invasion of the walled city by the mob boss Big Boss (大老板, [Sammo Hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammo-hung)).[1](https://www.mediaasia.com/Zh-hans/Movies/Info/100/)
The plot turns on an older generation's feud. In the backstory, Cyclone,狄秋 (Richie Jen), and Chan Chim (陈占, [Aaron Kwok](https://www.edgepedia.org/aaron-kwok)) fought for control of the walled city; Chan Chim killed狄秋's wife and children, and Cyclone killed Chan Chim in a duel before honoring his dying wish to smuggle Chan Chim's family out of Hong Kong. Chan Lok-kwun is revealed to be Chan Chim's son, making him a target for狄秋's revenge and forcing Cyclone to choose between two loyalties.[7](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27222667) [Philip Ng](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-ng) plays the villain Wong Kau (王九), a fighter whose hardened qi-style invulnerability and manic persona made a strong impression on reviewers.[7](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27222667) • [4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903)
## Source material and setting
The film adapts Hong Kong writer Yu Er's 2008 novel *Kowloon Walled City*, which comic artist Siu Kam-chau turned into a popular comic in 2011.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) Soi Cheang moved the story's setting from the novel's 1988, the year the government announced the city's demolition, back to around 1984, the year the [Sino-British Joint Declaration](https://www.edgepedia.org/sino-british-joint-declaration) was signed. He explained that this period let him show more of the residents' daily life, and that the era's identity questions, "Am I British or Chinese?", gave the story its resonance.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) • [8](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/11/martial-arts-film-awakens-nostalgia-for-pre-chinese-hong-kong_6674441_4.html) He also changed the protagonist from a gang member in the novel to a refugee, framing the film as the city seen through a newcomer's eyes.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans)
The historical Kowloon Walled City traces its origins to a defensive fort dating back as far as the [Song dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/song-dynasty); after the 1842 [Treaty of Nanking](https://www.edgepedia.org/treaty-of-nanking) ceded [Hong Kong Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-kong-island) and the 1898 convention leased the New Territories to Britain, the walled city remained a Qing enclave within the leased territory. Japanese occupation forces demolished its walls during 1941 to 1945, and after the war a political vacuum left it unadministered by any side. Refugees poured in, dense unplanned buildings multiplied, and the area became one of the most densely populated slums in the world, a base for triad activity. In 1987 China and Britain agreed to clear and rebuild the area; demolition proceeded from 1991 and the district disappeared by the end of 1993 (one account gives 1994), later becoming a park.[7](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27222667) • [9](https://www.hkchronicles.org.hk/%E5%BF%97%E8%B6%A3%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A/%E5%BF%97%E5%BD%B1%E9%99%A2/%E9%87%8D%E7%8F%BE%E5%82%B3%E5%A5%87-%E5%85%89%E5%BD%B1%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%AF%A8%E5%9F%8E) • [3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans)
## Production and recreation of the walled city
Filming began in November 2021, during the pandemic lockdown, with Louis Koo's company One Cool Films among the producers.[10](https://screenanarchy.com/2024/05/twilight-of-the-warriors-walled-in-review-hong-kongs-nostaglia-fuelled-gangland-throwdown.html) Because location shooting in mainland China became impossible, the team built everything in Hong Kong: a street set at a Sai Kung studio, converted interiors of an abandoned school in [Yuen Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuen-long) including a temple, and a ground-level and underground layer of the city near the historical site's entrance, with computer graphics assembling the full walled city.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) Soi Cheang insisted that about eighty percent of the film's scenes take place inside the walled city sets.[11](https://topick.hket.com/article/3753161/%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E4%B9%8B%E5%9C%8D%E5%9F%8E%E4%B8%A8%E9%84%AD%E4%BF%9D%E7%91%9E%E9%80%8F%E9%81%8E%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%90%E4%BD%9C%E5%82%B3%E6%89%BF%E3%80%80%E4%B8%80%E5%80%8B%E5%8E%9F%E5%9B%A0%E4%BB%A4%E5%A0%B4%E6%99%AF%E6%9C%AA%E8%83%BD%E5%9C%A8M-%E5%B1%95%E5%87%BA)
No official records of the walled city's buildings exist, since it was never administered and every unit was an unauthorized structure. The production therefore relied on extensive research and interviews with former residents, then used imagination to create its own version; Cheang said he prioritized aesthetic presentation over documentary accuracy.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) Production designer Kenneth Mak, a two-time Hong Kong Film Award winner for art direction, described the sets as a walled city built for the film, with enlarged pipes and wiring and movable building modules that gave the action team room to stage fights in spaces too small for cameras in reality.[12](https://artandpiece.com/852/twilight-of-the-warriors-walled-in-ken-mak-interview/) The film also depicts 1980s working-class labor such as plastic-flower assembly and noodle making, and the closing credits show ordinary residents' food stalls and daily work rather than the lead actors.[9](https://www.hkchronicles.org.hk/%E5%BF%97%E8%B6%A3%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A/%E5%BF%97%E5%BD%B1%E9%99%A2/%E9%87%8D%E7%8F%BE%E5%82%B3%E5%A5%87-%E5%85%89%E5%BD%B1%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%AF%A8%E5%9F%8E) • [4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903)
## Action style and reception
The action, designed by [Kenji Tanigaki](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenji-tanigaki), combines traditional Hong Kong hand-to-hand choreography with parkour-inspired stunts that exploit the city's vertical and horizontal architecture: fights run up and down a two-story roast-meat shop, across rooftops, and through a bus.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/16576967/) • [7](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27222667) Reviewers noted the deliberately non-realistic, comic-book-derived style: exaggerated superhuman villains, a terminally ill master, and physics-defying moves drawn from Hong Kong comics such as *Chinese Hero* and *Fung Wan*, which Cheang balanced against the "pain" of bone-crunching hits.[14](https://web.chinese.hku.hk/upload/page/43/self/jclls-v2-n2-202512180951.pdf) • [4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903) Cheang said he wanted the flavor of Hong Kong's own traditional comic strips rather than Japanese superpower battles, with Chinese kung fu as the base of the action.[15](https://www.sohu.com/a/781869832_121124735)
Criticism concentrated on the drama. Mainland and Hong Kong reviewers alike found the plot logic thin and the identity mystery revealed without earlier clues, and noted that the four main characters' backstories are left unexplored once the film commits to action in its second half.[16](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2024/0516/c419388-40236912.html) • [4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903) The near-total absence of substantial female characters was also noted.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/16576967/)
**Commercially and critically**, the film opened in Hong Kong on 1 May 2024 with HK$5 million, the second-best opening day for a local film after *Cold War II* (2016).[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) It set a single-day record for a local production on release day,[8](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/11/martial-arts-film-awakens-nostalgia-for-pre-chinese-hong-kong_6674441_4.html) became the second Chinese-language film ever to pass HK$100 million in Hong Kong,[17](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/1030061/%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E4%B9%8B%E5%9C%8D%E5%9F%8E-%E7%88%9B%E7%95%AA%E8%8C%8495-%E5%A5%BD%E8%A9%95-%E7%B9%BC%E5%8F%A4%E6%83%91%E4%BB%94-%E9%A2%A8%E9%9B%B2%E6%B8%AF%E6%BC%AB%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%86%8D%E5%BE%A9%E8%88%88) and finished as the second-highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong history with nearly 1.7 million admissions.[2](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/1113/2024111300551_c.pdf) It screened in the Midnight Screenings section at Cannes 2024, where it drew several minutes of applause.[8](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/11/martial-arts-film-awakens-nostalgia-for-pre-chinese-hong-kong_6674441_4.html) Rotten Tomatoes recorded 95 percent positive reviews among 15 overseas reviews counted shortly after release (13 fresh, 2 rotten).[17](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/1030061/%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E4%B9%8B%E5%9C%8D%E5%9F%8E-%E7%88%9B%E7%95%AA%E8%8C%8495-%E5%A5%BD%E8%A9%95-%E7%B9%BC%E5%8F%A4%E6%83%91%E4%BB%94-%E9%A2%A8%E9%9B%B2%E6%B8%AF%E6%BC%AB%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%86%8D%E5%BE%A9%E8%88%88) At the 2025 Hong Kong Film Awards it won Best Film and Best Director, and it was Hong Kong's entry for the 2025 [Academy Award for Best International Feature Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-international-feature-film).[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans)
## Cultural meaning
The film's success revived discussion of a "Hong Kong cinema comeback" after years of weak mainland-market results for local productions. Scholars have read it as an act of nostalgia with two faces, inheritance and breakthrough: it carries forward the "manic" energy of golden-age Hong Kong genre film and the local memory attached to the walled city's space, while reworking the city's image into a new cultural imagination that mirrors Hong Kong's present situation.[14](https://web.chinese.hku.hk/upload/page/43/self/jclls-v2-n2-202512180951.pdf) The film is dense with homage: older viewers recognized the bus fight from *Police Story*, the roast-meat chef from *[New Dragon Gate Inn](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-dragon-gate-inn)*, and triad elements recalling [Johnnie To](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnnie-to)'s black epics.[14](https://web.chinese.hku.hk/upload/page/43/self/jclls-v2-n2-202512180951.pdf)
The walled city itself functions as the film's central symbol. Cheang said he wanted to capture another side of old Hong Kong, famous for opportunity yet containing this slum, and to question what Hong Kong identity means after nearly a century of colonial rule; he also framed the film as a statement about demolishing what is judged obsolete rather than preserving it.[3](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans) Reviewers noted that although the heroes win their revenge, the city's eventual demolition remains unchanged, which makes the ending's affirmation of the residents' resilience more poignant than purely optimistic.[4](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903) The film's popularity brought the vanished district back into public attention, and from May 2025 a "Kowloon Walled City light and shadow" exhibition at the site's park recreated the film's scenes for visitors.[18](https://www.discoverhongkong.com/content/dam/dhk/intl/plan/traveller-info/e-guidebooks/kowloon-city-tc.pdf)
## References
1. [九龙城寨之围城, Media Asia film page](https://www.mediaasia.com/Zh-hans/Movies/Info/100/)
2. [Media Asia Group Holdings Limited interim report (HKEX filing, 13 November 2024)](https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/1113/2024111300551_c.pdf)
3. [专访《九龙城寨之围城》导演郑保瑞：如何还原九龙城寨? Tatler Asia](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/kowloon-walled-city-hong-kong-film-director-interview-zh-hans)
4. [《九龍城寨之圍城》影評：中港合製困境下，黃金年代「港式癲狂美學」回歸, Crossing (Weichieh Wei)](https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/18903)
5. [香港電影業資料彙編2024 附錄1, Hong Kong Cultural Industries Development Association](https://www.ccidahk.gov.hk/tc/publication/Hong%20Kong%20Film%20Industry%20Data%202024.pdf)
6. ['Twilight of the Warriors' franchise to continue with prequel and finale, Dotdotnews](https://english.dotdotnews.com/a/202507/24/AP6881ae7be4b08d2905303a0d.html)
7. [《九龙城寨之围城》：黑帮、动作与乡愁, The Paper (Zeng Yuli)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27222667)
8. [Martial arts film awakens nostalgia for pre-Chinese Hong Kong, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/11/martial-arts-film-awakens-nostalgia-for-pre-chinese-hong-kong_6674441_4.html)
9. [重現傳奇 光影下的九龍寨城, Hong Kong Chronicles Institute](https://www.hkchronicles.org.hk/%E5%BF%97%E8%B6%A3%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A/%E5%BF%97%E5%BD%B1%E9%99%A2/%E9%87%8D%E7%8F%BE%E5%82%B3%E5%A5%87-%E5%85%89%E5%BD%B1%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%AF%A8%E5%9F%8E)
10. [Cannes 2024 Review: TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN, Screen Anarchy](https://screenanarchy.com/2024/05/twilight-of-the-warriors-walled-in-review-hong-kongs-nostaglia-fuelled-gangland-throwdown.html)
11. [九龍城寨之圍城丨鄭保瑞透過城寨四子作傳承, HKET Topick](https://topick.hket.com/article/3753161/%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E4%B9%8B%E5%9C%8D%E5%9F%8E%E4%B8%A8%E9%84%AD%E4%BF%9D%E7%91%9E%E9%80%8F%E9%81%8E%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%90%E4%BD%9C%E5%82%B3%E6%89%BF%E3%80%80%E4%B8%80%E5%80%8B%E5%8E%9F%E5%9B%A0%E4%BB%A4%E5%A0%B4%E6%99%AF%E6%9C%AA%E8%83%BD%E5%9C%A8M-%E5%B1%95%E5%87%BA)
12. [《九龍城寨之圍城》美術總監麥國強專訪, Art and Piece](https://artandpiece.com/852/twilight-of-the-warriors-walled-in-ken-mak-interview/)
13. [Film Review: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Douban review](https://movie.douban.com/review/16576967/)
14. [傳承與突圍：《九龍城寨之圍城》的本土懷舊與文化想像 (張聖好), Journal of Chinese Literary Studies, HKU](https://web.chinese.hku.hk/upload/page/43/self/jclls-v2-n2-202512180951.pdf)
15. [《当代电影》| 《九龙城寨之围城》：集体记忆与类型创新, Sohu](https://www.sohu.com/a/781869832_121124735)
16. [《九龙城寨之围城》：创新用力过猛反显疲态, China Writers Network](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2024/0516/c419388-40236912.html)
17. [九龍城寨之圍城｜爛番茄95%好評, HK01](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/1030061/%E4%B9%9D%E9%BE%8D%E5%9F%8E%E5%AF%A8%E4%B9%8B%E5%9C%8D%E5%9F%8E-%E7%88%9B%E7%95%AA%E8%8C%8495-%E5%A5%BD%E8%A9%95-%E7%B9%BC%E5%8F%A4%E6%83%91%E4%BB%94-%E9%A2%A8%E9%9B%B2%E6%B8%AF%E6%BC%AB%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%86%8D%E5%BE%A9%E8%88%88)
18. [九龍城寨光影之旅, Discover Hong Kong e-guidebook](https://www.discoverhongkong.com/content/dam/dhk/intl/plan/traveller-info/e-guidebooks/kowloon-city-tc.pdf)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2020s › Crime, assassin, and vigilante thrillers › Titles M to Y*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license