NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD (April 2025): Criterion has transferred Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express to 4K UHD. It is cited as being from a "4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, both supervised and approved by director Wong Kar Wai". The second disc Blu-ray is the exact port from World of Wong Kar Wai Blu-ray. See the date of the M2TS files on the BD:

The film’s portrayal of Hong Kong as a character - vibrant, chaotic, lonely - adds cultural richness.

Like 4K UHD transfers of The Long Wait, I, the Jury, and many others below, Criterion's 2160P transfer of Winchester '73 does not have HDR applied (no HDR10, HDR10+, nor Dolby Vision.) We have seen many other 4K UHD transfers without HDR; Mondo Macabro's Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf, Cult Film's Django 4K UHD, Umbrella's 4K UHD transfer of Peter Weir's The Last Wave and Criterion's 4K UHD transfers of Winchester '73, The Mother and the Whore, I Am Cuba, The Others, Rules of the Game, Branded to Kill, In the Mood For Love, Night of the Living Dead and further examples, Masters of Cinema's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Kino's 4K UHDs of Bob le Flambeur, Last Year at Marienbad, Nostalghia, The Apartment, For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, In the Heat of the Night, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Koch Media's Neon Demon + one of the 4K UHD transfers of Dario Argento's Suspiria.

Cinematography is primarily by Christopher Doyle (and Andrew Lau for the first story), and is a visual masterpiece that captures the frenetic energy and melancholic beauty of 1990s Hong Kong through a distinctive, impressionistic style. Shot on 35mm film during a six-week break from Ashes of Time, the movie’s look reflects Wong’s signature aesthetic - vibrant colors, kinetic camera work, and a dreamlike atmosphere - while embodying the urban alienation and emotional longing at the heart of its narrative. Below is an in-depth analysis of the film’s visual elements, including cinematography, color palette, composition, lighting, and their contribution to the storytelling and thematic depth.

The Criterion 4K UHD mirrors Wong Kar Wai's newer restoration (with a 2160P resolution) - and he comments:

Wong Kar Wai on his New Restorations: "During the process of restoring the pictures that you are about to watch, we were caught in a dilemma between restoring these films to the form in which the audience had remembered them and how I had originally envisioned them. There was so much that we could change, and I decided to take the second path as it would represent my most vivid vision of these films.

As the saying goes: “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Since the beginning of this process, these words have reminded me to treat this as an opportunity to present these restorations as a new work from a different vantage point in my career.

Having arrived at the end of this process, these words still hold true.

I invite the audience to join me on starting afresh, as these are not the same films, and we are no longer the same audience."

The first story, set in the chaotic Chungking Mansions, uses frenetic handheld camerawork to capture the labyrinthine setting. Doyle employs step-printing - a technique that slows down frames to create a stuttering, dreamlike effect - most notably in scenes of Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) chasing suspects through crowded alleys. This method blurs motion, smearing neon lights and figures into streaks of color, reflecting 223’s disorientation and emotional turmoil. The handheld shots, often at odd angles, immerse viewers in the Mansions’ multicultural chaos with its narrow corridors and flickering signs. Wong uses slow motion to freeze fleeting moments, emphasizing their emotional significance. Shot on fast film stock (likely ASA 400 or 800) to accommodate low-light conditions, the film has a grainy, textured look, particularly in night scenes. Chungking Express’s color palette is vibrant and saturated, reflecting Hong Kong’s neon-drenched urban landscape while symbolizing the characters’ emotional states. The film’s saturated palette, enhanced by Technicolor processing, gives it a hyperreal quality. Neon signs bleed into the frame, casting unnatural glows on characters’ faces - 223 in a bar, bathed in blue, or Faye under the snack bar’s red neon. Mirrors, windows, and glass are recurring motifs, creating a sense of fragmentation. Presented at 2160P resolution, the 4K resolution delivers a noticeable upgrade over previous releases, such as Criterion’s 2008 Blu-ray and the 2021 World of Wong Kar Wai box set Blu-ray. The 2160P image retains the film’s inherent grain and softness - characteristic of Christopher Doyle’s low-light shooting with fast film stock - but offers improved clarity and detail with the higher resolution. Fine textures, such as the clutter in Chungking Mansions or the fabric of Faye’s eclectic outfits, are more defined, and the film’s vibrant color palette - neon reds, greens, and the warm yellows of the Midnight Express snack bar - remains vivid, though without HDR. The colors don’t achieve the same level of depth or contrast as they would with enhanced dynamic range, but we feel this is more accurate as opposed to revisionist. This was similar to Criterion's 4K editions of In the Mood For Love. It's easily the best I have ever seen the film on my system.

NOTE: We have added 70 more large resolution 4K UHD captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their 4K UHD and Blu-ray, Criterion uses a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original Cantonese language (with some English and Mandarin.) The audio is mimicking the 2012 audio transfer, but more robust than the 2008 DVD edition and Wong Kar Wai says, "Chungking Express was made before 5.1 surround sound, so we had to retool the settings and sound configurations this time." Chungking Express's mix is a subtle but effective upgrade, immersing viewers in Hong Kong’s soundscape and amplifying the emotional impact of the soundtrack. While not as dynamic as modern surround mixes, it respects the film’s origins, making the music and ambient sounds enveloping. The soundtrack, with its iconic use of “California Dreamin’” and “Dreams,” enhances the mood and themes. It sounds immersive and flawless in the lossless. Such joy. Criterion offers optional English subtitles on their Region FREE 4K UHD and Region 'A' / 'B' Blu-ray.

The Criterion 4K UHD package repeats the 2021 BD extras - which are all available on the second disc Blu-ray only. The extras are a mixed bag - valuable for fans but not expansive. The theatrical trailer is a nostalgic curiosity, while the deleted scenes with Wong’s commentary offer insight into the film’s evolution. The Moving Pictures (previously included in Criterion’s 2008 and 2021 releases) excerpt and Doyle's 2002 interview are highlights, providing behind-the-scenes context, though their archival quality may disappoint some. The three deleted scenes, totaling 15 minutes and 32 seconds, come with commentary by Wong Kar Wai, providing insight into the film’s editing choices. Amy Taubin’s (Taxi Driver BFI Film Classics) essay is a worthy repeat, providing critical perspective, though the lack of new extras and the absence of Rayns’ commentary may disappoint some. Still, the 4K UHD package is a high point, making the set a beautiful collector’s item for its stellar video upgrade.   

Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express is a seminal work of Hong Kong cinema, blending arthouse aesthetics with populist appeal to explore themes of urban alienation, fleeting connections, and the search for emotional fulfillment. Shot during a break from the editing of Ashes of Time, the film captures Wong’s signature style - vibrant visuals, fragmented narratives, and a melancholic tone - while reflecting Hong Kong’s pre-1997 handover anxieties. Chungking Express is divided into two distinct, non-linear stories, each following a lonely policeman in Hong Kong. The film’s structure mirrors the fragmented, ephemeral nature of urban life, with minimal overlap between the two segments beyond shared themes and a brief crossover at the Midnight Express snack bar. The stories are linked thematically through motifs of expiration dates, chance encounters, but they don’t intersect narratively beyond a brief moment where Cop 223 bumps into Faye. Wong’s choice to split the film reflects the transient nature of relationships in Hong Kong with each story capturing a different facet of longing and healing. There are themes of urban alienation and loneliness, fleeting connections and chance encounters, time and memory, love as healing, as well as cultural hybridity and globalization. The performances, particularly Leung’s understated longing and Faye Wong’s effervescent charm, anchor the film’s heart. The cinematography in Chungking Express is a defining element, blending raw energy with poetic abstraction to mirror the characters’ emotional states and the transient nature of Hong Kong. The Criterion Collection’s 4K UHD release of Chungking Express is a visually and sonically impressive upgrade that honors Wong Kar Wai’s iconic romantic drama, while offering a repeated, modest, but meaningful set of extras for fans and collectors. This Criterion 4K UHD release of Chungking Express reaffirms the film’s status as a 1990s classic, delivering a stunning restoration and thoughtful extras that, while not exhaustive, enhance its legacy for both new viewers and longtime admirers. You're either going to own it... or regret not doing so.

Gary Tooze