The film starts with blue cloudy skies displayed on an array of televisions inside a department store display, calm nature framed within the alluring, commercial nightlife. It’s very blue.
Blue as in the harsh, bold neons of the Hong Kong underground that Wah can’t escape, and Fly can’t help but be drawn to. Blue as in the calm, stable seaside that Ngor and Lantau Island represents, that Wah yearns for. Blue embodies a cool that Andy Lau’s character (and Wong Kar-wai himself) radiates, and that gangster films glorify.
And yet, Wah wants nothing to do with that cool blue in the end, and Fly meets his demise aspiring for it. The sky is always more blue on the other side.