A very strange, but quite brilliant Triad gangster film from Hong Kong. If you are expecting the bullet ballets of John Woo/Chow Yun Fat, or the glossy, stylised, high production values of the fantastic "Infernal Affiars" trilogy then you're in for a bit of a shock, but a pleasant one....

 

This is a pretty complex and violent thriller which takes you deep into the Triad underworld. Every two years, a Triad society votes for a leader, but for the leader to consolodate his authority he must be in possession of a hundred year old baton. In this contest there are two bitter rivals - Lok (an honourable, seemingly unassuming man who holds onto the tradtions of the Triad) and Big D (a loud, brash individual who believes that money is more important than tradition and attempts to bribe the "Uncles" into voting for him). Lok wins the election, but Big D goes on a rampage, kidnapping two of the "Uncles" and threatens the keeper of the baton (Whistle) to hand it over. What follows is a rather mad chase across China by Lok's and Big D's underlings to retrieve the Triad baton and thus grab the mantle of leader for their boss.

 

Surprisingly for a film of this type there is no elaborate slo-mo shoot-outs, no chop-socky martial arts action, the violence in the film is of a far more brutal and disturbing nature, but in one or two instances, it's quite funny (such as the sight of Big D kicking a couple of boxes in which he has put the two "Uncles" he's kidnapped over a cliff, instructing his underlings to go and get them and then kicking the boxes over the cliff again....).

 

The ending of the film is surprising and quite shocking and leaves a real impact upon the viewer...

 

Great stuff, one of the best gangster films I've seen in quite a while and more than worthy of the attention of any fan of the genre....

 

8/10

A very strange, but quite brilliant Triad gangster film from Hong Kong. If you are expecting the bullet ballets of John Woo/Chow Yun Fat, or the glossy, stylised, high production values of the fantastic "Infernal Affiars" trilogy then you're in for a bit of a shock, but a pleasant one....

 

 

oh yes Election. had this on DVD for ages.

 

Election 2 is out soon.

 

also have you seen Dumplings by Fruit Chan?

 

havent got this on DVD yet as i'm hoping they will do a se edition with the other 2 original 3 extremes films

A very strange, but quite brilliant Triad gangster film from Hong Kong. If you are expecting the bullet ballets of John Woo/Chow Yun Fat, or the glossy, stylised, high production values of the fantastic "Infernal Affiars" trilogy then you're in for a bit of a shock, but a pleasant one....

 

 

PS if you are a fan of "Infernal Affiars" give Initial D a miss, not one of the directors best efforts.

this is showing on film4 at the mo. go rec it