Wednesday, March 02, 2011 -

As part of my “promised” regular updates for this dusty, busted-ass old blog, I continue my look at Johnnie To’s seminal triad films: Election 1 and 2 with my short review for Election 2….

At a taut 1.5 hours, Election 2 is the one gang film that I can watch over and over again…..easily my favorite Hong Kong film of the past decade… since noboy requested for it, here ya go:


Election 2

Election 2 takes place at the end of Lok’s tenure as Chairman of the Wo Sing Triad, two years after the events of the first movie. The sequel is worthy companion piece to the first film, maintaining the same atmosphere and grittiness while considerably upping the violence quotient.

In the sequel, Lok (Simon Yam) desperately seeks to hold on to his reins of power as Chairman of Wo Sing, as a newer and younger challenger, Jimmy Li (Louis Koo) steps up as his main rival for the top spot.

Louis Koo, while not the most versatile actor around, turns in what I consider to be his finest and most subtle performance as Jimmy, under the direction of Johnnie To. His take on the character brings to mind, Al Pacino’s nuanced portrayal of Michael Corleone from the Godfather trilogy, a cool and calculating criminal with an aura of incredible violence that bubbles beneath his surface.

This “aura of incredible violence” rears its head in a grisly scene that involves hungry Alsatians, meat cleavers and grounded human meat. It’s a scene that brings to mind Herman Yau’s Untold Story (1993), with Anthony Wong’s award winning turn as the infamous Pork Bun killer.

The film work on two levels, one as a solid triad film and two, as the director’s own biting commentary on the current geo-political ties between Hong Kong and China, post-handover:

By the end of the movie, Jimmy emerges as the new chairman, only to realize that the curtailment of his business expansion plans into the China market in the beginning was all part of a ploy on the part the mainland police to manipulate him into running for chairmanship of the Wo Sing triad. They want him to remain as chairman past his 2 year tenure and for the reins of power to remain in the Li family, passed on from one generation to another, thus abolishing the centuries old Wo Shing Electoral process.

In essence, the Mainland Police’s answer to controlling crime in HK is to place their ideal candidate as the Chairman of Wo Shing, the oldest and most powerful triad in Hong Kong, thus effectively placing the whole organization under their thumb. This is essentially an accurate mirror of the socio-political relations between the China Government and the Hong Kong Triads during the 1997 British Handover, when China attempted to impose its iron-will upon the triads with minimal bloodshed. The full title of the film, “Election 2: Harmony is a virtue”, is an apt one; if you can’t beat them, recruit them!

In the end, Johnnie To’s Election 2 succeeds in being a satisfying sequel; an organic continuation of the first film, one that builds upon and broadens the existing themes and plot-points of its predecessor.

1:24 AM