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Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Excellent but underrated film

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

In some ways this is an amazing sequel. It builds on top of the original movie, playing with its themes, but not feeling repetitive or unoriginal. It has its own unique thing going on, yet it couldn't exist without the first one to provide background and the setting. So it's at the same time an enjoyable experience on its own, but the fans of the original get exactly what they were hoping for. Kind of.Because I still don't like this one as much as the original. The main reasons for this are the technical details. The film just isn't as well-made as the original. In the first movie one really understood both of the competitors, their motives and feelings, their overall goals and the reason why they acted as they did. In this movie you really understood Jimmy's (Lois Koo Tin-Lok) character. He's just an ordinary businessman with triad ties, who tries to set his family free. But he cannot, not without going through the ultimate ordeal. But it's the character of Lok (Simon Yam Tat-Wah) that I don't get. In the first movie he was a calm, collected leader, able to make tough choices, but preferring to avoid rattling the cages. He was a traditionalist. Not so much in this film. I guess that in some ways this sudden change serves to portray the themes of power corrupting without a doubt, but it still felt somewhat wrong to me. It didn't feel like Lok at all, not the Lok I had gotten to know in the first movie.Plus the action scenes, while good by the most standards, didn't hold that awe-factor from the first film, there was still way too many characters, who were rarely referred to, the plot had some bizarre twists and while the ending solution was a good one, I was somewhat disappointed by it.Still, this is a good movie, no doubt about that. If action movies are your thing, this is definitely worth checking out. I personally liked the first one better, but there are a lot of people, who disagree with me on this, so you might be pleasantly surprised.

On the surface the two Election movies are simple stories about the election of the Chairman of an organized crime syndicate in Hong Kong. The concerns of the lead characters are simple/primal - greed, power, money - all the expected elements and the predictable Hong Kong gangster cinema trademark - people sitting at a table drinking, eating and very casually suggesting that a lot of people are going to be dead by the time this flick gets over.Johnnie To's trick is to play with the dichotomy of the characters, to flush them out in such a way that you find yourself projected in them. You'll find Jimmy (the lead who's contesting the election) trying hard to read the names of Mandarin dishes in a restaurant much to the amusement of his wife and the waiter, and the current Chairman Lok's concern about the bad company his school going son keeps. Normal. Thenn the very same characters would do anything to get what they want. You will see Jimmy hacking a Lok loyalist limb by limb while Lok simply pushes Uncle Teng down the stairs and smiles. Threatening and foreboding permeates the movie mainly because ordinary people you can identify with are capable of extremities which even they weren't aware of.This is not a Tarantino flick - no one comes up with smart slang-ed retorts and refers to the Bible, you won't see blood and gore splattered on the screen and yet its more menacing, hideous and violent.

"Be careful what you wish for... it may come true." As overused and clichéd as this saying is, it really does match up nicely with the main theme from Johnnie To's Triad Election, the second in the Master Director's Election series. After chronicling Lok's rise to power in the first Election, To and the gang team up for part two. This time Lok (Simon Yam) is the godfather who is seeking an unheard of second term. Jimmy (Louis Koo) is the newcomer who needs the chairman position to secure a building project in mainland China that will make him rich. Election 2 tells a story which is based on an actual event which occurs in China. Every two years, the Chinese mafia has a democratically held election to decide who will become the chairman. As in any election, a fair amount of foul play is involved, all the more so in Election 2 because the candidates are gangsters who are jockeying for control of the Hong Kong underworld.The performances are the film's greatest attribute, Election 2 features a great ensemble cast as well as one of Simon Yam's greatest performances (and he's had a lot of roles) as the understated evil chairman. Yam is so charismatic the viewer begins to forget how conniving and deceitful his character is. Louis Koo is also fairly sympathetic in his business man turned gangster character, who as the film progresses, starts to resemble Lok more than himself. Magnificently scored, Triad Election's music would seem to be more fit for a horror film than a gangster flick. That being said, it works. Melodic guitar riffs and a mournful Cello help highlight the truly horrifying depths a man can reach in pursuit of his goal. And there are some disturbingly brutal scenes in this film, culminating in an ending that is both brilliant and haunting. But the true allure of Election 2 (Triad Election) is following Jimmy's (Louis Koo)transformation from a somewhat reputable business man into an all out ruthless gangster. This is the center-point of the film, and it's what makes Triad Election great. The focus is on character development, not on action (although, Election 2 has it's share of it). In style and form, the film more closely resembles Coppola's Godfather films than an HK action flick. So don't be expecting non-stop action scenes from Election 2, the real fireworks come from the two leads interactions and the treachery that ensues.Bottom Line- A must have for Asian Cinema Fans as well as anyone who digs gangster flicks.

I recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival and I had never seen the first film of this series but this still stands on it's own without the benefit of seeing the first film Election. This being distributed as Triad Election although in the opening credits is called Election 2. This is the story of a large Hong Kong crime syndicate that has it's hand in several business dealings from bootleg compact discs to government contracts in Hong Kong and on mainland China. Ten of the actors reprise their roles here from the first film. Lok is the head of the crime family of which was elected to serve a two year term and now his term is up. He wants to hang on to his power and not go into semi-retirement as an elder or uncle within the Triad. Jimmy is the odd-on favorite to win the election this time around but he is a reluctant candidate. He only wants to be a underworld businessman which he never will be unless he accepts the position as the elected one term leader of the crime family. Veterna director Johnny To is back as the director as well as the screenplay team of Nal Hei Yau and Tin-Shing yip, cinematographer Siu-keung Chang and production director Tony Yu. This is a violent film and many comparisons have been made with the Godfather and other American gangster films. Not knowing anything about this or it's predecessor film I didn't really know what to expect here but this is a well-polished film with a good story and plenty of interesting characters. I would give this an 8.0 out of 10.