It’s time for another Election, but can there really be any winners in Johnnie To’s vision of Hong Kong turbulent and violent underworld?…
It’s been two years since the events of the original Election, and tradition dictates that the chairman of the Wo Sing triad must step down and let one of his peers be elected. But having worked so hard for his position in the first place, Lom Lok (Simon Yam) is hardly going to give it up without a fight, threatening the society with another war over leadership. No one is sfae this time, not even the respected elder Uncle Teng Wai (Wang Tain-lin).
Buy Online Only the charismatic Jimmy Lee (Louis Koo) has any chance of contesting Lam, but he has dreams of making his business legit. With connections to mainland China under threat, Jimmy makes a bargain with a police official to do whatever it takes to gain leadership of the gang, not realising what the full cost to his future will be.
Despite being the most ‘mild-mannered’ of the gangsters, Jimmy soon becomes a monster himself, in a world where old friendship and allegiances count for nothing.
Director Johnnie To follows Election with an equally impressive sequel. There’s a sort of ‘matter-of-factness’ he brings to the screen that helps you believe his characters and the dual worlds they live in: the daylight of normal life, taking your kids to school and so on; the night of the gangster world, performing sadistic, inhuman torture on people you once called friends. Once again, it’s all totally believable.
But this time To’s characters don’t have the depth we saw previously, you really don’t get a chance to know, or even care about them. This time little (or nothing) is shown of Lam’s homelife, making his final reckoning less powerful than it could have been. Perhaps Johnnie To thought to pick up on the work he had done in the previous film, but it makes the film a lot less successful on it’s own. Election 2 also lacks the humour which cut through the original films most tense moments.
Ultimately, the characters are so paired back that you almost wonder if To paired back a much longer version. Perhaps he did, or perhaps he only ever intended to be shown as a double bill with the original film (as it has been often).
This is a strong sequel, and with greater depth to its characters could actually have been superior to its predecessor. This is still recommended viewing, particularly on a double bill with the original.
Election 2 is released on DVD in the UK on 22 October by Optimum Asia.
DVD details
Distributor: Optimum Asia (UK)
Talk about a no frills release! The film is presented without any extras, and with embedded subtitles too! Considering the wealth of (subtitled!!) extras available on the Hong Kong 2-disc set it's not as if the material did not exist.
The quality is good, as is the film, but is this really enough to justify the recommended retailer price of £17.99 price tag? I think not!
