Solidrariol
Am I Missing Something?
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Kailansorac
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
jadavix
"Election" is a confusing gangster movie with a story that really shouldn't make so little sense. The plot is that there is a dispute over who should head a Hongkongese Triad. The more even-tempered Lok is elected, much to the anger of his rival, the disrespectful and hot-headed Big D.The Triad chairman must own a dragon head-carved baton. This is a symbol of his power. Much of the movie involves the hunt for this baton.The movie has quite a few scenes that make no sense. Eg., when Lok is elected, we are given a shot of men being nailed into wooden cages and kicked down a hillside. I had to read on Wikipedia to find out that this was their punishment for helping Lok become chairmen - though I still don't know how they could have done that. In another scene, Big D is handcuffed on the street with some other gangsters and starts imploring passersby to take photos. He then notices a rival triad, and starts frantically trying to stop the people from taking photos. Then he changes his mind again. What was the reasoning behind this? The baton thing is also confusing. I understood that it was a symbol of power, but could't keep track of who had it and when.The ending is really shocking. I was not expecting it at all.
Vincent
This isn't as violent as I was expecting which makes the violent scenes appear all the more brutal and effective.There are a lot of twists and turns and back stabbing and double crossing all the way through the film making it hard to know who's side a particular character is on.The plot is pacey with some good dialogue and character development and gives an interesting view of the workings of the Triad gang it follows.The violence when it comes is brutal, no guns or martial art scenes with special effects, this is believable in your face violence and for all the dialogue you are never allowed forget that the Triad is a violent criminal organisation.The ending is surprising but thoroughly consistent and believable.
robbierunciman
enjoyed the movie and efficient Confucian crime drama, the old order survives the threat posed by a brash young greedy man, no doubt representing modern society. I thought the final scene was strange and could not understand if we were to believe that big D was being punished for being greedy or it was part of the plan a long. I loved the scene and for once in a Chinese movie, the violence was not a choreographed martial arts fest. On thing that always amuses me about HK films is that the main influence the British seem to have had is to introduce 'yes sir' and 'sorry' into the local language and its amusing that long after we have gone, they are still there.
diegobofo
Johny To makes here one of his best style exercises, making a strong film with a good Yakuza's story. The election of the new Yakuza's boss is the beginning of a war inside the organization.In my opinion the violence is wise used in the context, making a very strong gangs film. I specially love the way he tells the history, moving around all the roles inside the Yakuza's family, and making that we see the violence, like the only way they have to solve their problems...Talking about, the technical aspects, the film is a good example of paused, rythmic and planified way of shooting a film. One of the Hong Kong Films of the year. Is like Infernal affairs, but without the easy action-violence scenes, and the confused storyline. Strongly recommended to all Asian films lovers.(sorry for my English, better do in Spanish lol)