“Crooks must learn to use their brains.”

Plot Summary: With the elected chairmanship of Hong Kong’s oldest Triad, the Wo Sing society, up for grabs, its two top contenders, Lok (Simon Yam) and Big D (Tony Leung), maneuver to take control of the seat.

Review:

What’s most fascinating about To’s Triad thriller is its examination of the respective methods used by Lok and Big D to win the election. It’s supposed to be a democratic process, of course, but Big D immediately shows his willingness to flout the rules by trying to bribe his way to victory. By contrast, Lok is a cool-headed traditionalist and family man whose victory promises to maintain harmony within the Wo Sing Society. Whereas Big D is a divider, Lok is a unifier. Favoring Lok’s approach the “uncles” succeed in persuading the majority to elect Lok, which doesn’t please Big D who quickly ups the ante by resorting to violence and threatening all out war. Before long the two opposing sides square off against each other and the usual quota of shifting alliances, ultimatums and showdowns ensue. While there’s nothing groundbreaking in a story about rivals within a crime syndicate battling for control of the organization, To brings considerable cinematic panache to the proceedings, overcoming the story’s familiarity through sharply-etched characterizations, an offbeat, elliptical narrative approach, plenty of dark, ironic humor and several expertly staged action set pieces. He is not from the school of frenetically edited action sequences. His style actually reminded me a little of Leone in the way he emphasizes the anticipation of imminent violence rather than the violence itself with action scenes that build slowly, via a fluid, rhythmic editing style, and then end quickly in sudden bursts of mayhem. No masterpiece, but well worth a look.  The 2006 sequel, Triad Election, contains one of the nastiest murder/torture scenes I’ve ever seen, which involves dismemberment, meat grinders, and - ahem - Homo sapien flavored dog food.

Posted on March 8th, 2008 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Reviews