A crime family flirts with democracy, leading to a fierce gangland battle in this stylish crime drama from Hong Kong director Johnnie To. With over 50,000 members, the Wo Shing Society is one of the largest and most powerful Triads in Hong Kong, and when the leadership committee needs a new head man, they decide to put the matter to a vote of their underlings. The two candidates are Lok (Simon Yam), a cool leader who doesn't rattle easily, and Big D (Tony Leung Kar-Fai), who has a short temper
and is prone to violence. After Uncle Weng (Wong Tin-lam), an elderly and well-regarded member of the Triad, gives Lok his endorsement, he wins by a landslide, which does not sit well with Big D's uncertain temper. A ceremonial walking stick which is given to the Wo Shing Society's elected leader has disappeared, and Big D will stop at nothing to make sure it stays out of Lok's hands; meanwhile, the Hong Kong police are determined to bring down the Triad, and Big D ends up behind bars. The Wo Shing Society falls into chaos as in-fighting threatens to tear the Triad apart before the walking stick can be returned and Lok can be inaugurated as their new chief. Election (aka Hak Sewui) was a major box office success in Asia, and the story continued the following year in Election 2 (aka Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Election feels routine at times, though less formulaic than other genre exercises from Hong Kong. The depiction of crime customs is sociologically detailed.
[Director To's] talent for documentary-style realism and navigating complex political systems sets him apart, though his nationalism puts him squarely in the mainstream.
Ultimately, Election and Triad Election -- which benefit from being seen back to back -- play like a mature reevaluation of [Johnnie] To's long-standing talent for splashy, eye-popping violence.
The film's main drive involves plotting and scheming rather than outright violence, though -- unlike the sequel -- the basic good guy-bad guy conflict is pretty standard.
Even the violence is unexpectedly unexpected, eschewing the usual cathartic frenzy of bloody chopsocky and arcade-game gunplay in favour of calmly viewed and human-scaled acts of brutality.
The time has come for a Triad organisation to elect a new chairman, but the losing contender rejects the outcome and threatens to break away and form a new gang. Johnnie To's Election has been described as "the Asian Godfather", but I personally felt it had more of a Goodfellas vibe about it, particularly the grimly
realistic violence that is made all the more so by the fact that the weapon of choice of these gangsters is the machete. The crux of the story revolves around a race for a ceremonial sceptre that is the traditional symbol of power for the organisation, but this format made the film feel like a 90 minute relay race as one character hands the "baton" to the next after occupying the screen for an all too brief length of time; in all there are nine characters vying for your attention (not even including the "bad" guys) which means few have any real chance to make any impact. Just when you think the set up is complete and the story is about to begin, the credits start rolling. In this way the film reminded me of the original X-Men film as it suffers from the same problem of introducing too many characters too quickly leaving little time for plot or characterisation of any depth. Having said that, it looks fantastic without losing any of its inherent grittiness and it feels like an interesting set up for a story yet to be told. For that reason, I'm hotly anticipating Election Volume Two.
March 20, 2007
xGary Xx
Super Reviewer
a really interesting look inside the hong kong triads
No quotes approved yet for Election (Hak se wui). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Election (Hak se wui)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
