Eleição - O Submundo do Poder

Triad chairman Simon Yam's term is coming to an end and he doesn't want to vacate the job. His main contender is Louis Koo, who is only seeking the job to further his business interests in mainland China. This one is a slow burn. Most of the running time is gangsters manoeuvring politically until the film erupts in a series of horrendously violent sequences. A grim gem among To's incredibly consistent output.

Spooky? Funny? Yeah!

In 2006 HK Cinema, few movies warrant a second viewing, but clearly Election 2 is one that improves in its 2nd running. Johnny To is a versatile director and needless to say, whatever tension that is lacking in its sequel, Johnny makes up for it with twice the brutality and further destruction of those in power. While the first film emphasis on one struggle for power and its ability to corrupt even the most ingenious of humanity, the second one further this notion, that the only way to secure power is through eliminating all its challengers. Perhaps Bush is right - "you are either with us or against us" as this notion is never proved so strongly correct. Needless to say, Election 2 is already fast becoming of the finest work from the little territory this year.

One of the most memorable yet shocking scenes is without doubt the chopping sequence of arms, legs and body parts of a living person and then churning it out into dog food. Fear is a factor that allows those in power to control the masses. It is at that moment that Louis Koo becomes a greater evil than Simon Yam. His goal is money, not triad power and glory. The saying goes: "money is the root of all evil" and at that moment, Koo have metamorphoses into a wild animal – crazy and no longer human. It is crazy to imagine what one can do for money as Koo's silent assassin screams out: "Add money" repetitively even the moment before he die, is both humorous yet bitterly ironic. In dicing a human into dog food, Johnny alludes to 90s' human pork chop movies and most notably – The Untold Story starring Anthony Wong. Luckily, Election 2 does not exactly show the vivid scene in full detail, or else it will probably break even the most carefree of censorship boards.

Like in the first film, the only way to survive in the dark underworld is to remain in power, as the Chinese saying goes: "one mountain can not shelter two tigers." Unlike the 1st film, Simon Yam takes a back seat, despite showing some quite credible acting chops. His expression upon kicking the old man down the stairs is calculatingly evil and so is the memorable expression as he holds on to the leader baton, with the type of grin hiding behind an ambitious smile. He is ultimately ambitious, yet an extremely flawed character. Louis Koo takes on the leading role, this time around in full force and perhaps one of his finest performances in years since Bullet Over Summer. His aim for business and money is noteworthy and the ambition hidden within the scene where he chops up arms and legs is equally startling to watch. A much underrated actor deserves to appear in more material like this. Other appears here and there and Lam Suet is once again funny in a cameo role. As usual Nick Cheung is fast becoming one of the coolest actors in HK cinema.

Following Neo's statements above of this being 2006's finest work isn't really an understatement, despite the poor quality of productions in most HK films. To have been able to embark a sequel that matches the original is alone a heck of an achievement. It is a beautiful piece of work and along with the ironic trademark finale, Johnny is back on the circuit. With many more productions ahead, one can only expect heaps better stuff to be made. Yes, to be perfectly honest, it is disgusting, but at the same time, it is really good to endure. (Neo 2006)

I rate it 9/10.

• www.thehkneo.com

Aka Election 2 -- continuation of crime drama

It's Election time again , and this time the lead candidates are Kun - the Baton retriever who served jail time for running over cop , and Jimmy - the leading money-maker in the Wo-Sing and Society Favorite ..

Jimmy doesn't want to run for prez , he wants to go clean as a businessman . But after getting busted in undercover sting, he's coerced by the head Inspector to become the new Chairman if he has any dreams of running business on his grounds .

Lok on the other hand , doesn't want to give up power either ,, and is plotting a second term which is against Society rules ... As the time ticks closer things get more and more antsy

9/10

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.

This film doesn't take half measures that's for sure. It's time to elect a new chairman again amongst the triad world, and the baton by tradition has to pass on. Our lead from the original is reluctant to hand it over, and is playing off people to secure a second term. On the other hand is the initially reluctant Jimmy who claims to want to distance himself from his gangster linked past but to secure business access into the mainland, he becomes brutal and merciless to become the newly elected leader for his own "business" purposes.

I enjoyed this more than the first. It's quite a difficult film to follow at times with some references to the original plus a large multitude of characters. There are various threads through the movie and if you give it time you will find it engrossing. Tense at times with violence always not far off, it doesn't let up. There are too many nods to "Infernal Affairs" with many of the same actors and some parts which seem to pay homage to it. In fairness, can't always be 100% original, and this film is not a rip at all.

Acting is fine but camera work doesn't have anything special. There was scope to have some incredible filming here with some of the locations and actors, but it doesn't seem to have been a priority, which is a shame.

A good film with some intriguing plot lines, and if you're into gangster films then you'll find this a good addition to the HK genre.