In the Chinese crime drama, "Triad Election," Louis Koo stars as Jimmy Lee, a Hong Kong "businessman" who's made a small fortune selling pornographic DVDs on the black market. Now Jimmy wants to come in from the cold and become "legit" in the eyes of the law, but he discovers that - irony of ironies - the only way that that can happen is if he gets himself elected "Chairman" of a crime syndicate of which he is already a member - a position of such power and prestige that even the long arm of the law will be unable to touch him. This sets up a bloody battle royale between Jimmy and the other gangsters vying for the title.
"Triad Election" has a few flashes of grit and style, but it's a fairly lackluster affair overall, undramatic, talky and with an undertone of sadism and nastiness that spoils much of the fun of the film. There's a certain poignancy to the final scenes, as Jimmy realizes that he can never leave the gangster lifestyle now that he is so deeply embedded in it, but it is a revelation that comes too late in the movie to register much of an impact. Thus, despite its various virtues - and a nicely melancholic score played mainly on strings - the movie is a pretty so-what affair in toto.
"Triad Election" has a few flashes of grit and style, but it's a fairly lackluster affair overall, undramatic, talky and with an undertone of sadism and nastiness that spoils much of the fun of the film. There's a certain poignancy to the final scenes, as Jimmy realizes that he can never leave the gangster lifestyle now that he is so deeply embedded in it, but it is a revelation that comes too late in the movie to register much of an impact. Thus, despite its various virtues - and a nicely melancholic score played mainly on strings - the movie is a pretty so-what affair in toto.