Rating of
2.5/4
"Election" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/12/12
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's a solid foundation for the superior sequel Triad Election.
