Every two years senior members of Hong Kong’s oldest Triad, The Wo Shing Society, elect a new chairman. Fierce rivalries emerge between the two eligible candidates. Lok, respected by the Uncles is the favorite to win. His rival Big D will stop at nothing to change this by going against hundreds of years of Triad tradition – influencing the vote with money and violence. When Wo Shing’s ancient symbol of leadership, the Dragon’s Head Baton, goes missing, a ruthless struggle for power erupts and the race to retrieve the Baton threatens to tear Wo Shing in two. Can Wo Shing balance their traditional brotherhood ways with the cut-throat modern world of 21st century business? –Celluloid Dreams
Following his directorial debut with the 1980 period martial arts fantasy The Enigmatic Case, To’s career came to something of an apex in the late 1980s thanks to such memorable action films as The Big Heat and tender, personal dramas like All About Ah-Long (the latter of which landed star Chow Yun-Fat a Best Actor award at the 1990 Hong Kong Film Awards). After taking the helm for such memorable action films as The Heroic Trio and directing Stephen Chow in such films as Justice, My Foot and Mad Monk in the early ‘90s, To moved into producing with the creation of independent film company Milky Way Films, a company which yielded such popular Hong Kong action efforts as Nai-hoi Yau’s The Longest Nite and Expect the Unexpected. Though To’s production company was indeed a success, his career behind the camera was in need of some rejuvenation, an issue which he readily addressed with the release of his highly praised 1999 crime drama The Mission.
Utilizing convention as a springboard… read more
I had a hard time keeping track of all characters at first and in some films that would make it hard to follow but as it went on it became clear and it was the sense of corruption seeping into all the characters that seemed to unify everything. I still have many To films to see but juxtaposition of the noble origins of the triad with the brutal even awkward violence is so far him at his most impressive. Must see.
Watched it years ago and was bored to death with it. Picked it up at the library the other day and hoping it's better upon 2nd viewing.
I believe we can consider this a recommendation: "A few times each decade, the Museum of Modern Art mounts a film retrospective so focused
An intense and brutal Asian version of the Godfather. While the characters might not be as deep as its Western inspiration, the story and pace is frantic and exciting. One thing I did not like about… read review
Johnnie To drops the heroic bloodshed conventions in what is essentially an in-depth exploration of Triad customs and lifestyle. On the R1 DVD cover art, one character is shown with a gun, however… read review
