ELECTION 2 (2006)
There are a few old clichés that might describe this sequel to Johnnie To's previous triad thriller. Perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures? Or maybe that old idea that it's not personal, it's just business. But the dark reality is that the results are much less about a series of expected tropes, and more about the brutal and cold world the characters inhabit. Some of it might go beyond even what fans of the first instalment might be expecting. Ideas about unity, tradition, and honour are still bandied about during the opening history lesson. But by this stage it's clearly all just a cynical veneer being laid over a lot of truly nasty ambitions. The kind of principles discussed last time around are not going to make a come back.