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MOVIES / ON DVD / TRIAD ELECTION
Triad Election

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Triad Election (2007)

96%
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96 %
Reviews Counted: 45 Fresh: 43  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7.4/10
 
Consensus: Taking its cues from the Godfather series, Triad Election understands how a giddy mix of thrills and gunplay can make for compelling cinema.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Synopsis: Wo Sing is Hong Kong’s oldest Triad Society. Under the leadership of its current Chairman Lok, it has grown to become the most feared crime organization in the city. Jimmy (Louis Koo), a twenty-first-century gangster with an M.B.A., wants to go clean by building a legitimate business empire.... Wo Sing is Hong Kong’s oldest Triad Society. Under the leadership of its current Chairman Lok, it has grown to become the most feared crime organization in the city. Jimmy (Louis Koo), a twenty-first-century gangster with an M.B.A., wants to go clean by building a legitimate business empire. His profit-making enterprises have already made him a favorite in the upcoming Chairman election, but his popularity has also brought him to the attention of the Chinese authorities, who believe he is the perfect middleman to bring the Triads and the Central Government into peaceful co-existence. The Chinese authorities offer Jimmy access to the Mainland’s business market should he choose to lead Wo Sing for the next two years. The irony is not lost on Jimmy: in order to escape the Triads, first he must become their leader. -- © Tartan Films [More]

Genre: Action/Adventure

Starring: Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Suet Lam, Andy On, Mark Cheng

Director: Johnnie To
Screenwriter: Nai-Hoi Yau, Tin-shing Yip
Producer: Johnny To, Dennis Law
Composer: Robert Ellis-Geiger

DVD Info

Release:

Nov 9, 2007

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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4/5

The exposition is perfectly balanced with bloody action and muscular set-pieces.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/26/07
Justin Bowyer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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3/6

The movie’s most powerful component is political.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/12/07
Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out
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N/A

Drips with a thick, Stygian darkness, but also offers violence that's too explicit and willfully perverse to be thoughtfully disturbing. . . . a little too overwrought, too operatic after its regal predecessor.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/19/07
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
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3.5/4

The film's violence erupts in rare, staccato bursts, all the more horrifying for coming out of nowhere.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/24/07
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
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3/5

If it is too stylistically modest to win converts among the multiplex crowd, the film surely rewards followers of the genre.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/11/07
Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle
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B+

tackles big ideas like the preservation of tradition and the overall reach of destiny, but also slyly suggests that the Triad of the 21st Century has evolved into something like a giant corporation.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews
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3.5/4

If Machiavelli's The Prince and Sun Tzu's The Art of War translate to other centuries and cultures, so might Election and Triad Election.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/13/07
Bill Stamets
Chicago Sun-Times
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3/4

[Director To's] talent for documentary-style realism and navigating complex political systems sets him apart, though his nationalism puts him squarely in the mainstream.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/12/07
Robert K. Elder
Chicago Tribune
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3/4

This remains a well-crafted genre movie, and one that promises further developments in its final scene.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/06/07
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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N/A

Dense, demanding concentration, lacking any romantic (but plenty of sordid) violence, extremely involving and rewarding of careful attention.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/21/07
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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2.5/4

Like the late John Frankenheimer, director To marries his drama with action and superb composition to achieve compelling results at times.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/18/07
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times
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B

If you're willing to do the work, Triad Election pays you in tragedy.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/15/07
Mike Russell
Oregonian
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A-

... exhibit A in the case for the Hong Kong gangster film as the new genre standard.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/14/07
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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N/A

Shameless pulp it may be, but to watch it is to see a master craftsman continuing to refine his talent.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/13/07
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
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3.5/4

Into a season of Hollywood blockbusters, this import arrives with the impact of a high-velocity bullet.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/08/07
Pam Grady
Reel.com
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4/5

Like any good sequel, this film takes what is familiar with the original's concept -- in this case, an internecine struggle for supremacy -- and deepens it.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/08/07
Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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N/A

Reveals [director] To as a master of lean, close-quarters action.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/07/07
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly
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2.5/4

Triad Election is slow-burning and sedate, even dull in stretches. But it deserves credit for presenting such a courageous critique of the Chinese system, which combines the worst aspects of official corruption and mob lawlessness.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/31/07
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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2.5/4

Like many Hong Kong mob movies, Triad Election

Full Review | comment Comment
05/31/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
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3.5/4

Johnny To's superb, graceful new Triad Election actually has quite a bit in common with Francis Coppola's Godfather trilogy.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/24/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
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Related Forums

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(NYFF)-Johnnie To's TRIAD ELECTION to screen @ the 44th New York Film Festival!
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