Election 2 (2006)

Do you honour your blood or money?

This is the sequel to the 2005 sleeper hit, Election. Johnnie To remains as the director and the characters are left untouch and the story picks up where it left.

2 years had passed and Lok's (Simon Yam) era as the Wo Shing Triad's boss is coming to an end. It is the time for another election. Of all candidates, Jimmy (Louis Koo) has the highest chance of being the next kingpin. However he is more interested in the business world than the secret society's internal struggle of power. Things change when Jimmy realise that if he is the triad boss of Wo Shing, the Chinese police will give him more leeway in his business in China. To be the next boss, Jimmy must fight against Lok, who wants to compete for a 2nd term. This is where things get nasty, as both sides began an all out war.

Johnnie To again uses human weaknesses in this film. The weakness over power and money. The lure of both is too hard to reject. Once someone possesses them, he will do anything to hold on to them. This is what happen to Lok in the first film and Jimmy in the second. One defining scene sees Jimmy hacked one of Lok's assistants into pieces and fed them to the dogs. Though brutal, the pure determination in Jimmy's eyes cannot be hidden. Just to get things done, just to prove a point and just to be the the boss. One particular scene shows wads of money stained with blood on the floor. What is the director trying to say? Money is earned the hard way. Blood shed is inevitable.

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4/5