Much like Goodfellas or Casino, it’s not the scenes of violence that drive Triad Underworld forward, but rather the moments of politicking and the impedance of the criminal life upon normal family obligations. The birth of his son brings a crisis of conscience upon Hung (Andy Lau): should he remain as the head of his Triad organization and risk his family’s lives, or should he retire and flee to a remote location and let those who would be king fight it out amongst themselves? Even as his best friend and closest advisor, Lefty (Jacky Cheung) advise him to retire to a safe distance, the underworld of Hong Kong has already caught scent of the chum of uncertainty and selected Wing (Shawn Yue) and Turbo (Edison Chen), aspiring gangsters, to kill Hung. Armed with nothing but a knife, the two would-be assassins scramble about in the night making preparations for their dirty deed and doing their best to stay alive as they run into one snag after another.
There’s a very clear and dividing line between Hong Kong and Hollywood gangster pictures and that shouldn’t surprise anyone. The respective cinema cultures of each country and how it treats its element of organized crime really couldn’t be more different. Thus American Mafiosos traditionally come across as track suit wearing employers of blunt force tactics, racketeering aficionados, and patrons of home style Italian restaurants with a pecking order that pays some respect to familial ties in the ‘old country’. On the other hand, films based on the Triad are much more pristine and typically involve more actual fighting on the part of the suit wearing, honor-bound up-and-comers eager to prove themselves in a criminal hierarchy as likely to be dominated by young guns as it is by old pros. Triad Underworld (or Gong wu) is a perfect example of that stark difference as a slowly building tale of an assassin and his target as they watch the clock tick down to an inevitable aspect of the Hong Kong gangster life.
Where the film falters is on the technical aspect, with noticeable issues in sound distortion and sloppy editing early on in the film.
DVD Bonus Features
A moody music video and an easy to digest “making of” featurette should you be so inclined after the main feature, it’s nothing groundbreaking or too introspective though.
"Triad Underworld" is on sale September 6, 2011 and is not rated. Action, Crime, Drama. Directed by Ching Po Wong. Written by Ching-Po Wong. Starring Andy Lau, Edison Chen, Jacky Cheung, Shawn Yue.
