The Film:
Election (or Hak Se Wui to give it it's original title) is yet another Asian film that has been hyped up a lot across many a DVD forum. Directed by one of the most well known Asian directors in the world (Johnny To - PTU, Casino Raiders 2, Breaking News), Election is a story of politics. Gang politics. Every two years, the time comes for the senior members of the oldest Triad section in Hong Kong (the Wo Shing Society), to elect a new chairman. This year, there are two competitors vying for the high position. Lok (Simon Yam - SPL: Sha Po Lang, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life, Breaking News), is of traditional nature and follows the traditional Triad regime. He is also the favourite to be elected as he is very highly respected by the 'Uncles' of the Wo Shing Society. His rival Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai - Dumplings, The Huada Chronicles: Blade Of The Rose, Men Suddenly In Black) on the other hand, is of the new and upcoming Triad 'breed'. He is greedy for power and he will not stop at any level of corruption in an attempt to sway the vote, using money and violence to try and get what he wants, at the same time, going against hundreds of years of Wo Shing Society tradition.
When the Wo Shing Society's ancient symbol of leadership, the Dragon's Heat Baton, goes missing, a ruthless struggle for power threatens to tear the Wo Shing Society into two. The race is on to find the Dragon's Heat Baton and to win the Election.
Triad films should be a staple diet of anybody's film watching habits, and just like some of the American mobster/mafia films (The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface), Election is a dialogue driven film driven by occasional violent action scenes. We all know from the success of some of the aforementioned films, that this means out and out action doesn't always compete with a fantastically scripted film where the main subjects are power, money and respect. Although Election isn't as good as The Godfather, Goodfellas or Scarface, it certainly ranks a highly entertaining film that is certainly worth a look.
The DVD:
Video:
Panorama have presented Election in the films OAR of 2.35:1 which has been anamorphically enhanced. Obviously for such a new film, the transfer is nothing but excellent. The picture was strong and didn't suffer from any noticeable edge enhancement, grain or general print damage. The disc also features subtitles in Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional and English to which I watched the film using the optional English subtitles which were clear and free from grammar and spelling mistakes.
Audio:
We are given the choice of three different audio tracks on the disc. The first is a Cantonese DTS ES 6.1 Discrete track, followed by a Cantonese Dolby Digital EX 5.1 track, a Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track and then a dubbed Mandarin Dolby Digital EX 5.1 track. Naturally I listened to the DTS track, in which all dialogue and effects were clear, and to a constant sound level. The effects and voices came from the correct speakers and, although the surrounds aren't used a huge deal as it's a dialogue driven film with few action scenes, they were utilised well.
Extras:
In this single disc addition we only have a couple of bonus trailers. They are for Everlasting Regret which runs for one minute 57 seconds, and for Drink Drank Drunk, which lasts for one minute and 29 seconds. Although this release is lacking in extras, it should be noted that a two disc addition is also available from Panorama (which they released simultaneously).
