YOUNG & DANGEROUS: RELOADED (古惑仔: 江湖新秩序) (2013)

Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Daniel Chan
Cast: Philip Ng, Him Law, Paul Wong, Oscar Leung, Jacquelin Ch’ng, Jazz Lam, Michelle Hu, Dominic Ho
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: M18 (Mature Theme And Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 January 2013

Synopsis:  On a dark Mongkok night, May, the cousin of Dai Tin-yee (Dominic Ho ), was gang-raped to death by Med King (Deep Ng ) and his men. The furious Tin-yee, together with his buddies, Ho-Nam(Him Law ), Chicken (Oscar Leung ), Pou-Pan (Jazz Lam ) tracked down Med King to revenge May’s death. As Med King was under the wing of Ugly Kwan (Sammy Sum ), a leader of the Hung Hing triad, Kwan gave orders to get rid of Ho-Nam by all means….

Movie Review:

Seventeen years is not nearly enough for one to forget what a genre classic Andrew Lau’s ‘Young and Dangerous’ was, so right from the start, this reboot of the classic franchise already has its odds stacked against it. The inevitable comparison yields one straightforward answer – greenhorn director Daniel Chan’s ‘Young and Dangerous: Reloaded’ isn’t anywhere near as good as Andrew Lau’s original – but expectations aside, the movie ultimately undoes itself with lazy plotting, clumsy direction and lacklustre performances.  

Going back to basics, recurring screenwriter Manfred Wong (who was responsible for five of the six movies, with the exception of the fourth one) opts for a much less character-driven approach in charting the rise of Chan Ho-Nam and his buddies – Chicken, Pao Pei and Dai Tin Yee – within the powerful Hung Hing triad group. In its place is a much more straightforward narrative that pits Ho-Nam against the conniving Ugly Kwan (Sammy Shum), whom the former crosses after killing one of the latter’s men responsible for drugging, raping and murdering Tin Yee’s younger cousin.

As in the original, Ho-Nam allies himself with another of Hung Hing’s elders Brother Bee (Paul Wong) for protection – though that only further puts him and Kwan on a collision course when the latter murders Hung Hing’s leader Tin-sang (Pal Sinn) in a bid to usurp power and frames and kills Brother Bee for it. The outcome is a foregone conclusion, but what is really lost in this version is the sense of brotherhood between Ho-Nam and his buddies.

Hinted but never fully explored is the strong bond of friendship between Ho-Nam and Chicken, forged through their childhood and teenage days spent growing up in the same working-class neighbourhood. And because that bond is so feebly constructed, the plot pretty much forgoes any buildup of tension between Ho-Nam and Chicken – which was in fact one of the key twists in the original when the former is accused of sleeping with the latter’s girlfriend.

The lack of any meaningful character exploration means that most of them essentially remain one-note. Ho-Nam is the inscrutably righteous de facto leader, while Chicken is his free-wheeling associate who is supposed to be perpetually horny. If Ho-Nam and Chicken are already that dull, you can imagine how insipid Pao Pei and Tin Yee turn out to be – in fact, most of the time they are pretty much relegated to the background with few lines or purpose in the scene.

For that reason, you can perhaps forgive Jazz Lam and Dominic Ho – who play Pao Pei and Tin Yee - for their nondescript performances. Fans might recall that those two roles were played by Jan Lamb and Michael Tse respectively, and compared to their successors, Jan and Michael were a class act. Ditto for Oscar, who has none of Jordan Chan’s delightful self-deprecating charm as Chicken, and in fact plays his character as timidly as his character’s name suggests. Nevertheless, the biggest flaw here is Him Law, who is a terrible substitute for Ekin Cheng. Looking aloof and stoic throughout the entire movie, Him is wooden and devoid of charisma – and if this is what a manlier interpretation of Ho-Nam is supposed to look like according to producer Wong Jing, we’ll take Ekin over Him any day.

The shallow characterisation and unremarkable acting is compounded by Daniel Chan’s ham-fisted direction. There is absolutely zero buildup where the action scenes are concerned, and when the fight actually begins, awkward cinematography is used to disguise bad choreography (by Philip Ng, who also plays Brother Bee’s right hand man in the film called Big Head) and awful CGI-ed blood. Chan also fails to find rhythm in the film, stumbling from a romantic scene to a dramatic scene to a comedic one with little attempt to manage the change in tone. It must also be said that the editing leaves much to be desired, with some continuity errors so glaring it is almost embarrassing.

With a whole litany of flaws, you’d wonder why producers Wong Jing and Manfred Wong even bothered attempting a remake of the ‘Young and Dangerous’ series. It was a risky venture in the first place, given the iconic status of the previous films – but even without the burden of its predecessors, this triad movie is at best a forgettable B-movie that comes nowhere close to classic. That is truly a pity, for there is a rich Hong Kong flavour to the material that is not often seen these days with the encroachment of the Mainland film industry, and this is simply a terribly wasted opportunity at reviving the glory days of Hong Kong cinema. 

Movie Rating:

(More juvenile and insipid than young and dangerous, this reboot of the classic franchise with its lazy plotting, bad acting and clumsy direction can only be a terrible disappointment to fans)

Review by Gabriel Chong