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Election
Tartan USA

Election reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 73 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.0 out of 10
based on 6 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Siu-Fai Cheung, Suet Lam, Ka Tung Lam, Tian-lin Wang, and Maggie Siu

This 2005 film is the first installment in Johnnie To's Hong Kong gangland series.


GENRE(S): Crime  |  Drama  |  Foreign  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Nai-Hoi Yau
Tin-Shing Yip
 
DIRECTED BY: Johnny To  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: August 2, 2006 
Theatrical: April 27, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Hong Kong 
LANGUAGE(S): Cantonese / Mandarin / English 

Original title "Hak Se Wui"; Nominated, Golden Palm, 2005 Cannes Film Festival; Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actor (Fai), 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman
Johnny To is considered one of the best action filmmakers in Hong Kong, and in this smart, stylized gangland thriller (2005) he looks at the messy inner workings of a triad.
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80
The New York Times A.O. Scott
By the end, Mr. To has proven himself to be a genre hack of uncommon intelligence and soul: a first-rate entertainer who can thrill you into thinking.
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75
New York Post V.A. Musetto
A poignant moment occurs in Election when a young boy sees his father brutally beat another mobster to death.
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75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Mostly Election tracks the shifting of power among men for whom power is all that matters, no matter how much lip service they pay to loyalty. The final sequence is a shocker but it's also completely logical.
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70
Variety Derek Elley
Some general viewers may feel let down by the relatively scant action.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
A repellent movie filled with gratuitous violence, Election is bound to find an appreciative audience among those who like their cinematic criminals noisy, stupid and deadly.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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