Director Andrew Lau
By William Kustiono
Young and Dangerous 2 is the sequel and is also directed by Andrew Lau. This movie continues from Young and Dangerous, after Chan Ho Nam (Ekin Cheng) disposed the traitor, Ugly Kwan, from the triad.
In Young and Dangerous 2, Ho Nam and his crewmembers opened a club. However, “Chicken” Chiu (Jordan Chan) is exiled in Taiwan. It all started when he met a San Luen triad leader his cousin Ko Shou Liang (Blackie Koh Chi-Wah) introduced him to. “Chicken” found this Taiwanese triad different from Hong Kong triads. He wanted to learn about the new system and start a new life in Taiwan, so he joined the Taiwanese triad. “Chicken” discovered that Ho Nam was in a big mess in Hong Kong after Ugly Kwan betrayed him and had replaced Hung Hing’s Chairman Chiang (Simon Yam). “Chicken” asked his new leader to depart to Hong Kong and assist Ho Nam.
The second part of the movie deals with Ho Nam after Chairman Chiang’s decision to replace the branch leader of Causeway Bay. The two candidates are, Chan Ho Nam and Tai Fei (Anthony Wong). Despite their intense rivalry, Chairman Chiang decides to have the candidates compete against each other by managing their own clubs. Whoever profits the most will be selected as the new branch leader. Flashback to Taiwan, Chan Ho Nam and “Chicken” is on their way to meet the Taiwanese triad leader to thank him personally for helping them get rid of Kwan. Unfortunately, they find him dead and the San Luen triad accused them for killing him. Ho Nam and “Chicken” must embark a new journey to uncover the mystery of this murder and prevent the escalation between these two triads.
The second series offers a deeper explanation about “Chicken’s” life after he is exiled to Taiwan because he failed to support Ho Nam in his missions. This failure caused one of the crewmembers, Chow Pee (Jason Chu) to death. This film allows the audience to see the different triad life in Hong Kong and Taiwan. There both have a different mindset, the Taiwanese triads are trying to enter the parliament and elected as a parliament’s member. They believe that if they can control the government, they can dominate the world one day. Compared to the Hong Kong triads, they prefer to expand their size and power internally by controlling clubs and areas. They are not as ambitious compared to the Taiwanese triad.
Young and Dangerous 2 include Tai Fei (Anthony Wong), Ko Chi (Spencer Lam), Ting Siu-Yiu (Chingmy Yau), K.K. (Halina Tam), and Banana Skin (Jason Chu from the first Young and Dangerous 1). The second series of Young and Dangerous provides the audience with humors and while educating them on the history of the Taiwanese triad. Overall, this movie is worth watching, especially if you enjoy action dramas and, of course, Ekin Cheng and/or Jordan Chan’s fans.
Director Andrew Lau with Grady Hendriks at New York Asian Film Festival
Leave a Reply