Five youths has been together since an early childhood, getting involved in the world of the Triads and working their way up for a man named Brother Bee. The years pass and the young guys keep climbing the ladder, lead by Nam and his right-hand man Chicken. One day they get a mission to kill a man named Ba-Bai, something they also succeed in doing but this angers Kwan who manipulates his way to become the leader of the Triad Society. Kwan also holds a grudge against brother Bee, and once he is chosen to be the Triad leader, he makes life difficult for Bee, Nam and the others who has to find a way to fight back and take Kwan down.
Young and Dangerous is a cult classic HK movie that spawned a number of sequels. No wonder since it's a very good movie about young people growing up and becoming involved in the Triad way of life. The movie's based on a Japanese manga and even have comic book art in the actual movie which makes the manga feeling and influence feel even stronger.
Young and Dangerous has a pretty simple story about revenge among the Triads, but even though it's simple, it's still very interesting. The movie focus on a group of young guys who all have worked their way up in the Triad society for a man named Bee. The leader of the group is Nam (Ekin Cheng) followed by four other guys who seem willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. A guy named Ugly Kwan (Francis Ng) wants to be the leader of the Triad society and manipulates his way in. He's has it in for Bee and the five guys working for him, and later on frames Nam to split their group up. Kwan continues to cause trouble for everyone and together they must rise up against him.
To be able to get really into a movie like this with the type of story that it has, there must be some strong characters for the viewer to rely on. Even though the character development are not that great, there are still some genuinely strong characters who are likable and easy to root for. Nam is a great character, a good friend and a good leader and it's hard not to like him, and so is Chicken, his right-hand man.
The villain named Kwan is a man you're bound to hate, but that's the whole point and Francis Ng delivers a great performance making you hate the man. There's a lot of drama in the movie, but it's actually never slow, it manages to stay interesting all the time and every now and then a great action scene breaks out, making things even more enjoyable. There are a lot of scenes that involves fighting and some of them are actually pretty raw. Thing is that these fights look very realistic, and they are not afraid to beat someone who's already down, hit people with bottles over the head etc. Although, this is a good thing and is something that makes you take this movie more seriously.
Even though it focuses on young people, it's not a movie for teens. If you're into HK movies, Japanese Yakuza movies or just simple action movies with a good story, you'll probably like Young and Dangerous.
When it comes to complaints there's not too much to say. Only thing that is somewhat irritating is that some of the action scenes were filmed using some slow motion effect combined with some blur on top so everything becomes a bit fuzzy and it's sometimes hard to see exactly what's going on. Other than that the acting is good, and even though there are moments that'll probably make some people smile, the movie has no real humour in it.
Young and Dangerous is a cult classic, and if you're into HK flicks, you'll most likely find this movie to be great. Even though we don't get to find out anything deeper when it comes to Triads, it's still very interesting and entertaining. Definitely recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Gu huo zi zhi ren zai jiang hu
MOVIE YEAR: 1996
DIRECTOR: Wai Keung Lau
WRITING CREDITS: Manfred Wong
GENRE: Crime, Action, Drama, Triad
CAST: Ekin Cheng, Jordan Chan, Gigi Lai
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
RUNTIME: 97 min
RATING: 9/10
Young and Dangerous Website/IMDB Click here
Young and Dangerous Trailer Click here
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