De-Heroicizing Heroic Bloodshed in Johnnie To’s Election and Election 2

In 1986, John Woo’s gangster classic A Better Tomorrow revised and revitalized the Hong Kong triad genre in the tradition of heroic bloodshed. In the film, Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) and Ho (Ti Lung) are triads running a successful counterfeit scheme. Ho’s brother Kit (Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing), meanwhile, is a rising star in the police service, prompting Ho to abandon his criminal ways. However, after Ho is double-crossed by fellow triad Shing (Waise Lee Chi-Hung) and arrested on his last job, Mark seeks revenge and is horribly crippled, sending him on a downward spiral out of the triad upper echelon.