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Legendary Hong Kong director Johnnie To wants to take us under the skin of the ruthless criminal Triad in Election. Every two years senior Triad gangsters congregate to elect a new chairman. This year, they want the level-headed Lok (Simon Yam). But volatile and bloodythirsty Big D (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) has other ideas, and when bribes fail to win him the post, inter-Triad war breaks loose. It's a thrilling premise. What a shame, then, that Election can't get the basics right.

The disappointment is all the worse for this movie's promising start. In smokey rooms, the Triad high command gather to argue over the election; meanwhile, the power-hungry, scarily crazed Big D (think Joe Pesci, only taller, and suaver) tries to buy off, or threaten, key players. Here are the makings of a classic gangster flick: ambition, greed, a monumental clash of two ruthless men. So when Lok's election splits the Triad into rival factions, it seems we're in for a gripping ride.

"A CONFUSING, DISJOINTED NARRATIVE"

What follows instead is a confusing, disjointed narrative that never gets off the ground. Everything centres around the race to claim a symbolic wooden baton that will confer the chairmanship on its possessor. But who is working for who? Where does mysterious right hand man Jimmy (Louis Koo) fit in? And behind the shades, who, really, are Lok and Big D? Stylish use of the sprawling Hong Kong backdrop and the electric on-screen presence of Ka-Fai go some way to making up for under-developed characters and slipshod storytelling. But Election could have been so much more.