..that got a bit lost in the middle of the film with all the noise about the dragon staff. Several thugs/goons seemed to appear out of nowhere and i couldn't really tell who was working for who, Big D or Lok.
Guess this really needs a second view to fully grasp everything.
"I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder."
Nah man, you weren't the only one.
SPOILERS
Me and two mates watched it at the same time, and we had to keep stopping the DVD to work out who was who and what was going on. For example, we didn't know that the fella who had to eat the spoon at the start was the motorcycle 'courier' guy left in the phone box in the middle right til the end, when Lok got the Triad 'staff', and we saw him there with his bandages and that.
Great film still, though. Looking forward to seeing Election 2.
"I know it and you know it. Yellow Dog doesn't even know what town he's in."
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I'm in the middle of it and pretty confused
//I quit netflix to curb my addiction.
http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/P7AKjTiVh49bvgqO09oM
I watched it and i think it's the subtitles that makes things hard to follow, they are pretty crappy.
shareI had a hard time remembering the names of everyone and their faces. They mention them so much through dialogue but don't present them in the right fashion. They most focused on Big D, Tok and Jimmy.
I got a bit confused myself. The film has an ensemble of characters, some of them important, some of them just in supporting roles. Though, given some of the confusion amongst the Triads themselves on who was on which side, it is probably not too surprising that we, the audience, were a bit confused as well.
shareI felt incredibly stupid watching this. I wish there was like 5 characters less so my limiuted IQ could cope with names and faces.
....
http://soundcloud.com/dj-snafu-bankrupt-euros
Coz lifes too short to listen to Madlib
... responding to myself a few years later, i will say that a second viewing helps.
shareI will now attempt to outline the movement of the baton in the film:
Big D calls Whistle, one of the uncles and the outgoing chairman, on the phone and tells him to not give the baton to Lok. Whistle, who voted for Lok over Big D, is conflicted. He orders his driver, the pudgy faced Four Eye, to retrieve the baton from mainland China.
Four Eye follows through and gets a hold of the baton in Guangzhou. Meanwhile, Lok's main backer Uncle Sparky convinces another uncle, the long faced Tally, who has mainland connections, to retrieve the baton. Blacky sends two of his men, the stammering Brother Soo, and the tough Big Head to find Four Eye. They find Four Eye trussed up and bagged in the custody of one Brother Tung, who briefly considers turning down Soo and Big Head in favour of selling the baton to Big D. He finally accepts Soo's payment and leaves Four Eye in Soo's care. Four Eye reveals the baton is in the fireplace.
However, as soon as Soo and Big Head are left alone with Four Eye, the authorities close in around the house. Soo gives himself up, while Big Head gets away with the baton.
Meanwhile, Big D's men have convinced Blacky, another uncle, to help find the baton for himself. Blacky sends his man Kun to find baton. Kun, along with 2 of Big D's men, catch up to Big Head. Alone, Kun finds Big Head crawling through the brush and proceeds to beat him with a log for not giving up the baton. Suddenly, both Big Head and Kun receive seperate phone calls. It seems Kun's boss Blacky has decided to work for Lok instead, and Big Head's boss informs him to entrust the baton to a man named Kun. Big Head gives the baton to Kun, and there's no hard feelings between them.
As Kun is driving by himself in the truck abandoned by Big Head, he finds himself being tailed by a man in a car, Jimmy, who is acting on his own behalf. He tries to shake him, but is ultimately unsuccessful, and runs over a policeman in the process. But then, a man in a motorcycle, the spoon eating Jet, throws a bucket of paint onto Jimmy's windshield, and so Kun loses that tail. Kun and the Jet rendezvous and Kun gives the baton to Jet.
Later, as Jet is on his way to deliver the baton to Sparky, he finds that Big D's men, led by the pony-tailed Long Hair, has Sparky bound and gagged in the back of a van. As Big D's men encircle the lone Jet, suddenly Jimmy drives into the middle of it and throws a bucket of paint onto Jet, as a little revenge for earlier. While Jimmy subdues Long Hair and frees Sparky, Jet takes on the gang of Big D's men. He takes them all down but is severely injured himself. Jimmy gets him in the back of his car and drives to a phone booth. He takes the baton from the now unconscious Jet, and calls an ambulance to pick him up before driving away.
Jimmy meets Lok, and after some convincing, hands over the baton to him.
So, the baton went from:
Four Eye (unaligned, working for Whistle) -> Brother Tung (mercenary) -> Soo (Lok's side) -> Big Head (Lok's side) -> Kun (first Big D, then Lok's side) -> Jet (Lok's side) -> Jimmy (unaligned) -> Lok.
Seriously, you deserve a medal.
Like a many of the above posters I found it pretty confusing as well with all the different brothers and uncles and competing forces.
Even after reading your extremely factual post, my head still spins.
But i gotta tell you for Canton movie viewer, these were one of the best scenes.
All these fellow baton taker got limited time each (except Jimmy)but really build their character well. They are all among the biggest stars in the Chinese show business now.
The spoon eating guy, Nick Cheung has won several best actor awards in Hong Kong/Taiwan. Actually he started up as a comedian. And you should see he buffed up a lot to play a fighter in unbeatable (2013).