Young And Dangerous: Reloaded (2013) (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

Taking on the all-important lead role is Him Law (Hong Kong Ghost Stories) as Chan Ho Nam, who along with buddies as Chicken (TVB actor Oscar Leung, Natural Born Lovers), Pou Pan (Lam Chi Sin, Beach Spike) and Dai Tin Yee (Dominic Ho, Triad) joins the Hung Hing Triad society to help them get by on the streets. Taken under the wing of the righteous sub boss Brother Bee (rocker Paul Wong), the boys start to rise up the ranks, though run into troubles when the villainous Ugly Kwan (Sammy Shum, Lan Kwai Fong 2) makes a ruthless bid for the gang leadership.

Young and Dangerous: Reloaded plays out exactly as expected, and for some viewers this will be a very good thing. Daniel Chan's Triad aside, there's been a distinct lack of Hong Kong gang films on the market for some time now, possibly due to Mainland influences, and so for fans of the old school, a return to the popular series and style is welcome indeed. This wins the film quite a considerable bit of good will, enough so to overlook the fact that it's an entirely formulaic affair that, whether judged as a remake, reboot or revisioning follows the usual Triad plot to the very letter, from its gang politics and themes of brotherhood right through to Ho Nam's relationship with sweet natured rich girl Lorraine (Michelle Hu). The film is nothing if not predictable, though thankfully it feels pleasantly familiar rather than simply derivative, and as if Chan had tackled the subject with a degree of enthusiasm, focusing on what made the originals so fun in the first place.

There are changes, of course, most notably the fact that Ho Nam and his friends are a considerably nicer bunch than they were before, now even more dead-set on righteousness and honour, not to mention being against swearing and the over use of curse words. The film certainly has a more clear cut view of good and evil than the originals, with much less in the way of muddied morals, Ugly Kwan being a borderline pantomime villain of comical badness and Brother Bee being a virtual paragon of decency. Though a film like this doesn't necessarily require depth as such, the overtly heroic treatment of its protagonist detracts from the overall believability, and it would have benefitted from more of a gritty authenticity. This isn't helped by the fact that Him Law isn't terribly convincing in the lead role, never nailing the bad boy nuances of Ekin Cheng or managing to get across any kind of internal conflict.

Helping to distract from this is the fact that the film comfortably earns its category III rating, with a great deal of violent action throughout, choreographer and supporting cast member Philip Ng (Naked Soldier) throwing in an impressive number of brutal fight scenes and choppings. The film gets very bloody in places, and though the over use of CGI lessens the impact somewhat, it's a wild and carnage filled piece of exploitation with some nicely handled gory set pieces. Unlike the originals, the film also features a fair amount of sex and nudity, several of the male and female cast members shedding their clothes, and this gives it an at times sleazy air, which might be a good or bad thing, depending on the viewer's disposition.

This sums up Young and Dangerous: Reloaded pretty well, as it's a film which to a large extent preaches to the converted, or at least to those likely to enjoy violent, trashy Hong Kong Triad cinema. Delivering exactly as promised, whilst it's doubtful that the film will have the same impact as the much loved originals, Daniel Chan does more than enough to make the clumsily set up sequel an appealing enough prospect.

by James Mudge - BeyondHollywood.com