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Young and Dangerous 3 1997
Starring: Directed by: Andrew Lau Wei-Keung |
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The
movie begins showing the villian Crow ( Roy Cheung) cursing Guan Yu and declaring
that there is no such thing as righteousness. Crow refuses to give Ho Nam (Ekin
Cheng), the branch leader of Causeway Bay face, and although they are polite
to one another the undertones of antagonism are apparent.
Ho
Nam's girlfriend Smartie ( Gigi Lai) awakens from her coma. Ho Nam rushes to
the hospital only to find that she has no memory of their life together. With
the rest of the gang, he tries to re-enact scenes from their past to no avail.
Finally it occurs to everyone that it doesn't really matter if they still like
one another, they should just get on with their lives. While enacting one of
the scenes Chicken (Jordan Chan) encounters a foul mouthed rollerblader (Karen
Mok) who manages to punch Chicken out, to the amusement of the others. Chicken
is asked by the priest to take care of his daughter who has just returned from
England. Chicken agrees only to find it is the roller blader whom he encountered
the evening before. Fortunately for Chicken they have much in common and pretty
soon a relationship is blossoming.
Chiang
(Simon Yam) asks Ho Nam to escort him and his girlfriend to Holland. While they
are there Crow takes the opportunity to dispose if the Hung Hing boss and frame
Ho Nam as the killer. Ho Nam is now wanted not only by the police but by his
own gang as they believe Crow's lies that Ho Nam is responsible.
The
gang help Ho Nam to hide out at the priest's home. Chicken retaliates against
the Tung Sing leader, giving Crow the opportunity to also remove him and frame
Chicken. Finding Ho Nam's hideout, Crow is determined to remove him once and
for all. In the ensuing mayham, Ho Nam escapes but his girlfriend is taken by
Crow. The ultimatum is left, if you want to see her again come alone.
Ho
Nam of course, arrives to save his girl. The trauma revives Smartie's memory
and she declares that she remembers everything. Crow is not about to allow Ho
Nam to walk out with Smartie and he shoots her in front of him. As Ho Nam tries
to save his dying girlfriend, Crow is reloading to dispose of Ho Nam too, when
Chicken arrives loaded to the hilt with grenades. In the face of overwhelming
odds Crow backs down and allows them to take the dead body of Smartie.
Chicken
and Ho Nam work to clear their names, to take out Crow and take revenge for
Smartie. The final showdown takes place at the funeral of the Tung Sing Boss.
The Hung Hing boys arrive to adminster the righteous smackdown that Crow deserves.
This
movie is regarded as the best in the series. It is certainly the darkest. Roy
Cheung performance is chilling as Crow. Crow seems to have no morals and kills
indiscriminately, and seems not to care. Even when he does back down it is grudgingly
in the face of overwhelming odds.
A lot has changed, Ho Nam and the boys have risen in the ranks and the fun kick ass days are behind them. Everything is suddenly much more complicated, and Ho Nam finds that he is no longer in control of his fate.
Gigi
Lai and Ekin Cheng have great on screen chemistry in this film. Cheng's performance
at her untimely death has the audience crying with him. The theme of the film
seems to be lost innocence, visiting Ho Nam's grandmother in the housing block
they once lived in, Chicken and Yee return to the football field where thy were
once bullied by Kwan. They find that the young local triad group is far tougher
than they remember. Only Chicken's suave 'don't mess with me' demeanor saves
the situation from escalating out of control. Karen Mok puts in a spicy performance
as the preacher's daughter, she is both entertaining and a tough fighter. At
the final showdown between Ho Nam and Crow she is there to lend support. As
Chicken's girlfriend she will ultimately appear in future movies.
The
movie is available on VCD and DVD by Universe Laser. It has a Cantonese and
a Mandarin track. There are English and Chinese subtitles.
