Director: Johnnie To

Starring: Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Louis Koo,

Featuring: Nick Cheung, Lam Suet, Gordon Lam

“Election,” the first installment in Johnnie To’s two-film Hong Kong gangland serial, is a densely plotted, pulpy procedural with a familiar enough premise. The power struggles and succession battles that plague organized crime are a staple of American popular culture — what else have we been watching on “The Sopranos” for the past eight years? — but Mr. To’s Hong Kong mobsters conduct their business a bit differently, on democratic rather than dynastic principles.

Every two years the “uncles,” senior members of the Wo Shing Society, the oldest triad in Hong Kong, elect an up-and-coming younger boss as their chairman. Big D (Tony Leung Ka-fai) is a strutting, flamboyant hothead, ordering a flashy bespoke suit and booking a banquet hall in anticipation of his victory. To ensure victory, Big D not only throws money at the uncles and their underlings, but also stuffs two of the uncles into wooden crates and rolls them down a steep hill until they pledge their support.

In comparison, Big D’s rival, Lok (Simon Yam), barely seems like a gangster at all. Favoring khakis and white polo shirts, with gentle features and a touch of gray at his temples, he looks more like a lawyer or a midlevel executive. And his manner is patient and conciliatory, so much so that both his fellow criminals and the audience may begin to question whether he has the ambition or the ruthlessness to succeed as chairman.

But beneath Lok’s quiet, easygoing exterior — he seems so nice, so rational, such a nice dad to his preadolescent son — is either a guilty conscience or a ferocious appetite for power. Mr. Yam, a marvelously subtle and engaging actor, has the ability to make blandness into a source of fascination.

But Big D and Lok are only two of the players in this crowded, bustling drama. There are uncles, nephews, hired guns and double agents, as well as the Hong Kong police, who are more interested in order and stability than in enforcing the law. It can be a bit hard to keep track of everyone, since the intricate plot moves forward largely through scenes of men conversing intently in dimly lighted rooms.

“Triad Election,” which takes place two years later, has a higher quota of action-movie set pieces and is therefore more likely to be a crowd-pleaser. But while the two films stand alone perfectly well, they also enrich each other. Secondary characters who pop up in “Election” — notably Jet (Nick Cheung), a hit man with a Keatonesque frown, and Jimmy (Louis Koo), a soulful underling — take center stage in the sequel, which extends the first movie’s major theme. How do the triads, secret organizations governed by elaborate codes and rituals that trace their origins back to the Manchu dynasty, adapt to a world of modern capitalism?

The old ways are symbolized by the Dragon’s Head Baton, the ancient symbol of the chairman’s authority and the cause of as much violence and conspiracy as the election itself. Hidden away in mainland China, the baton passes from hand to hand many times on its way back to Hong Kong, as various loyal henchmen vie to take hold of it. They’re not always sure why, or for whom.

At one point in “Election” a tough guy is trying to get his hands on the baton by walloping another fellow, who might have it, with a log. This roadside beating is interrupted by a cellphone call informing the victim that his assailant is now his ally and protector. “Sorry,” says the one wielding the log. “Nothing personal.”

That, of course, has been the mantra of movie mobsters at least since the heyday of the Corleone family. And for about two-thirds of its running time, “Election” is witty, convoluted and impersonal, propelled by Lo Ta-yu’s improbably jaunty score and by a detached, anthropological curiosity about the Wo Shing Society’s outlaw ways.

But as the psychological elements of the story push their way into the foreground, “Election” takes on a darker, more Shakespearean hue, and a rich political and moral subtext (which is extended in “Election 2”) begins to take shape. By the end, Mr. To has proven himself to be a genre hack of uncommon intelligence and soul: a first-rate entertainer who can thrill you into thinking.

Film Review By: Oliver Masterson

You can buy this DVD at: www.hongkong-store.com