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Review | The Unwavering Brotherhood movie review: Hong Kong gangster drama is familiar but fun
- Film about three mid-level gangsters who make some very bad decisions breaks no new ground but is entertaining nonetheless
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3/5 stars
The popularity of Hong Kong gangster movies reached fever pitch with Andrew Lau Wai-keung’s flashy Young and Dangerous series (1996-2000) and, with supreme verve, Johnnie To Kei-fung arguably gave it the sign-off with his two critically acclaimed Election films in the mid-2000s.
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Most attempts since then by filmmakers to rekindle the cinema-going public’s interest in these disproportionately glorified criminals have felt like disposable filler material – including this movie. The Unwavering Brotherhood may be good, solid, genre fun but it also prompts the question: who is still watching today?
While the new film’s corny English title gives the impression that this is just another generic effort to make some cash, it is in fact a thematic sequel to last year’s The Brotherhood of Rebel and officially the third instalment in a franchise that began with 2012’s Triad, even though each of these three films tells an unrelated story.
In any case, I would certainly love to have the confidence of the series’ producer, Ng Kin-hung, who started shooting this third film – reuniting with The Brotherhood of Rebel’s director, screenwriters and lead actors and even recycling its narrative framework – before the latter was released in cinemas.
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