After the clash with the Taiwanese Sun Luen triads based in Macau during the second installment, the Hung Hing society is back in business. Chan Ho Nam is now the new leader of their Causeway Bay branch after being elected by Chairman Chiang. Chicken Chiu, who sided with the Taiwanese Sun Luen before, is also back with his old gang but he has to start at the bottom. Meanwhile, Smartie, Chan's stuttering girlfriend who was in a coma after her car incident, has also woken up but she has no memories of Chan.
But the biggest threat facing them now is the returning rival Tung Sing society from Amsterdam fronted by Camel Lok who is actually a good friend of Chairman Chiang. However, his two ruthless frontmen, Crow and Smiling Face Tiger have different intentions and are too eager to take down the Hung Hing for good. An opportunity comes up one day when Chairman Chiang, his mistress Fong Ting and Chan are on a business trip in Amsterdam. Crow orchestrates a hit which results in killing Chiang but Chan manages to escape, while Fong gives a false statement and frames Chan for the Chairman's murder. Chan eventually returns to Hong Kong to hide and plans his revenge.
Back in Hong Kong, Tung Sing's boss, Camel, is angry with what Crow has done behind his back which leads to his own death under the hands of the power hungry Crow. In order to flash out Chan and totally wipe out the Hung Hing triad society, he goes on to kidnap his girlfriend Smartie. Accordingly, the triads set up a meeting for negotiation between the bosses, Chan turns up alone hoping to rescue Smartie and clear his name even though it is a trap.
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Director Lau approaches the third entry of the series differently this time with a great introduction of Crow, the sadistic frontman of the Tung Sing society. Another departure is the morphing of images from the comic book into the film to progress to the next scene. His use of hand-held camera, though less frequent, is still there to emphasize tension and his visuals are still dynamic, energized and full of creative framing.
The location shots of Amsterdam, apart from the travelog vibe one gets from it, do help to give the film a fresher look. Like before, Lau continues to explore the theme of brotherhood and loyalty among the triad members. But there is a hint that the old values are slowly collapsing, as the fearless young thugs are now full of attitude. Action wise, there is slightly more focus on gun shootouts this time, the rest is basically the hack and slice variety using cleavers as the main weapons.
Unfortunately, the storyline still does not offer anything fresh, as the recurrence of betrayal, rivalry, confrontation between the different triad societies and the struggle for power are all too familiar. If not for the returning leads, the amazing support characters and the new addition of villains, the film would be a boring affair. Ekin Cheng looks comfortable portraying the newly elected triad branch leader but seems to be just tagging along with little initiative. After his fantastic turn in the previous film, Jordan Chan's Chicken Chiu is now a supporting character but he is still charming as ever.
The rest of the main cast return but still have very little to do. It is always good to see Anthony Wong in any role and his return as the nose picking triad boss Tai Fei is indeed a very welcoming sight. Elsewhere, the lovely Gigi Lai reprises her role as Smartie and gets more screen time with her extended role. Hong Kong diva Karen Mok turns up as Priest Lam's smart-mouthed daughter Shuk Fan and she is just terrific sharing wonderful screen time with Jordan Chan. Furthermore she looks totally awesome wielding a pair of cleavers.
Of course the most memorable new addition to the series is none other than Roy Cheung who portrays the ruthless Crow, the overly ambitious and cruel frontman of the Tung Sing society. He is arrogant towards the Hung Hing members, a sadistic killer who is willing to kill his own boss and even women. Cheung completely steals the show every time he appears on screen and he seems to enjoy every minute of it. The other equally ruthless frontman from Tung Sing is Smiling Tiger, wonderfully played by Ng Chi Hung who portrayed a righteous triad leader who took in Chan Ho Nam in the first film. Veteran Chan Wai Min also shows up as the head of the Tung Sing society but Cheung overshadows him every time they appear on screen together.
Even though the plot line of “Young and Dangerous 3” is a letdown which offers nothing new, the resulting production turns out to be ambitious and rather epic, especially the climatic finale. The wonderful lineup of new characters like Mok and Cheung sure helps to boost it up to another level. Overall, this is still a highly entertaining film with great production values and action to keep the fans happy.
