Directed by Andy Lau, Born to Be King is actually the 6th film in his Young and Dangerous series. He directed almost all of the films in that series, and several of the actors return here.

The actors are outstandingly good, and most impressive is Jordan Chan as Chicken, who reminded me of Lee Marvin in his prime. There is that cocky swagger and a mean grimace on a half-handsome face in Chan's characterization of the youthful mobster, which is a pure joy to watch.

The very good looking Ekin Cheng co-stars as Chicken's partner Chan Ho-Nam. When he learns his friend Chicken will be marrying the daughter of a Japanese Yakuza lord, he throws his support behind his fellow Hung Hing Triad member.

The lord, Kusakari Ichio (played by the great Sonny Chiba), turns out to be much more open-minded than many Chinese Triad members, who end up opposing the marriage.

Added to the mix is the return of another friend from their youth, Lui (Peter Ho), who has returned to Taiwan from his studies in the States with the intention of unifying Taiwan's underworld under the San Luen Gang.

Meanwhile, just as the incredibly beautiful Mei-ling (Shu Qi) is pushing Chan Ho-nam toward marriage, he stumbles across the living image of his one true love, Tuen-muk, in Taiwan. This woman is a schoolteacher with a well-organized life who is intrigued by Cheng's attentions, but finds it all very confusing.

As all parties move inevitably forward towards their individual destinies, the various feuds and gangs converge in a surprise climax. Born to Be King is a very enjoyable film with superb acting, directing, and story. It is one of the very best Hong Kong films of the past few years. I recommend it highly.

This is a good installment -- a hell of a lot better than part 5 -- but if you're not a fan of the series, or have at least seen the previous films, you might be lost as to what exactly is going on. There are attempts at recaps throughout the movie, but they depend on showing really quick clips of previous movies that aren't really going to make much sense unless you've seen them before. The series' popularity may become it biggest detriment; there is almost a mythos around these characters and histories that may be too forboding for first-time viewers, who might just view this as yet another Triad pic. As I am a fan of the series, I'll be a bit more forgiving with the rating, but if you haven't seen the previous movies, you might want to skip this one as it is much more satisfying as a chapter of the series rather than a stand-alone film.

Well, this is the latest in the famous Young and Dangerous series, but I was really disappointed. I mean, one major problem was casting. They brought back Gigi Lai, Michael Tse, and Jason Chu, who died in the previous installments of the series. Gigi plays a teacher who has a striking resemblance to Smartie (duh!) and the other 2 are villains this time around. Second, the film starts off interesting but it tends to slow down and get boring in the middle. But you know what? They tried, which I why I gave the film the rating I did.

The plot is a familiar mix of intrigue, conspiracy and back stabbing where you never know quite who to trust. The main story is really concerned with Chicken (Jordan Chan) as he attempts to strengthen ties with the Yakuza by marrying the daughter of a Japanese gangster, Kusakari Ichio (Sonny Chiba). When Kusakari asks Chicken to take over the family business his adopted son's, Akira (Roy Cheung), nose is seriously put out of joint; problem number one. Problem number two concerns unrest between the Taiwanese triads and the boss of the most powerful, Lui (Peter Ho) wanting to bring control of all the gangs under one roof. When an attempt is made on Lui's life, Chicken finds himself under suspicion.

Ekin Cheng appears in little more than a subplot. While Nam is being hassled by his girlfriend of three years, Mei Ling (Shu Qi), to get married he still misses Smarty. He becomes even more confused following a chance meeting with a school teacher who is the exact double of his former girlfriend (who is of course played by Gigi Lai).

The large number of characters and plots in the film again makes this feel like another episode of a soap opera. While the stories are all quite interesting there is not enough action to make this gripping. The best of the action scenes goes to Ekin and Sonny when they face off against each other in a 'friendly' sword fight. It doesn't really add anything to the film other than to break up the long periods of dialogue only scenes. Typical of Andrew Lau the sequence is a montage of fast editing, slowmo and freeze frames. Effective but no substitute for seeing a properly executed fight. Much the same can be said for the final bout of fisticuffs between Ekin and the film's villain.

The acting from everyone is good but with so many characters there isn't really anybody that stands out from the crowd. Ekin must be able to play Nam in his sleep by now and Shu Qi does her annoyingly cute girl performance again (which I'm quite fond of by the way). Disappointingly the usually brilliant Roy Cheung doesn't really get much more than a cameo appearance here.

Visually the film is a feast for the eyes. Andrew Lau's technical skills are certainly at the forefront of film making, its just a shame that the content of his recent movies has tended to be lacking. In all its a very modern looking movie. The soundtrack also has contemporary feel to it with drum'n'bass mixed with rap music. Cantopop is reserved for the movie's more slushy moments.

While the film looks great, content wise this is disappointing and certainly doesn't make me want to backtrack and watch the previous three parts.