a fourth installment of the 'young and dangerous' series sees a return to a shakier camera and the recycling of some prior storylines and even roy cheung has been dusted down and thrust back into the fray...

after the numerous deaths of main players in the third (and stongest) film, hung hing needs to do some rebuilding. after the marriage of yee (michael tse) and kk (pinky cheung), six of the twelve branch leaders travel to thailand for a meeting with the late mr chiang's brother; mr chiang (alex man), who has been away from hong kong for years and lives like a king in thailand. whilst the group is away, yiu-yeung (roy cheung), a ting sung psychopath who likes a bit of mozart and throwing people from buildings, kills dinosaur (michael lam), the branch leader of tuen mun.

with the leadership of tuen mun up for grabs, the new mr chiang instigates a contest between chicken (jordan chan) and, the aptly named, barbarian (chan chi-fai); a brutish, tuen mun local, who is being manipulated by yiu-yueng. after the losses of the last three films, nam (ekin cheng) is reluctant to support chicken through this contest and, with barbarian pulling no punches, it looks as if chicken might have bitten off more than he can chew...

well, this is weaker than the other three installments but, considering it's the fourth film they cranked out in less than two years, that's probably to be expected. jordan chan shines as he has done throught the series, whilst cheng is his usual floppy haired self; he does get a chance to play the tortured soul here, and he does a reasonable job. gigi lai is missed, karen mok is not on screen as much as she should be and the same can be said of anthony wong.

on a positive note, the introduction of sister 13 (sandra ng), as the short-haired, androgyenous, branch leader of portland street / mongkok, is great; it's just a shame that she doesn't feature more than she does. although, maybe that's just because i'm a huge fan of her. chan chi-fai is great in the role of barbarian, creating a wholly unsettling character who is a genuinely frightening villian. there's also the young tuen mun boys, led by barbarians brother (samuel leung), who add an interesting new dimension to the film, as they did with their brief appearance in the third film.

overall, there's enough to keep fans of the series interested, but it isn't great. i hear that the fifth film is particularly weak, but i'll give it a go in the near future...