as andrew lau's camerwork becomes steadier and ekin cheng produces a performance that could be defined as 'acting', so the third installment of this higly enjoyable series rolls around...

after incidents invloving taiwan and macau, 'young and dangerous 3' plants itself firmly back in hong kong; also planting themselves in hong kong are ting sung. having returned from holland, ting sung, led by camel (michael chan), are looking to enjoy a time of peace and prosperity in hong kong. camel is an old friend of (hung hing leader) chiang (simon yam) and wants the two groups to prosper together. unfortunately, crow (roy cheung) and tiger (frankie ng - back for his second bite of the 'young and dangerous' cherry, as a different character) have other plans and begin to lead the two groups into conflict, whilst framing nam (ekin cheng) in the process...

meanwhile, smartie (gigi lai) wakes from her coma with amnesia and chicken (jordan chan) finds himself looking after priest lam's (spencer lam) daughter, shuk fan (karen mok), who has just returned to hong kong from studying in the uk. dai-fai (anthony wong) is still picking his nose, although he does look like he's had a wash...

well, well, well; after two films which had a bit of trouble combining the personal and 'professional' lives of the hung hing boys, 'young and dangerous 3' manages to do it with some style. ekin cheng's nam seems to be evolving into a more rounded character, gigi lai's smartie comes back into focus, karen mok's shuk fan bursts into the series, with an introduction that had me hooting with laughter, anthony wong's dai-fai doesn't let you down and, as usual, jordan chan's chicken is an absolute star! on the bad guy front; roy cheung's crow is suitably cartoonish and nasty, whilst frankie ng is his usual simmering psychotic self.

this all adds up to be the most accomplished and enjoyable film in the series, up to this point; it has better action, better drama, better comedy and is a more complete film.

good stuff...