A Better Tomorrow II

A Better Tomorrow II (Ying Hung Boon Sik II) (1987)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: John Woo

Starring: Ti Lung, Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Guan Shan, Kenneth Tsang

From: Film Workshop

This includes Chow Yun-Fat vs. The Mafia. That was a pleasant surprise when I viewed this motion picture last night-the driving force behind that decision was because of-you guessed it-a messageboard conversation. A few different Hong Kong action pictures from around this time period were discussed-also talked about was how John Woo and Tsui Hark had a dispute over how this movie should be edited and what should be the focus. This is why Hark directed the prequel third movie in this installment & why Woo's 1990 Bullet in the Head both are Vietnam-centered pictures. Anyhow, as I've seen the original just this past summer and found it to be very good, it did not take too hard a shove for me to select II.

The plot has several of the main characters from the first return, along with some new ones of importance, such as one played by Dean Shek... who only after viewing did I hear just passed away days ago. The main plot surrounded some bad guys attempting to usurp others in a counterfeiting ring; the side plot is set in New York City (and actually filmed there) where Fat plays the twin brother of his character from the original movie—of course that is contrived but that's typically the case when it's happened hundreds of other times in film history. Another character spends some time in NYC and they meet up with Fat-who doesn't smoke in EVERY scene although it's still frequent-who hilariously plays a chef/restaurant owner. The Mafia starts beefin' w/ them which leads to a final confrontation. To be frank, there are some dumb moments in this movie and the overall plot is not as strong as in the first picture.

That said, this is still pretty good. It has the same sort of amusing 80's soundtrack as before-definitely a positive. It is nice to see the familiar faces again and thankfully this has some badass moments. One great moment was Fat dropping an F-bomb (in English) before blasting away an SOB with a shotgun. That entire scene was pretty sweet; however, that is not THE true highlight of the film. That honor goes to the finale-Holy Crap was that amazing. “Cacophony” seems like an apt term to describe the chaos and carnage that comprises the final 10 or so minutes. The bodycount just in that segment is over the top, as is everything else—I'll just say that blood literally coats the walls. While the culmination of the movie can be viewed separately on YouTube, IMO if you enjoy some of the talent involved this is well worth tracking down-which at least as of now is incredibly easy to do <wink wink>.