A Better Tomorrow

A Better Tomorrow (Ying Hung Boon Sik) (1986)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: John Woo

Starring: Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat, Emily Chu, Waise Lee

From: Cinema City/Film Workshop

This for certain fulfilled my lack of action/violence as of late.

I have only viewed a small percentage of John Woo's output in Hong Kong; as this is rather easy to view online (wink, wink) I finally pulled the trigger-or triggers; this was the first time Chow Yun-Fat double-fisted pistols in a film-and saw quite the melodramatic tale that was rather engrossing. One brother in a family (Kit) becomes a police officer while another (Ho) is in a gang. Ho goes to jail and after release, wishes to lead a legitimate life. However, Kit now hates his sibling-for valid reasons-and his old pals wish to pull him back in.

There's more but that will have to be discovered by watching this. However, Ho's epic bromance with his bestie Mark (Fat) does have to be noted. In addition, Mark ends up becoming the most memorable character even if he's not the lead... besides his gunplay there's also lighting a counterfeit 100 dollar bill and using it to ignite the 50th cigarette he had that day. Anyhow, all of the leads have their struggles and it was fascinating witnessing everyone interact w/ each other. Even Kit's girlfriend Jackie gets involved. Naturally the movie is well-directed and has nice drama; when there's action, there should be no concern... it delivers. The finale is rather epic and that was a rewarding end to this journey.

As it's me, some things were rather amusing. The soundtrack is totally from the 80's... plenty of drum machine is heard. A Brian Eno song was rather unexpected but that was also heard. Chow Yun smokes like a chimney through all of his Hong Kong work yet here seemed even more excessive than usual. I mean, it was a startling surprise when he didn't have a cigarette in his mouth. I understand II is a worthwhile sequel, while III isn't and I should also skip the Korean remake AND the Chinese remake... I hope Woo got paid for all these adaptations.