hyped garbage

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I had already fallen in love with Chow Yun Fat from seeing the incredible Hard Boiled, Full Contact, The Killer and many others back in the early 90's. So I was quite late in seeing the film that really helped launch him as the heroic bloodshed action star!An absolute gem of a film that will always be remembered and loved by many fans of Asian (and non-Asian) films. From the first time I watched it, right up until the last, A Better Tomorrow stands proud as a classic piece of entertainment. Action packed, fun, gritty and beautifully directed – this film is recognized as the one that put Chow Yun Fat on the action map, and it's easy to see why…His stunning performance as 'Mark' gave cinema one of its most memorable characters, which paved the way for a collection of tributes and spoofs from other HK film-makers that still runs to this day. The awesome Ti Lung (I find) doesn't usually receive the same amount of credit for his role, yet plays his part flawlessly, delivering beautiful action to lump-in-the-throat drama, as he carries the story between his best friend (Mark) and his brother, played by the late, Leslie Cheung.At first, I wasn't too keen on Leslie Cheung as Kit – but after warming to him in other movies, and repeated viewings of ABT you soon see that Woo and Hark made the right choice in putting these 3 together on- screen. This is, without a doubt, one of John Woo's finest moments, and one of my all time favorite movies.It should be one of yours too!

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*** OK, to start this off; I saw this film after being gob-smacked after watching Hard Boiled. If this film helped kick start the heroic-bloodshed it must be good! So I picked it up and watched it and I must say, this is a great film! It's about a criminal brother who is siblings to an Inspector. But the next day takes a turn for the worse as he is betrayed by a counterfeit cash dealer in Taiwan, after a lengthy escape Sung Tse Ho finally gives up and is arrested by the Taiwanese police and jailed for 3 years. Later that night Ho's father is killed on orders of the Taiwanese dealer and Ho's true identiy unfolds. After Ho is released he starts working for a Taxi company. Later that day he discovers Mark (Ho's best friend and partner in crime)has become Shing(a once low ranking member of the organization Ho was in turned Boss)'s errand boy and is rewarded after cleaning his car HK$10. Ho later re-unites with Mark and they are around to take back their organization! Will they succeed?

This movie brought John Woo to the attention of the filmmakers, while The Killer made him a legend (though I feel that A Bullet in the Head is a far better movie). What is really weird is that all of these superb movies come from the mind of somebody whose greatest desire is to make a musical. Weird.Anyway, A Better Tomorrow has a lot of themes ranging for sibling struggles, to redemption, to betrayal. I don't really want to say sibling rivalry because it suggests that it is a crappy American comedy. The rivalry is not about two brothers bickering but instead it is about the burden of the family. Anyway, the themes that we see here are similar to themes that we see in other Woo movies, (Face Off = Redemption; A Bullet in the Head = Betrayal; The burden of the Family = To Catch a Thief). This movie sort of started it all off, and Chow Yum Fat dies (as is expected in most Woo movies, except for Hard Boiled).This movie is based around three people, two brothers, Kit and Ho, and a friend, Mark. Kit is an ambitious police officer while Ho and Mark are members of the triad and are ambitious there. Ho is connected with a major counterfeiting ring and knows a lot of contacts while Mark is Ho's partner and in a way, bodyguard. Ho travels to Tiawan and when he is there he is betrayed by the bosses son and spends the next three years in gaol. News about this gets back to Hong Kong and Kit is denied a promotion because of the connection that his brother has with Triad. Mark, angered at Ho's betrayal, storms the a Triad controlled restaurant and kills everybody there, but is seriously injuring him in the leg and leaving him a cripple.This is not a bright movie. Each of the characters are struggling with their weaknesses rather than basking in their strengths. Mark cannot walk without a brace while Ho simply wants to lead a good life while is past is constantly trying to pull him back into the world of crime. Kit desires to be a great cop but is held back because of his brother and holds a great amount of anger towards him. This becomes the focus of the movie as Ho attempts to reconcile with his brother while his brother not only continues to reject him, but also tries to let go of a past that refuses to let go of him.This is a very bleak movie and there seems to be little way of solution. There is a huge gunfight where the bad guy is killed, but Ho is still wanted by the police and is still looking at a long time in gaol. The only redeeming feature is that his brother finds forgiveness in his brother, and this is revealed by Mark, who gives his life so that the broken relationship may be mended.As I write this, I come to see some huge reflections of Christianity here. It is subtle but it is there. We see that Ho is constantly seeking forgiveness but his brother refuses to give it to him, and no matter what he does Kit is blind to Ho's pleas. We see here the reflection of the fact that no matter what we do, we cannot get into God's good books. We have sinned and because of our sin we have angered God and nothing that we can do can wipe out these sins. Also the death of Mark reflects the fact that Christ, a third party, died for the sins that we have committed. Christ's death, like Mark's death, brings us into relationship with God. After Mark dies, Ho kills the Triad boss that is forcing him to return to a life of crime, thus removing that side of his life. This reflects us as well for without God sin is constantly trying to drag us back down into our old way of life. No matter how hard we try we cannot escape sin. It is not until we accept Christ's death that we can do something about sin, and we see it here with the death of the Boss.We must also look at the title of the movie as well because sometimes the title reflects what the movie is about (actually the title should tell us what the movie is about, though sometimes it is pointless). Here the title reflects Ho and Mark's desire to flee their life of crime and to find fulfillment in a straight life where one does not fear betrayal, prison, or death. A better tomorrow is what they seek, but tomorrow never comes so it seems to be a goal that is unreachable. Mark becomes little more than a window cleaner who must pick his earnings off of the side walk while Ho drives taxis and has a criminal record.Some of the lines of the movie really drive these ideas home (though the subtitles on this version sucked - they seemed rushed and were full of spelling errors). The strongest line is when Ho is told that a bad guy for a day will never be good again, once you sin you can never get back to righteousness. Ho does, but Mark had to die for it to happen. And then he is told that his sin not only affects him, but also his brother. He cannot go from Black to White, but by what he does he drags his brother from white to black.A Better Tomorrow is an awesome movie, but what would one expect from John Woo. It is deep and simply not a movie that one can casually watch. One needs to concentrate to understand the concepts that Woo is pushing through the movie, and the deep characters remove the need for action.

Hong Kong movies are not unlike Hong Kong itself: loud, brash, fast, and furious, and the Crown Colony's biggest box office hit is more or less representative of its type, offering unsophisticated escapism with energy to spare. The formula is simple: mimic time-tested American movie clichés, but blow them out of any realistic proportion; the result in this case is a whipcrack action adventure beginning where most Hollywood thrillers end. The sometimes incomprehensible plot follows two underworld 'brothers', betrayed by their own syndicate, who embark on a bloody campaign of revenge against the silky-smooth crime lord (once their apprentice) responsible for setting them up. Separate credit is given to an 'action director', and for good reason: the violence is often incredible, but is presented on an unreal and almost theatrical scale, with lots of balletic slow-motion shoot-outs and artful camera choreography. Even more entertaining are the odd malapropisms in the Cantonese-to-English subtitles of the original theatrical import, in which 'legal evidence' is translated as 'hints', and the macho threat "don't f*ck with me!" emerges as a somewhat less intimidating "don't depress me!"