George Clarke 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!

Michael Neumann 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!"

thisissubtitledmovies Perhaps the most influential director the action genre will ever see, John Woo honed his craft at the legendary Shaw Brothers studio before joining with producer Tsui Hark and finding his true calling in the crime genre. Woo's signature style, consisting of balletic action sequences alongside themes of religion, family and, of course, doves, is established with A Better Tomorrow. The Matrix, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Desperado, in fact, any film with a standoff, a dove, some slow motion or a black suited criminal owes a great debt to a signature style that was established with this film. John Woo has made better films, and he has made films that are much, much worse, but he will never come close to making the impact he did with this, his first slice of heroic bloodshed. KT

freemantle_uk Since Bruce Lee reinvented Hong Kong and material arts cinema Hong Kong's film industry became one of the biggest in the world. Hong Kong cinema became well known for doing through different phases, from Jackie Chan comedy action, John Woo's heroic bloodshed films, historical material arts films and Hollywood influenced films like the Infernal Affairs series.In the mid-eighties John Woo, one of the most popular action directors in the world, reinvented Hong Kong cinema with producer Tsui Hark to create the heroic bloodshed genre, bloody action films set in the world of organised crime. A Better Tomorrow is the first of it kind, and became a popular in film in both Hong Kong and internationally.A Better Tomorrow tells the story of Sung Tse-Ho (Ti Lung), a captain within the Triads and running a successful counterfeiting operation. He is aided by his loyal lieutenant and best friend Mark (Chow Yun-Fat), he is handy with guns. Ho's younger brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) is training to be a police officer, and the two love each other every much. They both help take care of their sick father. But Ho's life of crime is destroyed when he gets arrested in Taiwan. His father is murdered in front of Kit, and when Mark gets revenge he is crippled. Three years later Ho tries to go straight, getting a job as a taxi driver. But his younger brother, now a rising cop hates him and Mark is a low ranking Triad member, forced to work for Shing (Waise Lee), Ho's replacement. Shing asks Ho to rejoin the Triads, and run the counterfeiting operation. When Ho refuses Shing threatens Kit and Mark, forcing Ho to take action to safeguard his loved ones.The mid-eighties and early nineties was when John Woo was at his creative powers, making very well known films and ended up getting calls from Hollywood. He because a director respected by his peers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarrantino. A Better Tomorrow shows Woo's skill. He crafts out some every exciting, through, bloody action scenes. There are well managed gun and fist fights, and this should be shown to editors in Hollywood to show how to cut and action sequence. Woo also knows when to slow things down to allow the plot and characters to develop. The plot is a simple affair, it's an action film with gangsters, not a gangster film. But the plot is done well enough to keep you interested, and character are developed to give the story drive. Ho is an decent man who wants to pay for his crimes and forced back into action, whilst Kit starts off as a clumpy kid who turns into overzealist cop.A Better Tomorrow does start with some physical humour, but that quickly dies down and the film takes a more serious tone. It was also refreshing for me to see a John Woo film without his usual trademarks, the only one is a character using two guns.The acting is decent, Ti Lung was good lead, and Leslie Cheung was showed some range in his supporting role. This was Chow Yun-Fat's first major role and obvious this leads to bigger things for him. He too show's his skills as an actor. Waise Lee was also perfectly sinister as the villain of the piece.However, when the film does show English speaking characters, the dubbing makes them sound so fake, especially compared to the Cantonese characters.A very entertaining film and a must see for action fans. 8.3 out of 10.