A Better Tomorrow II (1987)

John Woo directed and wrote this sequel, Better Tomorrow 2 (1987), to his heroic bloodshed action smash hit Better Tomorrow, which he had made year earlier in 1986. The story begins where the first film left as Ho (Ti Lung) is in prison after the gun battle in which he and his brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) and Mark Lee (Chow Yun Fat) met their destiny at the end of the first film. Ho gets an opportunity to free himself from prison by helping police in finding a powerful crime lord and trapping him. Kit is police again and works in the same underground operation as Ho. This all leads to series of betrayal, death and fighting back as Mark's twin brother Ken (Chow) arrives from New Your to Hong Kong to help his friends in this heroic fight that will end in one of the most over-the-top gun battles ever committed on celluloid.

This film is more fierce than first Better Tomorrow, but not as fierce and merciless as Woo's most personal masterpiece, Bullet in the Head. Tomorrow 2 tells the same things about friendship and honor that the first film also told. In Woo's world, violence is always there and it is among the few ways his characters are able to communicate. Bullets are angry and when they hit, the result is always sad and irrevocable. Woo never accepts violence or justifies it, he just uses it in his films which are there to be interpreted and analyzed. His characters can be "good" and bad at the same time and he studies these elements in human psyche thru his films. He definitely doesn't praise violence as he has also said in interviews that he hates violence, and that's exactly why he depicts it so powerfully and also disturbingly in his films. He depicts violence in a way it is hard to neglect unlike most of the mainstream action films produced in Hollywood. When a man grabs a gun in order to use it at some other human being, he takes the full responsibility for his actions and this is once again, very sadly, shown in Better Tomorrow 2.

Better Tomorrow 2 is not as visually stunning as the first film, which ends in brilliant night time scene at the harbor where smoke and blue are as alive as the characters in that sad finale. Even greater use of color and smoke is in Ringo Lam's City on Fire as the end of the film with all its bullet holes and menacing atmosphere is among the most memorable segments in Hong Kong action cinema history. Woo uses his camera in Tomorrow 2 again very professionally, but the film doesn't look exactly as great as first Tomorrow film.

The final gun battle deserves also to be mentioned, since it is so incredible. The film was action choreographed by another Hong Kong master, Ching Siu Tung, who has been a choreographer in many Asian classics and has also directed films like Duel to the Death, Witch From Nepal, and more notably A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy and Swordsman films. The martial arts action and choreography in his films is totally stunning and also unique, and this really can be seen in Better Tomorrow 2 and especially in its finale, a gun battle so over the top it is almost cartoonish, but still never comic or laugh indulging at all. It is the most fierce segment of bullet spitting, blood spraying gun mayhem I have witnessed in any film, and I think the films which manage to come near this scene's power, come also from some Orient country, probably from Hong Kong since these film makers have their style in using camera and edits and it seems to have no comparison with films from other countries.

Better Tomorrow 2 is great

Fmovies: In the first film John Woo, set the standard for action choreography. In the second one John Woo went past it like a speeding bullet. It takes a while to get going, but when it gets going it gets going in a big coat with a pair of berettas. The action is relentless. I loved the scene when Kit appears round the corner shoots everyone in sight, jumps onto a passing boat and delivers the briefcase to it's owner, and there was the scene when Ken is looking after Lung and they have a big shootout/car chase through New York. Although neither of those are as good as the scene when Ken manages to get hold of two beretta m92f automatics, a revolver and a spas 12 shotgun and goes on rampage through the hotel. Mowing down gangsters in a flurry of shots. (If you look closely Chow Yun Fat didn't use a stunt double for when he flips round on the stairs and slides down them headfirst, on his back with two guns. Not many Hollywood action stars could do that.) However all these action scenes seem like nothing when they are held up against the mighty finale, when dressed slickly in black suits, the heroes take up their weapons and storm through the villain's mansion. Bodies fly, blood spurting from their wounds, smoke and rubble fill the close quarter corridors as bullets rip everything to shreds. The walls were literally dripping with blood, and the sequence when Ho, (played by kung fu legend Ti Lung) catches a blo*dy great sword and cuts everyone in sight to pieces. The modern day "duel" between Ken and Chong, when they both remove their darkglasses to allow their worthy opponents a look at each other's eyes.It is a sign of honourable respect between the two gunmen. It is very different to the first and third in the series,not quite as good a film as the first and completely different to the third. However the action in this beats the two other films, making it alot easier to watch.

The classic of hero movie. A big hit worldwhile. Terrific soundtrack. Never would it be surpassed.

A Better Tomorrow II fmovies. The first 'A Better Tomorrow' was a stunning, kinetic and emotional roller-coaster that changed the face of HK cinema. The success of ABT meant a sequel and some bright spark decided that Chow Yun Fat (whose character was definitely quite dead at ABT's finale) should make a return.

A prequel would have made more sense, but instead Chow yun Fat returns as dead Mark's identical twin Ken. Holy plot contrivances Batman! After reformed gangster Ho is sent to prison at the end of ABT, his brother Kit has gone undercover to investigate a suspected counterfeiter. Given the chance to join the investigation, Ho is released to act as an informer, if only so he can protect Kit.

All good so far right? The film does well to pick up from where last time left off, thankfully bringing back Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung... but then totally takes the wrong direction. To me, Chow Yun Fat may have been the charismatic centre of ABT but it was always about the brothers Ho and Kit. In ABT2, the film spends way too much time on two NEW characters - the twin brother Ken and framed gangster Si Lung, who is gradually going insane after falling foul of Hong Kong's triads. For every tense sequence of Ho and Kit's investigation, there's two or more scenes or Si Lung's shaking and shuddering and Ken's attempts to snap him out of it.

As far as the action goes, there are no complaints here. The finale is top-drawer chaos on behalf of John Woo and at least gets a great build up sequence to lead into it. But the story focuses on characters and subplots that, to be frank, are mostly irrelevant. Before you criticise me, I love Woo's other work. But saying 'this is a John Woo film' and that 'action is the priority' would do a disservice to the original, which may have changed action cinema, but always kept in mind the story and characters at hand.

This sequel to the 1986 predecessor is fantastic. Although Woo wasn't too happy about making a sequel and he didn't really care much about the film whilst making it, I think it totally worked and I think it's a lot better than the original. This time, the twin brother of Mark, (a character played by Chow Yun-Fat from the first A BETTER TOMORROW) Ken (Chow Yun Fat), must team up with undercover cop, Kit (Leslie Cheung), and his brother Ho (Ti Lung) and a good friend named Lung (Dean Shek) to avenge the death of Lung's daughter who was murdered by a Triads. Like the first film, it's got a hard storyline to follow, however, it has some fine acting that makes you care for the characters and it has some awesome action scenes (most notably, the final shootout). But if you liked the first A BETTER TOMORROW, then you'll enjoy this one even more.

Chow Yun-Fat is back, teaming up the cop "Kit" and ex-con "Ho" to deal some serious whup-ass on a gang of thugs, for killing their friend's daughter.

This one's not John Woo's best but it's still great in the genre of HK cop movies. The first half is not as good as the second, with some plot holes and kind of weird scenes establishing the state of mind of their friend (whose daughter was killed). Not to give anything away but - you will see what I mean.

Better Tomorrow II proves that nobody looks cooler wielding a 12-gauge shotgun than Chow Yun-Fat (ok, maybe Schwarzeneggar in T2).

The final gun battle at Ko's mansion is phenomenal - it gives Scarface a run for its money in terms of body count and ropes of blood splashing on walls. I love Woo's explosive style of close gun battles and over-the-top carnage. I mean, is it really necessary, once pumping 2 lethal rounds into the bad guy's chest thus assuring his death, to empty the clips from both handguns into him as he is staggering back? Better Tomorrow II states emphatically - YES!