A Better Tomorrow
Brothers By Blood. Enemies By Chance. Killers By Nature.
A Better Tomorrow is the film that started it all, full of John Woo's now-classic trademarks of jaw-dropping style, heart-stopping action and gunfire mayhem that must be seen to be believed. Chow Yun Fat stars in this epic story of suave gangsters and renegade cops who discover that in a world bound by honor, revenge comes at the speed of a bullet.
Written, and directed by John Woo, this is the breakthrough film that made international superstars of both Woo and Chow Yun Fat, and single-handedly changed the look of action movies forever!
Member Reviews
For fans of the genre ! - kap0n3
A Better Tomorrow is a film best watched with some level of familiarity of the John Woo films that followed it. This forceful melodrama is largely responsible for the direction Hong Kong cinema took in the years up to the 1997 handover. The story is largely familiar to Woo fans and concerns many emotional elements like friendship, honor and forgiveness. All of these elements come to a head in the form of violence. The gun battles are not as ferocious as those in Woo's later pictures, but they manage to illustrate many emotions on screen that had not been seen in any similar action picture to that date, save for some from Sam Peckinpah's prime, like the Wild Bunch. As in all of Woo's gangster films, the villain is a pure figure of evil and the heroes, despite being morally questionable, are very righteous. Chow Yun-Fat's now legendary performance is the real clincher here, but the whole cast is good. Some of the makeshift dramatics are obvious and slightly hinder the film from being taken seriously at times, but given this was a change of direction for Woo, this is understandable. The climactic shootout is awe-inspiring, and it leads to an even more emotional showdown between the protagonists and the crime boss.For connoisseurs - rewriteman
Essential to the understanding of the modern gangster flick, and how everyone from Tarantino to Woo himself borrow from Woo, A Better Tomorrow is still dated. It seems small by comparison to its legacies. However, almost like a first novel by a future genius, Tomorrow is a hoot and worth a look.Highly Overrated - twangyk
If this is the film that supposedly changed the look of the action film, I say bring back the old look. Endless scenes of slow motion gunplay, gouts of spurting blood and senseless brutal violence are interspersed with mindnumbingly boring stretches of dialogue and wooden acting. Things aren't helped by some of the worst English dubbing since Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily." At least that was funny. Oh yes -- did I mention that the story makes no sense?
Member Reviews
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For fans of the genre ! - kap0n3
A Better Tomorrow is a film best watched with some level of familiarity of the John Woo films that followed it. This forceful melodrama is largely responsible for the direction Hong Kong cinema took in the years up to the 1997 handover. The story is largely ...For connoisseurs - rewriteman
Essential to the understanding of the modern gangster flick, and how everyone from Tarantino to Woo himself borrow from Woo, A Better Tomorrow is still dated. It seems small by comparison to its legacies. However, almost like a first novel by a future genius, ...Highly Overrated - twangyk
If this is the film that supposedly changed the look of the action film, I say bring back the old look. Endless scenes of slow motion gunplay, gouts of spurting blood and senseless brutal violence are interspersed with mindnumbingly boring stretches of dialogue ...