A Better Tomorrow: Cinema City Rating: USA: Unrated/ Australia: R/ UK: 18
This review is part of the John Woo Write-Off, an event hosted by Shadow8 and devoted to covering the films of one of Hong Kong’s greatest action auteurs—John Woo. If you like action films, then you owe it to yourself to become intimately familiar with all of Woo’s work—but particularly his Hong Kong heroic bloodshed films (his kung-fu offerings, and his big budget American films are fairly overrated in my opinion.) For a veritable primer on all things Woo, please be sure to check out the reviews of the following participants once you’re done here: Psychovant, Donlee_Brussel, JackSommersby, JonTurner, Furie, Elerad, knix, systemdwn, Lars_lindahl, JackFoley, Wokelstein, anderclayton, Mangiotto, erinys, squeebinatorx, Zentropajk, teykaerts, Shaodow8 and Icemancm.. Now, on to the review…
When approached to participate in this write-off, I hesitated. It’s no secret that I’m a devoted fan of Hong Kong action cinema, and that I’m intimately familiar with the works of John Woo. However, I’d already written reviews of what I find to be his two greatest cinematic achievements--Hard Boiled and The Killer. What would I tackle for this event? Shouldn’t my entry be about one of my favorite Woo films? Then it all came clear…while I love both of the aforementioned films, Woo has certainly crafted other movies that are nearly as impressive. Sure, I couldn’t do Hard Boiled, but films like Bullet in the Head and A Better Tomorrow 2 were still movies I hadn’t written about that were certainly worth my attention. Yet, instead of tackling one of those two excellent films, I decided that it was finally time to weigh in on one of the quintessential Woo flicks—the one that started a cinematic movement in Hong Kong that forever changed what audiences considered an action picture, one that marked John Woo as a director to keep an eye on, and one that made Chow Yun-Fat into an international action god—1986’s A Better Tomorrow.
A Better Tomorrow was the film that launched the ‘heroic bloodshed’ subgenre of action films in Hong Kong—a style of film that still remains popular to this day. For the uninitiated, the heroic bloodshed films are action pictures that often focus on the relationship between Hong Kong cops and local Triad gangsters on the island. These romanticized tales of cops and robbers are famous for their dichotomies—cops aren’t always the good guys, and gangsters aren’t always bad…they’re films filled with characters who are best described as moral shades of gray as opposed to straight up black or white. The films feature some amazingly surreal action sequences, moralistic tales about brotherhood and honor, and a very sentimental streak that seems almost out of place in an action film.
This film tells the simple tale of three men—Ho (Ti Lung: Drunken Master 2), his best friend Mark (Chow Yun-Fat: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hard Boiled) and his little brother Kit (Leslie Cheung: A Chinese Ghost Story). Ho’s a ‘big brother’ in the triads (which means he’s sort of like a mafia lieutenant and not a simple foot soldier) and Mark is his right hand man. Together, they’re running a counterfeiting ring (in one of the film’s most memorable scenes, we see Chow Yun-Fat lighting a cigarette with a $100 bill). Kit is in training to become a cop and idolizes his big brother—unaware that he’s a criminal.
Ho is sent to Taiwan to conduct some business, along with new triad member Shing, but the whole thing is a setup. Ho’s forced to turn himself in to protect Shing, and this results in Ho’s enemies attacking his disabled father (and killing him). Kit learns that his brother is a criminal and holds him responsible for the death of their father. Mark takes it upon himself to kill the men who betrayed Ho (and gets permanently injured in the process), and Ho gets a three-year jail sentence.
When Ho gets out of the joint, he hopes to go straight—but like so many other gangster films, the underworld is reluctant to let him go. Shing’s become a triad boss while Ho’s in prison, Mark is a shadow of his former self (washing the windows on Shing’s cars and opening doors for him), and Kit is rising through the police ranks—but hits a wall because of his brother’s criminal past. From there, things transpire pretty much as you’d expect, and soon, Kit, Mark, and Ho must unite to stop Shing—which means lots of bloodshed and violence.
Ultimately, A Better Tomorrow is a tragic opera—one forged in blood, tears, and a male sentimentality that gets us from one aria of violence to the next. This isn’t Woo’s most accomplished film, but it’s important because it highlights many of the stylistic devices that will eventually become full blown ‘Woo-isms’—the angst shared between men who dwell on opposite sides of the law yet share much more in common than you’d think, the dazzling two-fisted gunplay, one dimensional female characters, and a hyper-stylized kind of violence that impresses both the most jaded action fan and the staunchest of pacifists.
The story itself is pure melodrama—a one-note tale of revenge and redemption that plays out in the most predictable of fashions. However, what sets it apart from the countless other films that have told the tale of brothers on opposite sides of the law is the earnestness of Woo’s direction, and the brilliance of the action sequences.
The story may be a bit thin, but one always gets the impression that Woo is taking it very seriously. The sentimentality at work here seems genuine—Woo apparently really is interested in how men bond when living by the way of the gun. This doesn’t diminish the film’s high schmaltz factor (which even extends into the score, which features a really manipulative harmonica piece), but it does make it more tolerable. Woo’s story might be simple, but he’s dedicated to telling it.
A Better Tomorrow gave audiences worldwide their first glimpse of the standard John Woo action sequence—a style of filmmaking that’s now been ripped off by just about every two bit hack from Hong Kong to Hollywood, but has never been effectively imitated. Many fans will regale you with tales about Chow Yun-Fat blasting away the bad guys with a pistol in each hand a matchstick clenched between his teeth, and while that’s certainly cool, it’s really the little touches that make the action sequences so memorable. For example, when Mark goes to perform his hit, he strategically places extra pistols in each potted plant along his route of escape—backup pieces just in case he needs them. It’s such a small thing, but it gives the scene an added dimension that so many American action films are missing.
Of course, there are numerous elaborate shootouts (although, these ones pale a bit in comparison to Woo’s later work in Hard Boiled, The Killer and even the climax of A Better Tomorrow 2) complete with blood squibs shooting red ichor everywhere, and men being riddled with dozens of bullets before finally collapsing for good. Action fans will find more than enough here to please them.
The cast is excellent—Ti Lung (who’s been in countless Shaw Brothers productions over the years) makes a great lead, portraying the anguished Ho in a realistic fashion. Ho’s an interesting character—whether he’s a gangster or a taxi driver trying to go straight. He anchors the film emotionally, keeping it at least somewhat grounded in reality while everyone else gets melodramatic around him.
However, the best performance comes from Chow Yun-Fat. Prior to this film, Chow was most widely recognized as a television star. His films hadn’t done well at the Hong Kong box-office, and the film company initially balked at his casting in the role when Woo and producer Tsui Hark said they wanted him in the role. Fortunately, Woo and Tsui Hark won the battle—and one of cinema’s greatest action stars was born.
Chow’s performance here is mesmerizing and powerful. While Mark is a fairly melodramatic character, Chow’s quiet charisma and screen presence keep the character from going over-the-top. Clad in a long black trench coat, fancy clothes, sunglasses, and with a toothpick clenched between his teeth, Mark became something of an icon (in fact, this was called the ‘Mark look’ in Hong Kong). Quentin Tarantino himself admits to running around in sunglasses and a trench coat after seeing the film. How’s that for charismatic?
Ultimately, as I’ve mentioned before, A Better Tomorrow isn’t Woo’s best film. However, there’s a lot to like here—the emergence of Woo’s style, the star-making performance of Chow Yun-Fat, and some excellent action sequences all make the film worth seeing. While it’s certainly overly-sentimental and thin in spots, it’s far superior to each and every one of Woo’s American films (including the much lauded Face/Off). Simply put, A Better Tomorrow changed the face of action cinema, both in Hong Kong and abroad—and that alone makes it worth a look for serious action film fans.
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 ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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