I've always liked A Better Tomorrow, but it is during only the most recent viewing that I really started to appreciate it fully. There is something comforting and iconic about seeing a prime version of Chow Yun-Fat runnin' and gunnin' his way through a Hong Kong period John Woo movie.

In many ways this is not a sophisticated film, the characterization is often clumsy and the dialogue frequently loses something in the translation (although the subtitles are still preferable to the horrendous English language dubbing). However, the setting of colonial Hong Kong adds an extra element of style, as the cityscape is stunning, and the urban jungle below (reminiscent of the Narrows in Batman Begins) is rife with corrupt cops and reformed Triad enforcers.

So, while not sophisticated, A Better Tomorrow is occasionally nuanced in its examination of the bondage and rewards of human relationships with Chow Yun-Fat and Ti Lueng forming one of the better buddy movie combinations. Woo… more »

I've always liked A Better Tomorrow, but it is during only the most recent viewing that I really started to appreciate it fully. There is something comforting and iconic about seeing a prime version of Chow Yun-Fat runnin' and gunnin' his way through a Hong Kong period John Woo movie.

In many ways this is not a sophisticated film, the characterization is often clumsy and the dialogue frequently loses something in the translation (although the subtitles are still preferable to the horrendous English language dubbing). However, the setting of colonial Hong Kong adds an extra element of style, as the cityscape is stunning, and the urban jungle below (reminiscent of the Narrows in Batman Begins) is rife with corrupt cops and reformed Triad enforcers.

So, while not sophisticated, A Better Tomorrow is occasionally nuanced in its examination of the bondage and rewards of human relationships with Chow Yun-Fat and Ti Lueng forming one of the better buddy movie combinations. Woo would later go on to direct many other Hong Kong action films, with The Killer and Hard Boiled being particularly notable for their increased budgets, ferocity and scale. But A Better Tomorrow is the best of the bunch, the action sequences (some of the finest ever committed to celluloid) are blistering and occasionally brief orgies of violent destruction which create scenes that are reminiscent of a ballet performance taking place in a butchers shop.

A Better Tomorrow's influence can be felt across the action movie genre as a whole, and it is certainly a precursor for Micheal Mann's Heat and other great, but somehow.. lesser, movies.