A Better Tomorrow (1986) Directed By John Woo John Woo, the director of the classic that IS Mission Impossible 2. Hey, did you know he made movies BEFORE that? Crazy, I know. Made em in this place called Hong Kong where theres nothing but guns and stuntmen on every block. Woos made a load of movies that have pretty much influenced every action movie made after them. You like the gun battle in The Matrix? Thats John Woo. A Better Tomorrow is the first such John Woo Hong Kong action film Ive seen. And I enjoyed it. Its not the same sort of film as the Hong Kong crime film Infernal Affairs, which led to The Departed. But its an action film, not just a crime film. Its actually a very good story. 1 veteran Triad gangster, his matchstick chewing buddy, his brother training to be a cop and a new guy in the gangs. The first act of this movie shows us these guys getting involved in a drug deal gone wrong, which leads to one guy going to jail. 3 years later our guy gets out of prison, his buddy is on the streets, his brother is now a detective and the new guy is now a crime boss in Hong Kong. Thats a great story for a crime film. The plot boils down to revenge on the new crime boss for ruining our heroes lives. Its a lead-in for a few VERY well done action scenes. My favorite being one early on. After his buddy is imprisoned, Mark (played by Chow Yun Fat) goes to kill the dealers that got his buddy caught. He walks into a restaurant where these Taiwanese are having dinner, plants some guns in plant vases in the hallway and proceeds to unload a hail of bullets onto everyone in the room. Its a SICK shootout scene. Its not a superhero scene, either. Mark is shot in the leg and is half crippled the rest of the film. But if you want to know why youve heard of Chow Yun Fat, its because of this movie. Hes a symbol of cool the way Clint Eastwood is. His image in the first act is classic. Sunglasses, trench coat and a matchstick sticking out of his mouth. Apparently Tarantino dressed like this guy for a period after seeing the film. The action is why you watch the film. But the drama is surprisingly good. I wonder if the film would have been better if it had been even more serious in the drama and story involving the brother whos a cop and the brother whos a gangster. Im surprised nobody in America flat out remade this movie. Would make for a great remake. The ending had one hell of a shocking moment for me. I wont spoil it, but it shocked me and Ive been watching Game of Thrones the last 2 months, so my shock-meters a little skewed lately. This isnt the Leone-quality kind of classic film I expected. The actions great, but the film isnt as strong as say some of its American counterparts like Die Hard or Terminator. But its a solid action film, loads of guns and blood and thats sort of what Im into. I think Ill be checking out more John Woo films after this. Good stuff.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:08:38 +0000
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