A Better Tomorrow by John Woo (Review)
I’m an unabashed fan of John Woo. Unfortunately, the first Woo movies I saw were Hard Boiled and The Killer, both of which are often considered to be his best.* As such, I think all of his other films may very well have been spoiled for me. A Better Tomorrow is the film that turned Woo into a legend. Produced by Tsui Hark, it practically invented the “heroic bloodshed” genre and reinvented Woo’s career. Unfortunately, watching it now after having fallen in love with Hard Boiled and The Killer, it really pales in comparison.
The film follows Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) and Ho (Ti Lung). They’re money counterfeiters, and quite good at it. However, Ho is torn when it comes to his brother Kit (Leslie Cheung), who is a cop and is ignorant of Ho’s criminal life. During a botched deal, Ho is captured and sent to prison. During his time in prison, Mark and Kit’s lives change dramatically. Mark gets wounded while trying to avenge Ho’s capture and Kit cannot get promoted because of Ho’s past. After he’s released, Ho tries to go straight. Unfortunately, both Ho’s old friends and his brother assume he’s the same man, and Ho must eventually deal with his past and the repercussions it’s had.
The concepts of honor and loyalty that have become a Woo trademark are here in copious amounts, especially between Mark and Ho. Unfortunately, Woo always walks a fine line with his films. On the one hand, they are very emotional, and as such, can be extremely exciting and thrilling to watch. However, this often means his films become very melodramatic. Such is the case with A Better Tomorrow. The ending is typical Woo, where honor and loyalty require great sacrifices, but the film often feels jarring along the way, lacking the smoothness and fluid feel that Woo’s later films possessed in abundance. And though there are several violent gunfights, they lack the style and visual flair that Woo later developed into an artform. It feels like Woo was using this movie as a test run for his later works, and as such, it doesn’t always gel.
Both Chow Yun-Fat and Ti Lung give incredible performances as friends who are ready to sacrifice everything for each other, but even their performances can’t pull all of the elements of this film together. Chow Yun-Fat has the best scene in the movie, when Ho comes back to see Mark after he’s become a crippled beggar. It’s the perfect example of why he’s one of the best actors in the world today. If you’re looking for the essential Woo films, watch Hard Boiled and The Killer. But if you want to see how Woo’s incredible style began and how much it has since matured, watch A Better Tomorrow.
* — Come to think of it, the very first Woo movie I saw was Broken Arrow, and though I enjoyed it, I don’t think it counts.
