Woo's direction is clean and direct, with a clarity of purpose behind every scene that makes each wrenching development seem inevitable. It's strong stuff.
A Better Tomorrow(英雄本色)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Hong Kong · 1986
Rated R · 1h 35m
Director John Woo
Starring Ti Lung, Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Emily Chu Bo-Yee
Genre Action, Crime, Drama
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Sung Tse-Ho is a respected member of the Triad, an organization that prints and distributes counterfeit US banknotes. Although his father is aware of his job, Tse-Ho keeps his criminal life hidden from his younger brother, Kit, who is an aspiring police officer. However, a tragic incident forces his secret into the light.
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A reminder of the astonishingly kinetic talent that John Woo maybe still possesses, this at times is on the verge of melodrama, but rescues itself from the brink with some fine gunplay.
Superlative action scenes, particularly a bloody guns-grenades-and-swords finale with a body count to rival the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, help wash away many of the flaws. Action for its own sake may not have been the film's intended point, but it'll do.
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
A Better Tomorrow isn't his best film ever -- that title remains securely attached to The Killer -- but it is required viewing for anyone remotely interested in Hong Kong cinema. After all, there might not be any filmmaking in Hong Kong come 1997.
Portland Oregonian by Ted Mahar
The action is fast, tough, energetic and extravagant. It is smoothly and stylishly made but more inscrutable than intended. [28 June 1989, p.D05
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