Better Tomorrow

UPC: 601643006642

Studio: Tai Seng

Summary: John Woo established himself as one of Hong Kong's premiere action directors with this ultra-hip, ultra-violent action classic. The film centers around the complex relationship between two brothers: Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung) is a recent graduate of the police academy while Tse-ho (Ti Lung) runs a massive counterfeiting ring along with his gangland associate, Mark Lee (Chow Yun-fat). Tension between the two brothers comes to a head when their father is murdered after a crime deal goes sour and Tse-ho lands in jail after being double-crossed. In perhaps the most influential scene in Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, Mark avenges his friend by staging a dinner table assassination. As Mark tries to shoot his way out of the restaurant, pulling a series of hidden pistols from potted plants and alcoves, he gets horribly injured. With both founding members of the counterfeiting syndicate incapacitated, the operation falls into the hands of Shing (Waise Lee Chi-hung), Tse-ho's former underling who has little of his boss' ?lan or experience. When Tse-ho gets out of jail, he reunites with his now-crippled comrade, Mark, to take out Shing and to protect Tse-kit whose life is in danger for investigating their former subordinate. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Category: Crime

Awards: Best Picture – Hong Kong Film Awards

Features: [None specified]

Better Tomorrow

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/26/1998

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 95 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: English

Region: Universal Compatability

Chapters: Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [:11]
2. Chapter 2 [10:46]
3. Chapter 3 [10:47]
4. Chapter 4 [7:06]
5. Chapter 5 [10:05]
6. Chapter 6 [8:33]
7. Chapter 7 [10:19]
8. Chapter 8 [9:01]
9. Chapter 9 [8:17]

Jonathan Crow

The film that launched a thousand action spectaculars, A Better Tomorrow established John Woo as Hong Kong's preeminent action director and started the Hong Kong gangster flick boom of the 1980s. Reworking themes of loyalty and self-sacrifice found in Italian spaghetti westerns, Jean-Pierre Melville films, and early martial arts movies, Woo envisions a criminal world where violence is the only way of life and honor and brotherhood means everything. Woo's flamboyant style and sheer bravura earned him acclaim from both the press and the public. His elegant tracking shots, staccato edits, and slow-motion pyrotechnics introduced a new level of emotional resonance and visual beauty to the action sequence, as his baroque visual style and intense emphasis on brotherhood elevated the film's drama to almost Wagnerian proportions. In addition to its two eventual sequels, A Better Tomorrow greatly influenced such American directors as Quentin Tarantino and established Chow Yun Fat as one of Asia's leading stars, as the image of Chow as a trench-coat-and-sunglasses-sporting-lone-hitman became an icon of Hong Kong cinema. A Better Tomorrow is a dazzling spectacular full of tear-jerking melodrama and jaw-dropping action sequences -- a cinematic feast. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Tsang Kong  Actor 
Waise Lee  Actor 
Emily Chu  Actor 
John Woo  Actor 
Lee Tse Ho  Actor 
Tsui Hark  Producer 
Joseph Koo  Composer (Music Score) 
John Woo  Director 
John Woo  Producer 
John Woo  Screenwriter 
Chan Hing-kai  Screenwriter 
Leung Suk-wah  Screenwriter 
Chow Yun-Fat  Actor 
Leslie Cheung  Actor 
Ti Lung  Actor 
Young Pao I  Actor 

Country: Hong Kong