A Better Tomorrow II
Ken Lee: Chow Yun-Fat
Ho: Ti Lung
Kit: Leslie Cheung
Lung: Dean Shek
Director: John Woo
IMDb link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0094357
other links:
Version reviewed: DVD
Ratings:
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
DVD Audio: 8 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
DVD Video: 8 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Subtitles: 6 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Story: 2 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Performances: 5 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
CYF: 5 of 10
While it may be 20/20 hindsight, John Woo has said that he wanted
A Better Tomorrow II to appear like a comic book. He got
his wish. There is none of the pathos of the original. These are
sketched-in characters against a flat background. Even with a cast
such as Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, CYF and Tsang Kong you can only do
so much with the material. It's something to see, not to feel.
That's why it is infinitely inferior to the original.
After the incredible success of the original A Better Tomorrow there
was of course much interest (from both studio execs and audiences) in a
follow-up. There was just one problem: when filming the original, no one
had foreseen that the true hero and star of the film would be the
character Mark Gor (played by Chow Yun-Fat). Since Mark Gor had died of
a bullet to the forehead in the first film, there was precious little
chance of bringing him back in the second. So what's an anxious studio to
do with all those people out there clamoring to see the further adventures
of Ho and Kit - and Mark, most of all? How about conjuring up
Mark's indentical twin brother, Ken? Okay, that'll work.
Even casting aside that most tired of plot devices, this is simply not a good
film. It has a plot which is as full of holes as Mark Gor's trenchcoat. There
are scenes which are not connected to one another in any way, some
truly abominable acting by Dean Shek, characters who wander around doing things
for no apparent reason and then of course there's the manwha artist who
seems to be obsessed with drawing very bad pictures of Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie
Cheung and Ti Lung. I have a sneaking suspicion that the comic-book arist
was dropped into the film after most of it had been completed, just so Woo could
realistically make the "comic book" claim. Considering that the character's appearance
in the film is unexplained, that he has no connection to the plot and after his
initial appearance only appears for a few more seconds (looking mournful over
one of the zillions of deaths which occur) later on in the film, his entire
existence is a bit suspicious.
Even if we are to accept this as a comic-book version (of... what? The original
film? A pseudo-sequel?), there is still the problem of such things as Dean Shek's
portrayal of the mad Lung; his performance varies between mildly boring and utterly
embarrassing. The confrontation between Kit and his wife Jackie (played again with vacuity
by Emily Chu) when he brings home Peggy, daughter of the underworld czar he
is investigating and also apparently his girlfriend, is never taken anywhere, and is another one
of those scenes which probably should have been cut to allow something of substance
to remain. All we see is a ticked-off wife, a ticked-off girlfriend, the usual consternated
Kit and a bunch of door-slamming. None of it furthers the plot one iota. It's just
there.
Leaving all of this excitement in Hong Kong for a while, the viewer is taken to
New York, where Ken Gor (Mark's heretofore unmentioned identical twin brother,
remember?) is living the life of a successful small businessman, running his
Four Seas restaurant and helping out local Chinese immigrants as he fusses over
whether there's too much MSG in the food. At first Ken seems to be the likeable
type, but then the heavy-handed "rice scene" is played out at miserable length and
we're left to conclude that Ken is Mark all over again, but without any class.
The praise for this famous scene seems much misplaced to me. For one thing, it is
done in English. While apparently it is CYF speaking, and not just the worst
dubbing job of all time, it looks like he is gumming an exceptionally
tough piece of meat as he speaks. (Having attempted to learn a second language myself, I probably come
off much worse - but then again, I'm not making movies so it just disgusts and/or amuses
my friends and random unlucky strangers.)
That's distracting enough, but the tirelessly repeated vulgarities
by the representative of the local mafiosi is overplayed and after a while becomes just
downright silly. While the intent of the scene is very good, it goes over
about as well as the fried rice. Instead of a passionate exchange which gives us
insight into Ken and what makes him tick, we are just shown a couple of alpha-male
wanna-be's trying hard to best the other. < yawn >
For some reason or another, shortly after this Ken Gor is strolling down the corridor
of his local insane asylum (a strange place for a morning constitutional) and sees
Lung (Dean Shek) being force-fed while in a straight jacket and held down by a platoon
of orderlies. Inexplicably, Ken ends up taking Lung home with him. After
trashing a few rooms of the house in an effort to get Lung, who mainly sits about gibbering
and looking at a photograph of his daughter Peggy, to eat Ken finds out that his restaurant
has been blown to bits by the local gangsters, probably in retribution for the rice scene.
I mean, for what happened in the rice scene.
From here we're taken to the Victor Hotel (cute) where CYF gets to do his duty to the
genre by blasting away a bunch of bad guys with guns blazing in both hands; he even
slides down a staircase on his back as he dispatches a few of them to their just rewards.
There's a car chase, a few things blown up, Ken Gor gets shot in the arm and this is
what makes Lung snap (again). It's up to the viewer to decide when he's sane and when
he's not, as at least when "insane" he doesn't kill anybody.
So now that Lung is back to normal (however one defines it), he and Ken go back to
Hong Kong - after a puzzling interlude in a swampy area, looking at the skyline of
New York - to kick ass and take names, mainly of the guys who drove Lung mad in the
first place (and managed to kill Peggy, even though she was being guarded by the
ever-vigilant Kit). The rest is just a blood-fest, though it is one of the most interesting
I've seen filmed.
At least Kit gets plugged, and good. No more whining from that one.
The final scenes, which basically kill off everything that moves, or has moved recently,
are really quite well done. The familiar use by Woo of the color white for a background
is here in force: sheer white drapes frame windows lit brightly, walls are shocking white,
people dress in white. In the final action scenes of the film, the famed stand-off
between Ken Gor and Chong, Ko's hitman (who is this actor? anyone know?) we see
a lot of homage done to various other directors, both American and Japanese. It is
one of the highlights of the film. Against a now-grimy white backdrop, Ken actually
shows a glimmer of the Mark character in his bravado, and the coolly calculating
hitman gives us a display of the true samurai way. A most satisfying finale to a film
which had very little satisfaction for any but the most casual viewer.
Unless you like action for its own sake (and there are times when that's fine, certainly)
then this is a movie you'll want to rent, watch, take back to the shop and that's that.
If you are hoping for more Mark Gor - or a cohesive plot, good characterization and
action - skip installment II and go directly to A Better Tomorrow III. While
directed by Tsui Hark, not John Woo, it is much more to the spirit of the original and
is also a successful film in its own right.
There are quite a number of reasons that A Better Tomorrow II is not very good.
Woo wasn't very interested in the entire concept, didn't like the basic premise of the film
(Lung's madness and so on) and didn't seem to have enough time to edit the film properly;
the original running time was 180 minutes, but the released version is 104. Apparently two
teams of editors were at work on the film, neither of which had much contact with the other.
Not a recipe for success.
This is also a film with the dubious distinction of being another example of Woo bringing
his actors into harm's way for effect; Chow Yun-Fat is not given quite enough time to get
completely clear of an exploding grenade setpiece, and his hair catches fire. For another
glimpse into Woo's habit of setting his actors on fire, see the interview with Simon Yam in
the book Hong Kong Babylon by Fredric Dannen and Barry Long.
go to the image gallery for this film
nbsp;
go to film review index
nbsp;
return to top page
email the page maintainer