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Review by matt lynch ★★★½ Liked

Woo and Tsui famously tangled over the direction this would take, but it's legitimately difficult to tell who had the most control. You could easily see, for instance, a pivotal character's death being tied to a barely glimpsed shooting star as the product of either filmmaker. Either way this is a narrative and tonal mess, with silly twin-brother plot twists and huge chunks of time given over to poor Dean Shek literally frothing at the mouth.

All of that's rendered kind of irrelevant by the truly majestic shootout that concludes this movie, an all-time classic of sustained heroic bloodshedding. Woo drains out most of the sound save for grunts and gunshots, and it's here that his now-trademark slow-fast-slow juxtapositions of…

14

Wikipedia:

"A Better Tomorrow 2 originally ran about 160 minutes. Tsui Hark insisted that the film should be shortened to a commercially viable length (which in Hong Kong is considered under 120 minutes, so theatre owners could show the film at least 8 times a day). Woo refused to make any cuts, so Hark secretly cut stuff out while Woo secretly put the things Hark had cut out back in. The two had a falling out and could not agree what should be cut and what not. So they had the film recut by the "Cinema City Editing Unit", which meant that they sent each reel of the film to one of Cinema City's editors, who would then go to…

Review by comrade_yui Liked

john woo was like:

"oh, you think the first better tomorrow went hard?"

"...you haven't even seen me go hard."

yeah, the pacing is wonky as fuck, and yeah, the twin brother stuff is a bit contrived, but you haven't lived until you've seen the sheer scale and badass beautiful bedlam that is this movie's third act. a thousand bullets go into a thousand corpses while several enormous explosions absolutely blow the shit out of a mansion painted in the crimson entrails of cowards and scumbags.

truly puts the 'bloodshed' in heroic bloodshed

Review by Michael James ★★★½

A fun n action packed sequel, that’s not much cohesive in of plot when compared to its predecessor, but delivers one of the most explosive and exhilarating finale with its over the top bloody action sequence. Along with John Woo’s trademark elements, it makes up for an entertaining watch.

2

No tomorrow. Yes, it is a dramatic mess due to all the infighting betwen Woo and Tsui on post, but as a near abstract destilation of themes and images and delivery machine to some mayhem it remains an impressive piece of work. Man moral balances gets tested again and again, things keeps doubling and the meaning of honor and attachment are always up for grabs. Woo's at his most heightned drama. Final shooout is justly celebrated.

4

The hardest fucking anime in the world.

Review by Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine ★★★½ Liked

Action! - What Does The Dove Say? Woo Woo Woo Woo!

A Better Tomorrow II? More like "Hard Cut: The Movie". Seriously, what's up with all those weird transitions? And don't even get me started on all the unnecessary slow motion. There's rarely any lack of smoothness as scenes jump and cut back and forth.

The sequel focuses a bit more on the criminal aspect as our band of brothers go undercover to investigate a rather intricate crime in which all parties are looking for ways to backstab each other and gain the ultimate power. Amidst all of this is still some form of warmth and drama, showing the good side of a criminal hoping to change his ways, only…

Review by FakeVoorhees ★★★★

105 minutes of Chow Yun-Fat forcing rice, oranges and bullets into people.

4

Eat the fucking rice!

Finally decided to watch this after actively avoiding it for years after hearing what a mess it was due to clashes between Woo and Tsui - while not being as bad as that it is still inferior to the original film. The pacing is a little off but that's understandable due to the behind the scene issues but there is still quite a lot to like about this. After finding out his brother is working undercover to try and bring down his former mentor, Ho (Ti Lung) agrees to work with the police to bring down Lung ( Dean Shek) but after Lung is framed for murder Ho helps him escape to New York. Once in…

Review by Josh Felix ★★★½ Liked

"A Better Tomorrow II" : A Thrilling Sequel with Unmatched Action.

John Woo once again solidifies his title as the God of Action Cinema with 'A Better Tomorrow II', a sequel that definitely amplifies the stakes and delivers us an awe-inspiring action sequences. Woo as usual masterfully blends authentic gunfights with deeply emotional storytelling, creating a film that’s as moving as it is explosive.

The story explores the themes of loyalty, redemption, and brotherhood, with Chow Yun-fat returning in a dual role that showcases his charisma and versatility. Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung brings emotional gravitas, grounding the film amidst its high-octane sequences.

Yes, the movie plot is not as coehisive as the initial one but nevertheless the Climactic Showdown…

4

💪Testo 4 - Die Wiedergeburt💪

Hmm, gehe da mit gemischten Gefühlen raus.

Die eigentlich interessante Gangster-Story ist für die kurze Laufzeit viel zu überladen, wirr geschnitten, konfus und holprig erzählt. Man merkt einfach, dass hier ursprünglich ein viel längerer Film angedacht war und es wohl zahlreiche Unstimmigkeiten zwischen Produzent Tsui Hark und Regisseur John Woo während des Entstehungsprozesses gab, so wie es diverse Legenden besagen.

Immer wieder bremst der Film sich mit ausschweifenden Sideplots und melodramatischen Sequenzen, in denen ordentlich die Overacting-Keule geschwungen wird, selbst aus. Einzig die Tragik rund um Kid konnte mich wirklich abholen. Dafür setzen erste, kleinere Actionszenen schon mal die richtige Tonalität für das, was am Ende noch kommen wird. Stichwort Treppenhaus.

Chow Yun-Fat sorgt natürlich…

Review by Joe ★★★★½ Liked

"I don't even like oranges."

This is amped up to a level of emotional intensity that makes the first movie seem like Jean-Pierre Melville by comparison, with a heavier balance of shoot-outs and explosions to match. But all the relative silliness (including a previously-unmentioned-twin-brother plot contrivance that I would feel compelled to add "I shit you not" to if I didn't have the impression that I am the last human on Earth to finally watch this) is just a prelude for the final 15 minutes - if ever a movie earned the heroic bloodshed designation, it's this one. I actually feel like an idiot for waiting this long to see it.