A Better Tomorrow II

At the end of A Better Tomorrow, Ho is captured by the cops and sent to prison. In ABT2, Ho is offered early parole if he works with the police to take down a crime boss named Lung. Since Lung gave Ho his start in the "business," he refuses out of loyalty to his former boss. However, once he finds out his brother Kit (who is now married, with a child on the way) has taken the case, he reverses his decision and takes the job.

After Lung is framed for the murder of another crime boss, he escapes to New York, where he ends up in a sanitarium after learning of his daughter's death. He is eventually nursed back to health by Ken, who is Mark's (from ABT1) twin brother. Ken is a former gangster trying to go straight, but when he learns of Lung, Ho and Mark's relationship, he decides to back to Hong Kong with Lung. The four friends join forces to get revenge, leading up to a high-powered, blood-spattered finale.

While not as powerful as the first film, ABT2 is still a high-powered crime drama with incredible gunfights. I think most of the problems in the film come from the fact that ABT became so synonymous with gunfights that the realtionships Woo wanted to stress became lost in the shuffle, so he kind of over-compensated for it in ABT2 by developing the characters more fully. While there is nothing wrong with dramatics, I think the beginning of the film is too slow and really only appeals to fans of the first film (though the famous "rice" scene where Ken force-feeds a local gangster is great). I also think the whole "twin" angle is kind of stupid and undermines the credibility of the story, and some scenes come off as really melodramatic (even when compared to some other Hong Kong movies). The final half of the film, where the plot really starts to move, is pure Woo all the way and quite enjoyable to watch. Though not his best work, ABT2 is still definetly above-average and worth watching.

Review Courtesy of Neil Koch