Rating: 
Summary: One of the best Hong Kong Noir movies
Review: This movie got me hooked on so called "Hong Kong Noir" movies. Chow is a great actor who reminds me of the good old days' Yakuza movies in Japan and John Woo already had his director skills established by then. All you see in Hollywood action movies he has made have already been seen in HK movies he made in his pre-Hollywood days. Back then, he was already nicknamed "Spilberg in Asia". Old-fashioned, but good natured people, who endure pain until they can take no more and then story and music goes. Casting, storyline, acting, directing are all excellent. This is a story of tough men with warm heart.PS: If you see this movie, you must see " A better tommorrow 2" if not "A better tommorow 3". 3 is OK, not too bad if you want to see the stories in Mark's past. You will know where his habit and his coat came from. This is one of few action movies which I love. I don't normally watch action movies at all, unless Chow and John woo made a team, possibly chow/Andy lau and John Woo.
Rating:
Summary: WAISE LEE!!!
Review: "A Better Tomorrow" is a fantastic film and the reason is WAISE LEE!
This wonderful actor gives to the film a special atmosphere and because of his magic performance "A Better Tomorrow" is a must have film!!
Rating: 
Summary: "It's easy to become a ganster, but it's hard to get out..."
Review: "A Better Tomorrow" is John Woo's first tense, bloody gangster epic, and while it wasn't his best it certainly shows the potential that would be fully realized later. It's here that Woo started developing the themes that he later explored further in "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer." Like those movies, "A Better Tomorrow" is a compelling tale of honor, loyalty and devotion set against the unlikely backdrop of the criminal underworld. The movie's principal plot, the relationship between an ex-gangster and his detective brother, is ideal for the sort of Shakesperean moral conflicts that are always at the center of Woo films. And like any movie, this one benefits immeasurably from the brooding, intense presence of Chow Yun Fat, even if his character is often in the background in this movie. Fat isn't quite the indelible leading man he would become a few years later, but his Mark does have his moments, most notably when cutting down a room full of enemies early on and later during the obligatory climactic shootout.
Strangely, though, "A Better Tomorrow" isn't quite as violent as I was given to expect after having previously seen Woo's later classics. Aside from the two aforementioned shootouts, the film is generally pretty subdued for something with Woo's stamp on it. Fortunately, the plot and characterization are more than sufficient to carry things along during the down time. Much of "A Better Tomorrow" explores the relationships among its three central characters. There's Ho, the ex-gangster and extremely tortured soul who gets out of prison three years after being betrayed by his apprentice to find out that going straight isn't going to be easy. There's his detective brother Kit, the kind of guy that practically squeaks when he walks, sees everything in black and white, and still bears a grudge against Ho for his criminal past. And of course, there's Mark, crippled during the aforementioned shootout scene and none too happy about it. This guy's got plenty of rage bottled up inside him, and you know it's just a matter of time until some unfortunate people wind up on the receiving end.
Unfolding around these three guys, the movie's action is vintage Woo, plot twists and all, as Ho's cartoonishly evil ex-protege Shing tries to consolidate his power in the underworld. Allegiances shift, the line between good and bad is repeatedly blurred, and bullets fly everywhere. Played in a sufficiently brooding manner by Ti Lung, Ho eventually emerges as one of the most compelling characters in action movie history, a guy who struggles mighty hard to maintain his dignity and his principles even after his old life has been pulled out from under him. Kit's sanctimony occasionally gets so irritating that even I wanted to punch him in the face, but Ho still manages to remain loyal to his brother. The naive Kit doesn't want to see the world in shades of grey, but of course his brother knows better.
In any Woo movie, the plot is all but bound to be resolved with a frenetic shootout, and this one is no exception. Apparently, there's nothing to help two feuding brothers get over their problems like being in a sustained gunfight together. Anyway, while not as impressive as the legendary church battle in "The Killer" or the full-scale war in a hospital that ends "Hard Boiled," this movie's final standoff does provide an early glimpse at the talent for staging ultraviolent gun battles that would make propel Woo (and Fat) to international renown. At a mere ninety-four minutes, "A Better Tomorrow" is a bit on the short side, and occasionally somewhat amateurish, but it still showcases all of the elements that Woo fans would come to know and love. It was up to later movies to do a sleeker and more professional job, which they certainly did.
Rating:
Summary: 3.9 out of 5
Review: Here it is, folks: John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW, the classic action/drama that started it all. The film stars Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung as two brothers: one a successful counterfeiter, the other a newbie police officer. Their friendship seems like it will never die; until on one fateful night, Ti Lung turns himself in. From there it's a violent, double-barrelled gangster flick of a film that remains one of the biggest hits ever released into Hong Kong. Chow Yun Fat is especially superb, however, and no doubt the highlight of the film, as Lung's best friend and an enforcer. He has such a star presence to him you can't help but like him. Woo's directing is also superb in his breakthrough film: the action sequences are rarely rivaled. Action fans can't miss this ultimate slice of Hong Kong cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential John Woo.
Review: John Woo has made better films since (The Killer, Bullet in the Head), but A Better Tomorrow epitomizes everything about him that has captured the imagination of both Hong Kong and America. The influence of this film has been felt in films as far-ranging as Reservoir Dogs, Dead Presidents, Desperado, and The Matrix. In terms of filmcraft, there are still rough edges to this film that make it less than perfect. The romance between Jackie and Kit is silly and the humour not as funny as it thinks it is. Emily Chu overacts badly and all of her dialogue is soullessly overdubbed, and Leslie Cheung has not yet gotten in touch with the simmering complexity that will eventually make him into a fine actor. He is embarrassing in the first half of the film. But these flaws are easily negated by the full-grown, powerful mythology that Woo crafted out of his experience in martial-arts film. Chow Yun-fat and Ti Lung's characters, loosely related to the characters in Woo's best martial-arts film Last Hurrah for Chivalry, are heroic swordsmen trapped in the bodies of gangster gunmen, and in this film Woo debuts the balletic gunplay which becomes his trademark. The first occurrence of this -- Mark (Chow)'s hit on a traitorous business partner -- is simply exhilarating, both because of its historical context and the meticulous execution, which rivals the best rhythmic action scenes of Akira Kurosawa and Sam Peckinpah. And Chow and Ti's performances, early corny humour aside, are terrific, sustaining the ultra-romantic sense of honour, friendship and loyalty which is directly interpreted from historical martial-arts epics in Chinese literature and film. Woo's mentor Chang Cheh was a master at these stories, and Woo himself has enriched it greatly by successfully adapting them to a modern setting. This DVD edition, despite cheap presentation (Anchor Bay should be ashamed for the chop-suey DVD menu design), is somewhat decent. Unlike the VHS editions which bear the same artwork, this DVD *does* contain the original dialogue and music track. A very good thing, for the earliest American VHS editions of this film had godawful dubbing. Not a danger here, though, and the picture and sound quality I heard on this disc seem quite okay. A key film for anybody even remotely interested in Hong Kong cinema, or action films in general.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite film
Review: A BETTER TOMORROW is indefinately my favorite film. Everything is superb, although the film is somewhat too melodramatic. Chow Yun Fat is at his best as super cool Mark Lee, and the directing is also superb. A must-see and highly recommended.
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