A Better Tomorrow 2

A Better Tomorrow 2


A Better Tomorrow 2

Manadrin title: Ying Hung Boon Sik 2 (True Colors of a Hero 2)

AKA: City Wolf 2

Golden Princess, 1987, 100 min.

Director: John Woo
Stars: Chow Yun-Fat ("Ken"), Ti Lung ("Ho"), Leslie Cheung ("Kit"), Dean Shek ("Lung")
Producer: Tsui Hark
Script: Tsui Hark
Screenplay: John Woo
Cinematographer: Wong Wing-Hang
Editing: Cinema City Editing Unit

Available on video (letterboxed and subtitled) from Tai Seng

Available on DVD from Media Asia - a review can be found here


Some .WAV files from A Better Tomorrow 2 -- courtesy of CYF: The Coolest Actor in the World

Clip #1 ("Open your f*cking mouth and eat the rice! Eat it!!")
Clip #2 ("No, no, no, no... sorry" *BLAM*)
Clip #3 ("That's better...much better.")
Clip #4 ("Your fried rice stinks!")


Download Leslie Cheung's ballad from A Better Tomorrow 2 (2.99 MB MP3 file)

File courtesy of A Website Never Dies


A Better Tomorrow 2

"Why does it take so long for someone to go straight?"

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.

RATING: 8.5

Interesting trivia:

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