abtII

A Better Tomorrow became a myth. It became something magical and mystical. It became the yard-stick beside which all Hong Kong gangster films will be forever measured. It became a film that influenced several leading Hong Kong and American directors, and reinvented the Hong Kong film industry. A Better Tomorrow II is presumably John Woo's attempt to recapture that unforgettable moment in movie history. Making a sequel to any film is a notoriously tricky business, and making a sequel for a film of A Better Tomorrow's magnitude could well warrant double trickiness.

But A Better Tomorrow II, even as far as sequels go, is a huge disappointment.
Instead of the stylish, emotional, action-packed sequel that we had all secretly hoped for, we are presented with a film that is embarrassing in its awfulness, and has a ridiculous plot to boot. Even the mesmerizing Chow Yun-Fat can't save the day. And, faced with all the dross, one can't help feeling that a director of John Woo's obvious talent should have done a better job. It really seems as though his heart just wasn't in this project, which may be explained by "creative differences" between Woo and producer Tsui Hark.

As mentioned above, the plot of A Better Tomorrow II is ridiculous. It is actually barely there, which would be understandable -- if not bearable -- had the film been action packed. But it's not. In fact, the larger part of the film is very boring, having neither action nor plot to keep it going. But the plot, what there is of it, goes something like this...

Ho, imprisonmed from the first A Better Tomorrow film, is offered early release. But -- you guessed it -- there's a catch. To secure his early release, he must aid the police in taking down crime boss, Lung. Ho refuses out of loyalty at first, but when he finds out that his Brother, Kit, has taken the job, he changes his mind. Lung is framed for the murder of another gangster, and then his daughter dies. Her death drives him to insanity, and he is committed to a sanatoriuam. Ken Gor (the brother of Mark Gor, deceased in A Better Tomorrow) stumbles across him and nurses him back to health. Why he does this is never quite explained. Then all the major characters join forces and indulge in a spot of heroic bloodshed. The blood-soaked finale harks back to better days, though; lots of fighting, followed by a tense stand-off between Ken Gor and a white-gloved bad guy -- homage to the Westerns Woo watches so extensively, perhaps? During the stand-off, Chow's reading of Ken Gor has the air crackling with electricity.

In fact, amid the wreckage of fractured plot and general strangeness, Chow Yun-Fat's performance shines out like a diamond in the mud. Leslie Cheung and Ti Lung do their level best with bad material, but the bad traits that their characters possessed in the first film are amplified by the stark, "bare bones" film surrounding them: Kit is even more whiny and annoying, and Ho is even more boring and two-dimensional. But Ken Gor, while nowhere near as captivating and unforgettable as Mark Gor from the first film, is still brought to the fore-front by Chow Yun-Fat's multi-layered performance. The watcher can't help wishing that he had been given more screen time.

However, the method employed to bring Chow back on-screen after the first film never ceases to amaze me. Sure, he was needed; as mentioned above, he is an actor of considerable weight and charisma, and since A Better Tomorrow, he has become a box-office force to be reckoned with. One hitch, though -- his character from the first film, Mark Gor, had died. But lo and behold, some bright spark obviously had a brain-wave: he was dragged on screen (kicking and screaming if he has any sense) as Ken Gor, long-lost and previously unmentioned twin brother to Mark Gor. Ack.

Basically, A Better Tomorrow II lacks everything. Watch it only for the stunning, spin-chilling stand-off between Chow Yun-Fat and his white-gloved enemy.