A Better Tomorrow

By far the most famous and most critically acclaimed John Woo and Chow Yu-Fat collaboration ever made; this gangster classic was considered the second greatest Asian movies ever made by the Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures. Simply said, this movie is good, but just how good can a 20 year-old movie be?

Although Chow wasn't the real star of the movie, his role and his performance was certainly the best. Ti Lung and Chow plays good friends in the counterfeiting business; Ti's brother, played by the late Leslie Cheung, does not know of this dark history, but when their father are on a verge of death, Ti promised that after one more trip, he'll quit forever for his little brother. However, things turns out bad right from the get-go; Ti gets betrayed, their father murdered by a man sent by an opposing party, and Leslie, after finding out the truth, starts a grudge against his brother throughout the move.

So where does Chow fit in all this chaos? Like I said, he is merely a side character in the main plot, but he definitely gets all the best action and emotional scenes. When you sit down and just watch his reaction and movement when he talks about his gangster life, you'll feel chill down your spine because he is so serious and real. And when he's holding a gun, it is literally over! There's no one in this planet as cool as Chow with two fully loaded black pistols.

The plot is fairly typical of Chinese action films, but it is the delivery that makes this a classic. The camera angles, the pacing, and the editing are all done beautifully. The firefights can get a little too over-the-top, but the audience never feels that the main characters are invincible, because they get hurt a lot. Overall, this is the quintessential action movie that started entire industry of filmmaking in Hong Kong. If not for the awesome action scenes and performances, it is still a must watch for its heritage.


Year: 1986
Director: John Woo

8.9/10