A Better Tomorrow 2
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| A Better Tomorrow 2 | |
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| Directed by | John Woo |
| Written by | John Woo Tsui Hark |
| Starring | Chow Yun-Fat Dean Shek Ti Lung Leslie Cheung |
| Distributed by |  Cinema City Co. Ltd. Anchor Bay Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1987 |
| Running time | 105 min (Edited version) |
| Country |  Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonse English |
| IMDb profile | |
A Better Tomorrow 2 (traditional Chinese: 英雄本色 2; pinyin: yīngxióng běnsè èr) is a 1987 Hong Kong action film, which is a follow-up to its popular predecessor, A Better Tomorrow. A Better Tomorrow 2 is notoriously known for its over-the-top violence, exaggerated blood and gore and body counts nearing the hundreds. A Better Tomorrow 2 was directed by John Woo and stars Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Dean Shek and Ti Lung. Although the movie was initially panned for its rather campy feel and a much more soap opera like plot than its prequel, with Chow Yun-Fat going on an over-the-top tirade in one point of the movie over a bowl of rice, it is now considered a cult classic, with many fans considering it as equalling the first A Better Tomorrow film.
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[edit] Synopsis
A few years after the events of A Better Tomorrow, Ho is drafted from prison by federal agents to spy on his former master, Lung, who is suspected of heading a counterfeiting operation. Ho considers this traitorous and declines with disgust. He changes his mind when he discovers that his younger brother, Kit, now an aspiring police lieutenant, and expecting a child with his wife Jackie, is on the same case. Ho takes the job to protect his brother. After being framed for murder, Lung seeks Ho's help. Ho helps him escape to New York, but Lung becomes temporarily insane after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing his friend being killed. Mark's twin brother, Ken, comes to the rescue, and the two go into hiding in a hotel. After a shoot-out with mobsters, Ken and Lung find themselves cornered. Lung snaps out of insanity and gets Ken and himself out of trouble. The two return to Hong Kong and link up with Ho and Kit. The team then discovers that one of Lung's former employees, Ko, is responsible for trying to kill Lung. After doing some reconnaissance in Ko's mansion alone, Kit is fatally wounded, roughly at the same time that his child is born. He is rescued by Ken and manages, just before he dies, to name his child (in Mandarin, "the Spirit of Righteousness"). The remaining three take revenge on Ko by attacking his mansion during a meeting with a counterfeiting client. The three kill approximately 90 others, and are terribly wounded. After killing Ko, the three sit down in the mansion and are surrounded by the police led by Inspector Wu, the officer who asked for Ho's help in bringing down the syndicate.
[edit] Cast
- Chow Yun-Fat as Ken Lee
- Dean Shek as Lung
- Ti Lung as Ho
- Leslie Cheung as Kit
- Emily Chu as Jackie (Kit's wife)
- Regina Kent as Peggy (Lung's daughter)
[edit] Music Cues
This film contains music cues from other films. Here are the films and the songs that were used:
"Birdy's Flight (From 'Not One Of Us')" Composer: Peter Gabriel From: Birdy (1984)
"Leo Gets It" Composer: Gary Chang From: 52 Pick-Up (1987)
"The Set-Up" Composer: Jerry Goldsmith From: Extreme Prejudice (1987)
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Apparently, Quentin Tarantino conceived the idea for the black suits in Reservoir Dogs from A Better Tomorrow 2. This is disputed, however, by fans, as similar black suits were featured in movies such as The Blues Brothers and Le Samourai.
- The main type of handgun used in A Better Tomorrow 2 is the Beretta 92FS, John Woo's trademark weapon. Examples of this can be seen in The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible 2.
- The group of teenagers come into Ken's diner dressed in duster jackets and aviator sunglasses. When Len's inquires as to their appearance, they respond that they are dressing like Brother Mark. Interestingly, this wardrobe actually was adopted by many teenagers after the original film's release. It was worn to such an extent that this style of attire became known as "Mark Gor Lau", literally, "Brother Mark's coat".
- 89 people were killed by the trio in the final shootout.
- There is a scene in the film where we see a group of kids wearing long coats. The previous film in this series was so popular that young people in Hong Kong dressed like the lead character and the scene comments on that trend.
- Director John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had disagreements over the focus of this film. Tsui felt that the film should focus more on the Dean Shek character. This led to the film being edited in halves by both Tsui and Woo. Woo has all but disowned this film apart from the final gun battle.
- This film was notorious for stunt mishaps. Chow Yun-Fat was almost blown up when the explosion outside the mansion door being more powerful than expected. Some of his hair was singed, and he was blasted forward. The shot in the film is his real reaction. Director Ronny Yu was the stunt double in the warehouse scene. He wrenched his back after slipping on water puddle while carrying Dean Shek. Also the stuntman for Leslie Cheung who performed the speedboat jump landed incorrectly and broke his foot.
- Some of the incidental music consists of incidental music from the films 52 Pick-Up (1986) and Birdy (1982).
- In the 1993 movie True Romance, directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino, Patricia Arquette's character is watching A Better Tomorrow 2 on TV.
- One scene in the movie references The Godfather. In The Godfather, characters who purchase, eat, or are shown with oranges are killed as sort of a foreshadowing. In a scene in A Better Tomorrow 2, every major character is offered a single orange as snack before a job. They all refuse the orange. Ironically, every major character is either dead or heavily wounded by the end of the movie.
[edit] See also
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