User:FrostFairBlade/sandbox/A Better Tomorrow II

A Better Tomorrow II (1987)

• Following the original film's success
• Woo had written a prequel about Mark's life in Hong Kong and Vietnam
• Woo said he agreed to film a sequel to help out one of the Cinema City co-founders: "Dean Shek [...] was having a lot of money problems at the time and, since we were all friends, we agreed to make A Better Tomorrow II, giving him a big part, to help him out."
• Author Kenneth E. Hall asserts that Tsui had written the script loosely based off of Shek's poor treatment by his co-founders
• Despite Chow's character being killed off in the first film, the actor was brought back to play Mark's twin brother, Ken
• The original cut was two hours and forty minutes long; Woo was forced to trim over a hour of footage, splitting the workload between him, Tsui and another editor without seeing what the finished cut would look like
• This caused friction between Woo and Tsui, as Woo discovered after editing that the focus had shifted from the two brothers to Dean Shek's character
• Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle: "The whole thing feels like a rush job, and it shows in the less-than-brilliant set pieces that crop up from time to time."
• The film was nominated for two awards at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Actor (Cheung) and Best Action Choreography (Ching Siu-tung)

Plot

Several years after his arrest, triad member Sung Tse-ho is offered early parole by Inspector Wu in exchange for spying on his former boss and mentor, Lung Sei. Inspector Wu is hopeful in marking his retirement with the capture of Lung, a prime suspect in a major counterfeiting operation. Though Ho initially declines out of loyalty to Lung, he changes his mind after discovering that his younger brother Kit, who is expecting a child with his pregnant wife Jackie, is working undercover on the same case. The two brothers meet and agree to work together.

When Lung is suddenly framed for murder. Ho successfully helps his former boss escape to New York. However, Lung suffers a psychotic break after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing the death of a friend, and ends up institutionalised. To help free Lung, Ho enlists the help of Ken, a former gangster turned restaurant owner who is the twin brother of Ho's deceased friend Mark. Both Lung and Ken become hunted by different people; the former by assassins, the latter by American mobsters looking to extort him. When the pair become backed into a corner, seeing Ken in trouble snaps Lung out of his psychosis, enabling him to kill the remaining attackers.

Ken and Lung return to Hong Kong to regroup with Ho and Kit. They discover that one of Lung's employees, Ko Ying-pui, was responsible for the attempt on Lung's life. Ko has taken over Lung's organization in Lung's absence. Lung decides that he would rather destroy his organisation with his own hands rather than let it fall into dishonour and ruin, so the allies prepare to stop Ko.

Kit decides to scout out Ko's mansion alone, but is fatally wounded. Ken rescues him and attempts to rush him to the hospital. Knowing that he will not make it, Kit urges him to stop at a phone booth, where Kit talks to Jackie one last time. Before dying, he is able to name his newborn child Sung Ho-yin.

After attending Kit's funeral, Ho, Ken, and Lung commence the attack on Ko's mansion while Ko is meeting a counterfeiting client. In a shootout, the three manage to kill Ko and his men in an intense shootout, but are critically wounded in the process. Surrounded by Inspector Wu and the police, Ho requests the inspector to not retire, as there is lots remaining for him to do.

Cast

• Dean Shek as Lung Sei: A high-profile criminal running a counterfeiting operation
• Ti Lung as Sung Tse-ho: A Triad member tasked with spying on Lung
• Leslie Cheung as Sung Tse-kit: A police officer and Ho's brother
• Chow Yun-fat as Ken Lee: Restauranteur and twin brother of Ho's dead friend Mark
• Kwan Shan as Ko Ying-pui: An ambitious gangster plotting to take over Lung's criminal organisation
• Emily Chu as Jackie: Kit's wife

In addition to the main cast, Lau Siu-ming plays Inspector Wu. Kenneth Tsang reprises his role as Ken, the taxi company manager. Shing Fui-on also returns as one of Ko's partners. Regina Kent appears as Lung's daughter Peggy.

Production

Conception

• In 1986, A Better Tomorrow was released to unprecedented success, earning over $34.65 million HKD during its extended theatrical run
• Woo had drafted a prequel to the first film that chronicled Mark's life in Vietnam and Hong Kong

Writing and development

• Woo was inspired by The Godfather Part II (1974), and intended for his sequel to be in the spirit of Francis Ford Coppola's film

Filming and post-production

• Woo was shocked by the final cut when he saw it in theatres, dismayed by the movie's nonsensical story and overall disjointedness

Release

Box office

• Producer Terence Chang remarked that while A Better Tomorrow II was not a box office bomb, it was considered to be a "box office disappointment" in comparison to the unprecedented success of the first movie

Legacy

• The creative differences between Woo and Tsui during the movie's production led to the fracturing of their friendship and professional association
  • Woo had planned to direct the prequel to A Better Tomorrow that he had written, with Tsui producing, but discovered that Tsui was going to direct A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon himself

References

Cited literature

• Donovan, Barna William (2008). The Asian Influence on Hollywood Action Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-3403-9. Retrieved 2024-03-10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Elder, Robert K., ed. (2005). John Woo: Interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers Series. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-776-3. Retrieved 2023-11-29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Elder, Robert K. "John Woo: Movie by Movie, 1968 to 1990". In Elder (2005).
  • Woo, John. "John Woo: Early Oral History". In Elder (2005).
• Hall, Kenneth E. (2012). John Woo: The Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-4040-5. Retrieved 2024-03-06.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Heard, Christopher (2000). Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo. Lone Eagle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58065-021-2. Retrieved 2023-12-05.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Morton, Lisa (2016). The Cinema of Tsui Hark. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-4460-1. Retrieved 2024-03-07.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

External links

• A Better Tomorrow II at IMDb
• A Better Tomorrow II at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• A Better Tomorrow II at AllMovie
• A Better Tomorrow II at Letterboxd
• A Better Tomorrow II at the TCM Movie Database