![]() But there's not really much to invest in any one character, and no actor here is like a Chow Yun-Fat or even a Ti-Lung, who were two major assets to the success of Woo's film as real actors with real star appeal. ![]() and then gets shot through the knee and his cool is taken down a peg. Most memorable for me some time after the movie's end is when a character, after shooting up a massage parlor loaded with bad guys and with only a minor wound in his shoulder, walks away with sunglasses on, trench-coat on, and is trying to look super-cool. It's a thriller that has a few decent performances (I couldn't tell you exactly who as I left before the credits rolled, albeit the main gangster villain reminded me of the villain from Oldboy, and it's that's the case then very good work there by a proved guy). ![]() It takes the ingredients of the original story- a tale of brothers and betrayal, cops and gangsters, and a showdown at a big dock/shipping yard (that last part was the one thing that really stuck out most among set- pieces, and it's recreated here)- and just makes it. Suffice to say it's not anything to write home about. I decided to let the movie speak for itself maybe someone would riff of of Woo's film while putting his own distinct take on the material. And no, lo and behold, it was really a remake (I can tell this as not an accident as Woo himself is credited here as exec producer). Hmm, I thought, is it Korean? I thought it was from HK, like Woo's films usually are, but maybe it's dubbed in Korean for the community. I was even told (perhaps misleadingly to buy a ticket and/or concessions) that it was the 80's Woo film, albeit "Korean". What better way to see Woo's film, I thought, than on a big screen like one of the ones at my local theater. So surprised I was then to see that my local cineplex- which often gets Asian films to cater to the the nearby town that is predominantly Korean- that 'A Better Tomorrow' would be coming to that theater for a two-week run. It was a classic unto itself, if not as polished as The Killer or as crazy as Hard Boiled with just as much (or more) genuine heart to its dramatic acting and story. Chow Yun-Fat in his break-out role and performance that made him a star in Hong Kong) in trench-coats and ray-ban sunglasses with big friggin guns firing away in blazing battles staged with a balletic precision and melodramatic (or just operatic) sleight of hand by John Woo. A Better Tomorrow - for some of us cinephiles the film's name brings to mind images of guys (i.e.
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