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A Better Tomorrow II

A Better Tomorrow II

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Almost as good as the original
Review: As a favor to friend Dean Shek, who was going towards bankruptcy, John Woo followed up his hit with A BETTER TOMORROW II. Surprisingly, it's almost as good as the original. Everything's great here and it's not too melodramatic as the original was. Chow Yun Fat, although not as cool as in the original, comes back with a temper as his character in ABT1's brother. Recommended for action fans and another must for Woo fans.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Mismatched
Review: This DVD distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment has flaws. First understand that the film's language is Chinese. DVD settings default to Chinese language and English subtitles. Fair enough. However, when playing English language with English subtitles, the spoken word and the written word are often so mismatched they have completely different meanings. My DVD showed a splice in the flim which ran diagonally for several frames, which is not a show stopper but just another indication of the poor DVD quality.

The Talent Bios on John Woo and Yun-Fat Chow are very enlightening. The film is a different story. The story line was often hard to follow because of such choppy scene changes. People just magically appeared, or the location would completely change, without any warning. Too many bad effects. The film was greatly disappointing for me, considering the director is John Woo and has Yun-Fat Chow in it. I purchased the DVD based on those two criteria, unseen, and it was a good lesson. That's the last time I shall purchase an unpreviewed movie based on the talent.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unknown
Review: Please read my other review on this film distributed by another studio, Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Doubles the Body count!!!
Review: John Woo doubles the body count in this ultra-violent and explosive sequel that surpasses the original.

It starts out that Mark Gor (who was killed-off in the original) has a twin brother living in New York owning a chinese restaraunt and is in troble with Italian mob and shelters a fomer hong kong traid boss on the ledge of insanity who was ran out of the hong kong traid mob now run by a more agressive leadership. Mark returns to hong kong teams up with Kit and Ho and together take down the traid mob that is now in partnership with the irish and italian mob.

Sertain elements from ABT2 was inspired by Quentin Tarrantino who use the black suite-white coller shirt-and black tie for the "Reservior Dogs". The final shoot-out in the manchent is one of the goriest and blooodist final gunfights ever put on film, as the three main characters use 9mm berettas,shoot-guns,mack-10s and samuri sward againts manchent full of no more of 100 mobsters with a thousand bullets comming from every direction, which makes Scarface and The Reservior Dogs on steriods.

The origanl ABT was about brotherhood,loyalty and honor, ABT 2 his about betryal and revenge. the first of the film is a bit dull but stars to improve by the second half. John Woo does a heck off a good job puting gun fight scenes together and making them into classics. Highly Recommed for True Woo fans

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Better" than the original
Review: For the fans of Woo, Fat, and this series you all know the facts. For those who don't it's simply Ti Lung and Fat taking on the mobb. The shoot-outs and action surpass the ones in the original and the story is much more powerful and intriguing, a must have for action fans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: If you have any dignity youll apologize to my rice!!
Review: If youve seen a better tomorrow, then I shouldnt have to tell you why you should watch A better tomorrow 2..If you havent seen a better tomorrow then see it then see ABT 2.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Sequel that Outguns the Orginal
Review: A Better Tommorrow II continues off where part 1 stops. This time, the mayhem finds its way from New York City to Hong Kong as gangsters and cops take on a relentless showdown of honor, loyality and revenge.

This film was rated to be one of the most awesome sequences of John Woo's entire career.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Review of Anchor Bay's DVD
Review: I recently watched Anchor Bay's version of A BETTER TOMORROW II, and I am quite pleased with it. I say this mainly because it has a good transfer and great subtitles.

The visuals are very good, especially for an "older" Hong Kong film. The picture is fairly sharp, the colors are vibrant, and there is not a lot of grain apparent. Occasionally there was a brief glitch with the picture, but it didn't amount to much and was only for a second (this happened maybe two or three times). Compared with Fox Lorber's THE KILLER and HARD BOILED DVDs, this Anchor Bay disc has a superior picture, and by a pretty good margin, too.

The subtitles were great. They were in yellow (thank God!) and also had a good translation. It was not like some of those Tai Seng products where they seem to have been translated by a third grader. Also, the subs come up at a good pace so you don't have to worry about not being able to keep up. There is the option to listen to an English dub, but I haven't checked it out.

For the sound, well, let's just say there isn't a whole lot to say. If you're looking for 5.1 surround sound to blow you away, better pop FACE/OFF back into your DVD player, because you're not getting it here. Sorry. There are no problems with the sound from a technical standpoint. I thought it was fine.

Now there are not many extras on this disc, as you can tell above. I saw no "extra footage." Just a couple trailers and some talent bios. The talent bios are actually not bad. They read like an article on Woo and Chow. They contain some worthy insights, too. Better than what you find on most DVDs.

So ... not many extras, and no 5.1 sound -- what I am doing giving this 4 stars? Well, the picture means a lot to me, as do the subtitles, and like I said, those are both of high quality. That's why I give it a thumbs up and a worthwhile buy, for sure.

As a film, I don't think it is one of Woo's great works, but it's still pretty good. I found the film and also the action to be slightly overrated by the other reviewers here. I also think it demands a second viewing before I can fully judge it. Like ABT1, I found the plot to be a litle on the confusing side.

Nevertheless, if you're a Woo fan, I would definitely recommend this DVD to you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action packed, yet fails the spirit of the first
Review: All your characters from the first are here, including some new ones. Overall above average action sequal marred by cliches, couple editing problems, and lacks the spirit of the first.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat
Review: This film is a sequal in every sense of the word. It begins with our 'hero' from the first film in prison, and his CID brother undercover with a Triad. Then we learn that Yun-Fat's character Mark from the first film has a twin brother named Ken, who was the top tough guy where he grew up, but he moved to New York to lead a normal life on the straight and narrow. When an old friend is set up, and goes into hiding, he comes across Ken who decides it's best to help the old friend, and eventually they return to Hong Kong to set things right. The shootout at the mansion in the last 30 minutes is all you expect from the Woo/Chow duo, big explosions through the house, Yun-Fat going around two pistols blazing. A Better Tomorrow II is definitely better than it's predecesor. If you're a John Woo, or Chow Yun-Fat fan, I highly recommend it to you.


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