Rating: 
Summary: Violent to absurdity...but still fun...
Review: First off, this is, in my opinion, no way better than the original A Better Tomorrow. I mean the plot is really all over the place, or non existent depending on perspective. The character development is nothing really if you've seen the first one. I mean, the relationship between the two brothers isn't any different than in the first movie. It's nice to see the characters revisited, but there's nothing new here. It takes a minute for the signature John Woo style of action to really kick into gear, but when it does, man he goes all out with this one. Seriously, they must've killed like 100 guys in the final shootout alone. It was surreal, hilarious and exhilirating all at once. There were moments where about 15 men would walk out of a room and all get mowed down with machine gun fire abruptly. And of course there's plenty of sliding, diving, two gun action we've all come to love from John. Chow Yun sliding down the stairs was great. Speaking of Chow Yun, his acting's great as always. You can tell he's just having fun with this part, though. Like, after the first one he told John "I don't want a really serious character." His character, Ken, means business, but he's not like in the first movie when he was Mark. Mark was the cool killer turned lackey with a limp, and you sympathized with him. That original story was about as tearjerker as an action film gets with exceptions to The Killer and The Professional. In this sequel it's not taken quite as seriously, in spite of moments that in a less outrageously violent movie would be considered tragic. And I'll always love how John Woo isn't afraid to kill any main character. You never know who's gonna get it. Bottom line, it's good fun. Not great fun, but good fun.
Rating: 
Summary: OK gangster movie
Review: The movie gives the impression of various parts being put together that don`t have much in common. The action sequences praised by some did not have the explosive quality of the action sequences of A Better Tomorrow I, nor the emotional content. There are only two major shoot-outs in the movie: the first one has chow yun-fat gunning down american gangsters in a hotel with a shotgun (a sequence that is a bit too similar to the sequence in The Getaway where Steve McQueen guns down cops with a shotgun in a hotel (Peckinpah is one of the major influences on Woo); the second one is the final shoot-out and it comes close to self-parody (the baddies are mowed down in groups à la Commando) (Watching it, I even woundered if Woo directed most of this shoot-out - I know there were problems between Woo and Hark during the making of the movie.) The actors have more or less no intensity during the whole movie: they hardly seem to be playing the same characters as in the first one. The first third seems to be a rip-off of the Godfather, then the story is chucked out the window with Chow appearing as the twin brother: the first in a series of cheesy moments. The hit-man that kills Leslie Cheung is an obvious rip-off of Melville`s hitman: Le Samourai (A stoic silent hitman that waits for the other guy to draw before shooting). The movie seems like a waste of the talent of everyone involved. Overall watchable B gangster movie but is no comparison with the original A Better Tomorrow, a mythic melodrama masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Woo's first GREAT film
Review: While ABT was really good it cant compare to this. This movie is ten times better then the original. Chow Yun-Fat gets to be cooler then he did in the original. now more hobling around on his leg. He gets to show his coolness. The story here was also a lot better. People say its slow but i disagree. its always entertaining due to WOo's awesome direction. He has a true eye for visuals. All the actors due expert turns. Also the action here is 1000 times better then what was in ABT one is quality but probably not quantity. And the ending. I know others have said stuff but i need to contribute. The ending is one of the top 10 gunfights ever put to film. the three main chracters take uzis, .45's, grenades, shotguns and strangely, a samuri sword, go to the mobsters mansion , and kill about 50 people while themselves being filled with holes. THe bad guys get whats coming to them. Also included is a ruthless hitman w/ out one word of dialouge. I love it when Chow and the Hitman bump into each other and start shooting..classic. Overall this is Woo's first GREAT film and not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: 3rd best John Woo movie
Review: The best is Hard Boiled, the second best is The Killer, so you get the idea how good this movie is. The final battle in the mansion is amazing, making me wanna kill everyone I don't like. Like the movie says, for everything we do, there is always payback, and good people will always receive good payback.
Rating:
Summary: A Better Sequal
Review: I think this is the only sequal to a movie that is better than the first. Don't get me wrong, a better tomorrow was a great film. But this sequal is a much more action packed emotional masterpeice. (If you can belive it?) It is unfortunate that some for whatever reason do not grasp or realize the power and excellence of this film. Being a former (note: REFORMED) drug dealer/buisness man, there were a few scene's which were riviting. The first (im not going to spoil it!) being when uncle lung calls his enemy's who think he's dead, and proceeds to calmly tell them he is in town, and is fine. And sublimily stating I am going to come over there and take care of all of you for selling me out. And the other being the shoot out between chow yun fat and the sunglass wearing hitman. This was truly the greatest gun fight in movie history. John Wayne could take a lesson from that. Enough about the movie, now the DVD: I am used to a grainly bootleg VHS of this movie. This DVD is an outstanding high quality version of this great film. If you like this movie or are a chow yun fat/john woo fan, then its a must hae. One note, in order to see this film in it's pure state, do not watch it with english dubbing. Use the sub titles. The english dubbing is often corny and desicrates the entire film. Finally this great film is on DVD, viewed in my opinion as John Woo's 3rd greatest film (Killer #1, Hardboiled #2,) it will not leave you disapointed. Unless you are over demanding, and exspect every DVD to have every little perk and a chow yun fat video game in it.
Rating:
Summary: FORGET Better Tomorrow I - buy this one
Review: Better Tomorrow was one of the most boring John Woo movies I've ever watched. Over and over again Chow Yun Fat whined and the other guy tried to make things right with his whiny brother played by Leslie Cheung. Even the final gunfight lacked the charm of other Woo movies. This movie, on the other hand, is amazing. The first five minutes give you all you need to know to keep up. And then it's off to America to see the TWIN BROTHER of the Chow Yun Fat character from the first movie (yes, we know it's a soap opera plot device, but who cares?) runnign a restaurant as gangsters with a distinctly Chinese-British-phony Italian accent try to run him out of business. His "You don't like my rice" line is classic as he has them apologize to his rice. Anyhow anotehr gangster comes to stay with Chow Yun Fat and it turns out that his associates want to kill him (and kill his daughter pretty fast too) and so Chow is in the midst of the gun battle. Shortly thereafter Lesli Cheung gets shot, insists upon calling his wife and in the time he spends talking to her he could have had those bullets removed. I'm just saying. ANyhow it all comes down to one of the most kinetic, drawn-out, enjoyable battles in history of films as the three take guns, rifles, machetes and basic cooless in order to wipe out the entire Hong Kong gangster structure at once. I just can't say enough about how cool the final gun battle is. I don't even remember the boring parts then (and tehre are ALWAYS boring parts in Hong Kong movies. The Killer suffers from the 5th or 6th viewing becasuse of those damn guilty conscience scenes and musical montages) and I even forgive Woo for the first subpar movie (I almost forgive Chow Yun Fat for being in City on Fire, but I can't take it too far now) So buy this movie. Or wait until a better DVD comes out as indicated by another reviewer. But definitely go see it if it comes to a theater near you.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst film I have ever seen. REALLY!
Review: Now don't get me wrong, John Woo is one of my favorite filmmakers. Yet, A Better Tomorrow 2 is his worst film. When such formulaic action and melodrama goes completely wrong, you get the monstrocity that is this film. This is the single most unbalanced, excessively violent, and meaningless piece of junk I've ever layed eyes on.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie, Disappointing DVD
Review: This movie is the best of the "Better Tomorrow" trilogy and one of John Woo's best Hong Kong releases after "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer". It takes off right after "A Better Tomorrow" with Chow Yun Fat returning as Mark's twin brother Ken. It starts off a little slow, but it's essential to character development (which most action films of this genre lack). The ending has one of the best and bloodiest shootout sequences in the series. Some of the scenes in this end sequence you may remeber being shown in Tarentino's "True Romance". The two stars keeping this movie from getting a five star rating was due to the quality of the DVD. Although the packaging of the DVD was nice, the booklet inside was merely an advertisement and had no information for this movie. To my disappointment there was NO EXTRA FOOTAGE or BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE as advertised and it left me feeling ripped off. The DVD just merely contained actor's and director's files which looked like it was taken directly from the IMDB (www.imdb.com). The subtitles were poorly translated with constant grammatical, spelling and timing errors, which made most the dialogue confusing. The colors were muted and in some of the dark scenes, what was supposed to be black turned a bright blue - yuck!. The only real difference between the DVD and the VHS version was the remastered Dolby Digital sound and widescreen letterboxed aspect ratio (1.85:1). The only reason that I didn't return this version of the DVD is that the only other version is on VHS and it's $13 more than the DVD. So if you are planning on purchasing this, I'd wait, there are plans for a superior version to be released in the fall.
Rating:
Summary: Classic John Woo/Chow Yun Fat
Review: Y'know, John Woo movies are either love or hate. If you've seen The Killer, or Hard Boiled, and didn't like them, then look elsewhere. But if you love Woo's flicks as much as I do, break out the plastic. The movie, much like Woo's recent hit Mission Impossible 2, starts off slow and builds to a dynamite ending. The sub titles are atrocious, and some of the scenes are laughable, but DANG. The end is payoff. Also note: If you haven't seen A Better Tomorrow then the story will make NO sense to you at all.
Rating:
Summary: A bloody mess, and bloody great
Review: RE: IF YOU LOVE THIS FILM, YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT (review posted below). I know that maestro Woo is fond of saying "I hate violence" and claiming that his movies are anti-violence, etc. This is a fine illustration of the maxim about trusting an artist's work rather than his words. Whatever his stated feelings about (real-world) violence, Johnny-Boy loves the thrill of (fictional) violence for its own sake, and that fact is written all over his movies. He glorifies it far more than he critiques it. The gore and destruction are too ecstatic and aestheticized for any other honest interpretation. So let's cut the hooey about that. You're absolutely right, though, about this: there's more than carnage to Woo's work, this movie included. I would submit that ABTII is ten times more emotionally involving than most movies of its type, and funny to boot. And I don't need to repeat what others have said about the visuals and that jaw-dropping climax. Is it coherent? No, but neither are "Bullet in the Head" or "Hard-Boiled," really; coherence has never been Woo's strong suit, or that of HK cinema in general. Is it deep? Course not. But it's got the flair and the balls to make up for both deficiencies.
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