n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Review: Like the first movie, this complex storyline has enough elements to keep it interesting throughout and the gun action from Chow Yun-Fat was great. The showdown at the end was impressive and John Woo added some emotional scenes which will touch people who enjoyed the first movie. On the down side, there is a lack of action and it does look a bit dated but apart from that, it's an enjoyable ride. In this sequel Sung Tse-Ho (Ti Lung), is offered early parole to spy on his former boss, Lung Sei (Dean Shek) who is suspected of heading a counterfeiting money operation. When Ho finds out that his younger brother, Kit (Leslie Cheung) is working undercover on the same case, Ho agrees to go undercover so his brother can be with his pregnant wife. When Ho meets up with Kit, they agree to work together on the case. After a heated alteration with a crime boss, Lung is framed for his murder and he seeks help from Ho to escape to New York. While Lung is in hiding, he receives news about his daughters murder which makes him have a psychotic breakdown and eventually gets put into a mental institution. Ho then finds out that his old partner in crime, Mark Lee (Chow Yun-Fat), has a twin brother, Ken, who was a former gang member and decided to go legitimate by opening his own restaurant in New York. When Ho gets in touch with Ken, he asks for his help to nurse Lung back to good health. Ken is also being hunted down by American gangsters who want protection money for his restaurant, so he goes into hiding with Lung and tries to keep him safe from the assassins who want him dead in Hong Kong. After a massive shootout at there apartment, Lung gains his sanity when he sees Ken in trouble and he saves Ken's life by taking out the last of the hit men. They then go back to Hong Kong and link up with Ho and Kit to find out who is trying to murder Lung. He soon realises that his former employee, Ko Ying-Pui (Kwan Shan), has taken over the organisation and is responsible for his daughters death and the attempts on his life, so they put together a plan to take him out. Although Ho tells his brother, Kit, to be with his wife, he goes of on a mission to destroy Ko which goes completely wrong and takes his life. After Kit's funeral, Ho, Ken & Lung gather all the ammunition that they can, to kill Ko and his many henchmen. I'm glad that I watched these movies back to back because I didn't like the fact that they killed off Chow Yun-Fat in the first movie. His twin brother is exactly the same and has the same mannerisms as Mark, so I'm glad that they wrote him back in. Without him, the movie wouldn't have been anywhere as good as the first movie but as soon as his character is introduced, the film really does pick up. Both movies seem basically about Kit dragging his brother back into the criminal world, so I would like to see what happens in the third movie in this franchise, if I can get my hands on it. Anyway, I did enjoy this film because of the detailed storyline and Chow Yun-Fat's character but it did drag in parts. Watchable! Round-Up: Whilst making this movie, John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had constant disagreements about the focus of this film which led to them both editing the final cut. Tsui wanted the film to be based around Lung's character, who has the mental breakdown but Woo decided to focus on Ho. After making this film, John Woo decided not to make the 3rd instalment, which was finally made by Tsui Hark and was not in the same league as the previous movies in this franchise. John Woo went on to make the Killer with Chow Yun-Fat, which got rave reviews and became popular hit around the globe. That just shows you how unique John Woo's vision is.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/drama's starring Chow Yun-Fat, Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, Dean Shek and Shan Kwan. 4/10

Rarely are sequels as good or better than the first, however, this film holds up very well. Chow Yun-Fat is certainly the true king of action films. His roles are what action fans love (the hero doesn't always come out smelling like roses, or alive at the end) and make his characters more believable.The shootout at the film's climax is the stuff of legend. The choreography is well done and the gun sounds are loud and more authentic. I am very impressed with this film.Now, as far as plot goes........fairly simple: Murdered ex-gangster's twin brother who nobody knew existed comes looking for revenge on the men responsible for his brother's death. Simple yet entertaining.

The original A Better Tomorrow is one of my all time favorite films. The sequel, not so much. The serious change in style really hurts this muddled sequel. The main focus of the film seems to be undecided, obviously it should have been on our two lead brothers in the first film, Kit and Ho. But they seem to take a back seat to newbie Dean Shek, and the returning Chow Yun-Fat. SPOILER ALERT Now wait a minute... didn't Chow Yun-Fat's character die at the end of the original A Better Tomorrow? The character of Mark Gor was definitely dead at the end of the original, so Chow Yun-Fat returns to play his twin brother! That makes perfect sense, but it would have been better if there was any mention of him in the original movie. Instead, it feels like Chow Yun-Fat was just shoe horned in to meet popular demand. Our new character Ken is cool, although he is quite different to his brother. He more resembles Tequila, the character Mr Chow played in Hard Boiled, both physically, and in the way he acts. Apart from the lack of focus, A Better Tomorrow II is just too silly to properly be compared to its predecessor. Dean Shek's character seems to be able to casually drift in and out of sanity, and with Chow Yun-Fat yelling at him and throwing food all over the place it's hardly going to help him come back to health. This was actually one of those scenes that was so bad it was good. There are various other things that don't make sense, the majority of them being when Dean Shek's character went insane, which just shouldn't have happened in the first place. Now I watch A lot of action movies, and I always love a good stupid movie. But this is the last thing A Better Tomorrow should be, and so it left me disappointed. Still, the film has it's high points. Why else would I have given it a 7? The ridiculous "eat the rice!" scene is hilarious and memorable. The action is a huge improvement over the first movie, the ending action scene is one of the best of John Woo's entire career. Every action scene here is standard Woo, and then some, so they definitely get the job done. The movies drama isn't all bad, the story is pretty interesting (for this kind of movie). Still, in these areas, the sequel isn't a shadow of the original movie. The acting is all relatively good, not really any complaints (except when Dean Shek went insane). All in all, A Better Tomorrow II is a good movie, but it's lack of focus and serious change in style really hold it back, along with its silliness. It's widely known that there was a lot of behind the scenes squabbling that went on between Woo and producer Tsui Hark. And I can't help wonder, if Woo had just been left to make the movie we wanted, what kind of sequel would we have gotten?

After the movie 'A Better Tomorrow' became a big success around Hong Kong, a sequel was inevitable to happen. Most of the original cast return, including Chow Yun-Fat as Mark Lee's twin brother Ken.Taking place a few years after the events of the first film, we see how things are finally starting to look up. Ho is in prison but he's finally re concealed his relationship with his brother Kit, who has become a loving husband and soon to be father. But like the first film, things get bad real quick. Ho's former master Lung has been framed for murder and even loses his mind as his life gets worse. He's sent over to New York to keep a low profile and to be looked after by Ken who owns a restaurant and lives there. Meanwhile Ho and Kit are working together to end the triad gangs.This is where the problem starts. The first film revolved around Ho and the people around him, but this film spends way too much time with Ken trying to get Lung back to normal. Ho and Kit's plot seems to delve deeper into the main story ark, yet they never seem to get enough scenes. Ken is pretty much similar to Mark although he may be a little darker and you can tell he's only in the film because of Chow Yun-Fat's character was so popular in the last film.The film doesn't seem to make a huge continuation onto the first film either. Instead of being it's own story, it seems to just be an expansion of the first film, but not in a good way. We don't delve too much into the characters and they seem underused. The film is also known for having a sillier feel in a few scenes(Famous Rice Scene), but it didn't ruin the experience for me. These flaws are apparently due to disagreement between John Woo and producer/second writer Tsui Hark about the tone of the film, causing Woo to disown most of the film, except the end shootout. John Woo's original cut was around 3 hours and is rumoured to improve on some of the flawed moments. A version I hope will appear in some future release of the film.Now for the goods. The film seems to get noticeable better during the second half, beginning with the amazing hotel shootout. The film is well known for it's exaggerated violence and blood and the film doesn't disappoint. The action is a big step up from the first and some of the best ever filmed for its time. Chow Yun-Fat is once again cooler than ice, with his trademark sunglasses, trench coat, matchstick and dual pistols and may be one of the main appeals of the film. The Climatic assault on the triad mansion is one of the greatest shootouts and one of the greatest ending ever filmed. It's no wonder that it's the only thing Woo likes about the film. The amazing soundtrack returns and their are a few emotional scenes that actually work well.With many iconic scenes (The stairs scene being one), the film is a lot better than it gets credit for. The film is no masterpiece and doesn't compare to the first but it has its moments. Silly and flawed moments aside the film is actually quite enjoyable and as long as you keep an open mind, I think you'll enjoy this conclusion to the Better Tomorrow saga. Part 3 doesn't count!