Yinghung bunsik II (A Better Tomorrow II, 1988)

John Woo

Hong Kong

104 min, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)

Uncle Lung, we're dying. Can we go now?

In the first installment of what was clearly not indended to be a series, the main protagonist Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) dies riddled with bullets. The success of the film apparently took everyone by surprise, and Chow's ultra-cool portrayal of a nice (unless he's killing people) triad made it virtually impossible to do a sequel with him. The problem, of course, was that there was no way to bring back Mark unless some serious fantasy elements were introduced in the plot. (This, by the way, is why when you kill off a main character you should always do it in a way to make it possible to resurrect him later!)

So what did Woo do? He did the old voodoo. When the proverbial shit hit the fan and the good guys found themselves in dire need of additional firepower, it just so happened that Mark turned out to have had a TWIN BROTHER who was apparently a real badass but has now taken to cooking oversalted rice in New York. Somehow Ken (the bro, also played by Chow) just knows how to handle everything from a medium-sized gun (there are no small guns in Woo's world) to a nuclear submarine (although we are not shown that last bit). He also moonlights as a rather successful shrink.

In this installment there is (mercifully) no male bonding whatsoever, everyone comes pre-bound for viewer's convenience. The women are pushed even farther into the background, one of them pregnant and the other dead. Ho (Ti Lung) is serving his umpteenth short sentence in prison for blowing up everyone in episode one, Kit is tracking down some evil boss by the name of Lung (Dean Shek) by self-sacrificially sleeping with his daughter Peggy (the delicious Regina Kent). Mark, ahem, pardon me, Ken is having trouble with some local extortionists who want to "protect" his restaurant from themselves. (It is never clear why they show up at this time after apparently allowing him to run the place for years.) These guys are truly bad because they diss rice and speak English with foul accents. Everyone who doesn't have a British accent should die.

Then it turns out that Lung isn't too bad. In fact, he's almost good, especially if one forgets his rather bloody past. He has the same problem Ho did in the first episode: he wants to go straight but nobody believes him. In fact, nobody has been believing him for the last fifteen years, which just goes to show what slow learners triads really are. Ho is released to entrap Lung, Lung is cheated by his underling (damnit, one should always keep a close eye on these ungrateful bastards), Lung is evacuated to America, Peggy dies, and Lung goes crazy after witnessing a charity self-serve lunch in a church. When Ken's restaurant is finally protected by the foul-speaking guys, he has nothing to lose and plunges into healing Lung through shock therapy.

We all know where it goes from here. They have to get the bad guys. Unfortunately, in the process Kit also dies from the shock of the long-distance telephone charges when he calls his wife (Emily Chu) who is in the hospital hvaing recently lost much weight. We now definitely know what's going to happen. Everyone will die. Most certainly.

The final shootout is something that no self-respecting fan of heroic bloodshed should miss. Our three friends (Ho, Ken, and Lung) go to the evil minion's mansion. The mansion houses 34,838 evil people who all wear the same suit and who tend to pile rather unsightly when killed. The action is superb, with lots of bullets, grenades, a samurai sword, a duel, a halberd, and a great finale. I actually watched it twice in a row just to soak fully in the carnage. The ending was superb: the three friends reclining in sofas, dying of their wounds, amid rivers of blood and human body decor.

Woo has never avoided melodrama. He accepts it, embraces it, and then wallows in it like a pig in a sty. The result, to everyone's surprise, is just as tasty as a well-cooked pork chop. Sometimes I feel a bit embarrassed when watching certain scenes (e.g. Lung with the orange) because the director is so obviously milking the situation for tearjerk effect. But at other times I really like the result (e.g. Kit dying in the phone booth) even if it is just as obvious and sentimental. If we are supposed to sympathize with the predicament of triads trying to go straight, I say "Phlueeeeaze!"

Why is it so hard to be a good person?
Dunno. I've managed to go almost thirty years now without killing anybody.

The Anchor Bay DVD sports widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic transfer that is a little better than their release of the first film. The mono Cantonese soundtrack is a bit muffled but at least does not have that godawful echo that many remixes do. The translation is excellent and the subtitles very readable. Chow is a bit hard to understand when he speaks English at the restaurant but for an absolutely hilarious effect try watching it with the English dub track. Bios for Woo and Chow, and two trailers. That is, no extras to speak of.

February 27, 2003