|
don't think it's too much hyperbole to say that John Woo's "A Better
Tomorrow" changed how the world looked at Hong Kong cinema. The film
centers around two childhood friends who also happen to be counterfeiters, Mark
(would-be International superstar Chow Yun-Fat) and Ho (former '70s kung fu
action star Ti Lung). As the film opens, the two men are living the high
life and lighting cigars with paper money. But as is often the case with these
gangster movies, the end of their reign is right around the corner.
That end comes when Ho is double-crossed
and sentenced to prison, prompting
Mark to do what all gangsters are wont to do in Heroic Bloodshed films -- namely seek revenge at the
earliest possible convenience. During a gunfight with a room full of rival
gangsters, Mark is wounded, but not before perforating the room's occupants in a
hail of slow-motion and bullets. But the wound makes Mark a liability, and soon
an up-and-coming gangster has wrested the criminal empire that Mark and Ho had
built away.
Meanwhile, Ho is
released from prison determined to go straight, not just for his own sake, but
for his kid brother Kit (Leslie Cheung, "Inner
Senses"), a rookie cop whose blood ties to a known gangster has all but
destroyed any career advancement opportunities. But as is often the case in
films of this genre, the "going straight" part turns out to be a
notion mined with obstacles. One of those obstacles come in the form of Ho's
former protégé, now the head of the criminal empire, who has been keeping Mark
in the garage, relegated to bum duties.
What you have in "Tomorrow" is a movie that combines Sam
Peckinpah's notoriously violent shootouts (think a Hong Kong version of "The
Wild Bunch") with a style that hasn't been seen before. Unlike the
"Godfather" movies that came before it, "Tomorrow" is gritty
and dirty and jagged around the edges. Of course the gritty look can be blame on
poor Hong Kong filmstock, a common problem with films of the era, but in this
case the harsh aesthetics work to the film's advantage.
The action, not surprisingly, is stellar. Those familiar
with Woo's works know that he doesn't go for realism. The shootouts are stylish,
even if they are a little rough around the edges. Back in 1986, John Woo ("Windtalkers")
was still trying to define his style. Still, one can see the kernels of
inspiration everywhere, from the gunplay to the overwrought themes of
brotherhood and loyalty and how family means everything. "A Better
Tomorrow" was one of Woo's first films to explore the Heroic Bloodshed
genre, where tough men bonded in the heat of battle and a whole lot of people
died as a result.
But if Woo made the movie a hit with his trend-setting
style, the actors do it with their chops. Although he was a supporting actor,
Chow Yun-Fat ("Bulletproof
Monk") would eventually come out of "A Better Tomorrow" as an
international star. And there's absolutely no reason why he shouldn't have. His
performance here is superb, rife with compassion, coolness, and vulnerability.
No one could have played Mark better than Fat. No one. The lead was
actually Ti Lung ("First
Shot"), a long-time veteran of the Hong Kong industry, having made his
name in the '70s with kung fu films. Lung's low-energy performance might be one
of the main reasons no one remembers that Lung was the original star of the
movie.
For those who want to see where Woo's style came from,
"A Better Tomorrow" is certainly a great start. As mentioned, it's
sometimes too rough around the edges, and the Hong Kong film stock is a bit hard
to stomach. Even so, this is a masterwork of Hong Kong cinema, and it's always a
worthwhile effort to re-visit a master's early works.
|
