A Better Tomorrow [Blu-ray]

I don't think I need to explain what makes this movie a must have, since most reviews already do that; however, there are features that need to be addressed before anyone makes a purchase on this movie. The two biggest issues with the movie are in terms of its language and musical audio. When you go to the language set up you will realize that the audio option that supports surround sound is the Cantonese audio. Some may not find this be an issue, but trust me you will want to watch the film in English. Why English? Because the original soundtrack got horrendously "redone" for the enhanced audio. Personally, I think the new soundtrack is considerably terrible when compared to that of the original, not just because the new tracks are garbage but because the placement doesn't make sense both thematically and logically. For example, there is a scene towards the end in which two character are having a conversation ride next to a choir of children. In the original sound mix, the children could be heard as background music while the conversation went on; however, in the remix an entirely different song cuts in right at the start of the conversation getting rid of both the mood and logic of the scene. Overall the movie is easily a 5/5, but the audio is about a 2/5

I have been collecting Blu-rays for the past year. It's fun to see all the films that stand out in my memory all over again.This Blu-ray release of A Better Tomorrow is one of my favorites so far. It's absolutely beautiful. Most Blu-rays have a few shots that look bad, and this one is no different. But, when this one looks good it looks GREAT, and that's most of the time.I like that the original audio track is featured. The subtitles look nice, even though you have to keep your brain's autocorrect turned on for the translation. If you can't do that, don't blame the Blu-ray.Can't have everything, but then again I wouldn't change a thing. Essential release in my opinion. A must for fans of John Woo!

A Better Tomorrow is John Woo's best film on a dramatic level, and runs a hard bargain against The Killer, Hard Boiled and a couple Ringo Lam movies as the quintessential heroic bloodshed flick. In short, it's a masterpiece.Much like the rest of classic Hong Kong action cinema, though, the US distribution has been less than respectful. The Chinese audio track of the original Anchor Bay release simply copied the one from the previous crappy Tai Seng release, which tampered with the soundtrack of the original film and added music from random Hollywood films in certain scenes. The original Anchor Bay release inherited these defects. To their credit, they recalled the original version and put out a fixed second version with the original (no new music) Chinese mono.You can tell the difference by looking at the back: the bad Anchor Bay version has stereo Cantonese audio, and the corrected version has mono. On Amazon, there's no way to tell them apart short of emailing the seller and asking.Even the corrected mono version isn't flawless; there's a 10 second audio dropout at the very beginning, but it's not during anything important, so it's a negligible error if you're not very picky.

Blu Ray Review: Kam & Ronson version. Don't listen to the morons who cry about picture quality and all that $#!+! This Blu Ray version is great. You got to understand that Chinese film industry did not take care of their film prints because high and likely they did not predict home video. Besides, older movies are better if they shows their age anyways so long as if it is watchable enough. Picture quality is very watchable and the audio is good but I wish they had a mono soundtrack. Subtitles are coherent. Don't know if they are accurate enough because I don't speak Chinese. Extras is some Code Of Bullets thing, a trailer and an interview.Movie Review: This is one of John Woo's best films next to the Killer, Hard Boiled and Bullet In The Head. Though I tend to tilt more towards the mindless, stupid action movies like AH-nold films or American B-movies, I actually like the fact that this movie actually tries to be emotional as well as destructive and bloody. No one can do it better than John Woo. So die, b!+(#es!Conclusion: 4 stars for the Blu Ray (questionable audio) and 4 1/2 for A Better Tomorrow.

John Woo at one of his best. Never get tired of Chow Yun Fat. I own the first two on blu ray and have seen the third one. His movies never disappoint. John Woo pre Hollywood are his best. Also watch Killer and Hard Boiled.

My first viewing of this just blew me away. Ti Lung was a revelation as the gangster older brother of a young cop. His eyes throughout the film break you heart.I originally bought the VHS for Chow Yun Fat since I had become a huge fan of his work in Anna & The King. I can see why this film took him to super stardom. You can't take your eyes off him when he is on screen. Together he and Ti Lung create a very affecting team - one gangster wanting to go straight after 3 years in prison; and the other who has been horribly wounded in a gun fight that left him crippled and doing menial tasks after being the top enforcer for the mob.The wild card in the story is Ti Lungs younger brother who is the cop trying to move up in rank, and who blames his brother for their fathers death. How it all comes to a climax is one great film story and the action sequences are almost too much for the eyes to take in and leave you with your mouth open.Highly recommended for action fans or anyone wanting to see a bit of film history - this was a landmark film.

This is a review of the 2007 Region 2 DVD from Studiocanal’s ‘Optimum Asia’ label. It plays in 16:9, Mono sound, and has apparently been digitally restored and remastered. The film is, for the most part, in its original Cantonese with good English subtitles.Obtaining Hong Kong films in a satisfactory version is tricky. We experienced appalling dubbing on a version of ‘Hard Boiled’, and some editions look little better than pirated VHS videos. The initial quality of the original film is possibly also questionable. Overall, the quality of Studiocanal’s edition of ‘A Better Tomorrow’ is good. The colour looks a little washed out, the image quality is not particularly sharp, but it is perfectly watchable. The subtitle option is superior to dubbing. Here, there were a few conversations with Europeans that were dubbed, unpersuasively, into English. However, they are short, and just at the start of the film, so did not spoil things.This 90 minute Hong Kong film from 1986, following two Triad gangsters trying to go straight, has proved to be profoundly influential on both local cinema, and also film world-wide. And marking the first collaboration between director John Woo and one of the lead actors, Chow Yun-fat, it was instrumental in turning them both into major stars.John Woo was born in Guangzhou, China, but his family fled to Hong Kong when he was 5. He was raised in a Triad-controlled slum, but received a Christian education and developed a life-long love of French cinema. He began work in the local movie business, directing Martial Arts films. Chow grew up in a poor Hong Kong family, but answered an advert for a job on TV, and became a considerable star. But his attempts to move into film were financial disasters, as were Woo’s mid-80s films.However, Woo had a personal project, based on a script he had co-written ~ ’A Better Tomorrow’. He received backing, and Chow joined the cast. Despite a tight budget, Woo’s script, direction and vision, coupled with Chow’s performance, created a kind of alchemy. With virtually no advertising, the film broke Box Office records locally, and across Asia. When the Hong Kong Film Awards unveiled their list of 100 Best Chinese films in 2005, to celebrate a century of Chinese cinema, ‘Tomorrow’ came 2nd.Besides its seismic effect on the careers of both Woo and Chow, importantly, the film popularised the perspective offered by the film to Triads specifically, crime film characterisation and the portrayal of violence. It founded an entire genre in Hong Kong called ‘Heroic Bloodshed’. These are films that contain: masses of action (often highly stylised); huge amounts of gun play and gore; ‘ethical’ gangster heroes helping bad gangsters’ victims; an emphasis on 'brotherhood'; and buckets of emotion. ‘Tomorrow’s’ approach is quite ‘comic book’, and the start, particularly, is self-consciously ‘hammy’. However, the story is exciting, the excellent action sequences unrelenting, and everyone participates with enormous gusto. What’s not to like!

My comments are for this MIA release rather than the StudioCanal 2007 release which I understand has a very different soundtrack tacked on. This MIA release has the original soundtrack but picture quality is just okay depending on the kind of TV one has. On mine, I can adjust the picture that upgrades picture quality a tad. I have the MIA Special box edition VHS and had to get this on dvd despite poor comments regarding picture and sound quality.On this MIA label release, the sound quality is great and uses the original soundtrack. Picture quality is just okay depending on whether you can adjust the picture on your TV.Had to remove one star as this film should have been released with better picture quality in this day and age and it is a crying shame that such a classic piece of Hong kong cinema should not have been so upgraded for better viewing pleasure!Am not a gun play movie fan, but this film has a really great story that packs quite an emotional punch. All fans of gun play heroic bloodshed and/or the gangster genre should include this gem in their collection. It was this film that led me on to Woo's classic 'The Killer', 'Once a Thief', 'Hard boiled', and 'Face-off'.

So here we have (at last) a good looking transfer of this classic movie, with good subs, some good extras and at an affordable price.This film has been mistreated on DVD for years, and only a very expensive OOP Asian release of all 3 "ABT" films gave it a worthy release.So here we had a God send! An easy to get, affordable release...AND THEY BLEW IT!!!!!For some reason known only to them they gave this otherwise fine release a totally messed up audio track that replaces most of the original well known music with stolen cues from the likes of "Speed" and....wait for it..."Forest Gump"!!!So any fan of the movie will be sorely grieved to see so many scenes they know and love ruined by alien music gremlins!I HATE them for messing up this essential release.

An OK Woo heroic bloodshed movie from the mid 80s. It's very dated though. However, how on earth can the DVD be called 'Ultimate'. The print of the movie is an old European copy - it's very soft in places and some scenes just look horrible on the eyes. If you're used to the superb 'Hong Kong Legends' titles this isn't a patch on them. Extra's wise it falls down too. There's a ood Bey Logan commentary on disc one, disc two includes a John Woo documentary - not one specific to 'A Better Tomorrow' - it's not that good either spending a lot of time on Woo's Hollywood career. And there's a couple interviews. Not so much Ulimate as the 'That'll do for now' edition. However, the movies enjoyable enough and we're unlikely to see a better copy in the near future. There's just a lot of better examples of this kind of movie out there.

The movie deserves full five stars, but I'd give this edition zero stars, if I could. This "special" edition is so bad video-vise, like the direct transfer from VHS, hardsubbed, the picture is jumping, is blurred, just bad, bad! And audio is out of sync, too. Okay, it is widescreen, but as the picture is so blurred, you can't admire this either. I would love to have this movie in some decent format, but this is just a waste of the money!