A Better Tomorrow was a hole in my John Woo and Hong Kong cinema that I wanted to fill, People have raved about it for years, that it helped define a generation of HKers and became a cult classic among North American film lovers.

It features melodrama and lots of gunplay. It also has a strong cast, Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, and Chow Yun-Fat. It’s got a fun story that definitely leans towards the melodramatic. Lung Ti is Tse-Ho, a gangster who loves working with his fellow gangster, Mark (Chow Yun-Fat), but his younger brother, Tse-Kit (Cheung) has just graduated the police academy.

He wants to step away, but life gets in the way. His father is killed when the gang wants to ensure Tse-Ho keeps quiet. He does. He goes to prison for three years, and keeps his mouth shut while his brother works to be a good cop, and Mark is cast aside by the gang when he’s injured on a job.

Out of prison, Tse-Ho wants to do right by his kid brother and go straight, but things keep conspiring to pull him back. The gang, overseen by Shing (Waise Lee) has become more vicious and is determined to pull Tse-Ho back in.

Refusing to give in, and wanting a better tomorrow for his brother, Tse-Ho is going to face the consequences of his past, and perhaps, bring down Shing in the process.

It’s big, violent, and entertaining. That being said, it’s not my favorite Woo film, from either side of the pond. It’s got all of the melodrama of The Killer, but Hard-Boiled feels like a better-crafted film, and then there’s his North American work, some of which I truly adore.

There is a common musical motif that recurs constantly throughout the film, which gives it a poignant feel and Lung Ti carries that poignancy in his performance. Yes, it’s overly melodramatic, but that’s the storytelling style. And as such, it works wonderfully.

Woo also casts himself in the role of a police inspector, popping up a couple of times in the film.

It’s big, it’s fun, but it’s not everything I wanted from what has been called one of the biggest films ever of Hong Kong cinema. That being said, Chow Yun-Fat is always awesome, and he’s practically iconic in this film, especially in the first third of the film before everything goes off the rails for the characters.

Now, I just want to dig into more Woo films – might be time for a Hard Boiled rewatch.