A Better Tomorrow II

1987

1 hr. 38 min.

Action

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A policeman (Leslie Cheung) and a reformed gangster (Ti Lung) meet their dead friend's twin, employed by a New York mob boss.

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DanTheMan 2

The fact that A Better Tomorrow II somehow manages to form a somewhat cohesive narrative and deliver some more uproarious Woo action is nothing short of a miracle. While the moment-to-moment editing is extremely questionable, seriously, the number of hard cuts in this movie that feel like we're jumping over some very necessary details; all get thrown out the door for an absolutely brilliant finale that is more than a highlight in Woo's already-stacked repertoire. The absolute mess of its production is infamous, with John Woo and Tsui Hark constantly disagreeing with each other over how the film should go eventually resulting in two different versions of the film being shot, separately edited and then edited together again by another team. Honestly, if someone were to find the original film elements of this movie, you could most likely cobble together, at minimum, 5 different cuts putting Blade Runner to shame. Chow Yun-fat is completely unhinged in this one, be it crying over some rice or nearly being blown up due to an explosion gone wrong, I love it. Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung retain their great performances of certified bromance which made the original so endearing. Joseph Koo's soundtrack is great, at least when he isn't egregiously overusing the main theme at every possible moment. For what it's worth, however, while this film may be an unfocused mess, it's still ridiculously entertaining with all of Woo's loveable trademarks still very much in place.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/06/23

Full Review

Jimmy P

Just watch the last twenty minutes or so.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

a better tomorrow two is a perfect storm of an amazing movie. it wouldn't exist without disagreement and compromise between director and producer and you can feel all of it's production tensions play out on the screen in the very best of ways.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Audience Member

Manages to make the whole twin brother thing work. It is a lazy reason to bring back Chow Yun-Fat who died in the first film. The movie would suck without him, so who cares.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

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Audience Member

Just as good as the first one John Woo's Masterpiece.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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s r

Painful and cheesy, but I gave it a shot!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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John Woo

Director

Tien Shih

Si Lung

Ti Lung

Sung Tse-Ho

Leslie Cheung

Kit Sung

Chow Yun-Fat

Ken

Emily Chu

Jackie Sung

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Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 2/5

Jan 1, 2000

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 25, 2005

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Less cohesive than the first, but also more charged.

Mar 18, 2004

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Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 3/5

Jan 24, 2003

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Ryan Cracknell

Apollo Guide

A showcase for John Woo's tremendous skill both as a storyteller and as a composer of violent masterpieces.

Rated: 88/100

Jul 24, 2001

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Synopsis

A policeman (Leslie Cheung) and a reformed gangster (Ti Lung) meet their dead friend's twin, employed by a New York mob boss.

Director: John Woo
Screenwriter: John Woo, Hark Tsui
Production Co: Cinema City Film Productions
Genre: Action
Original Language: Chinese