Ying hung boon sik II
Tags: cult, violence, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Several years after the events of A Better Tomorrow, Sung Tse-ho (Ti Lung) is offered early parole by the police in exchange for spying on his former boss and mentor, Lung Sei (Dean Shek), who is suspected of heading a counterfeiting operation. Inspector Wu (Lau Siu-ming), the leader of the crime task force, wants to mark his retirement with the capture of a high profile criminal like Lung.
However, Ho, still loyal to Lung, initially declines. He changes his mind when he discovers that his younger brother, Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung), is working undercover on the same case, and agrees to go undercover to protect his brother, who is expecting a child along with his pregnant wife Jackie (Emily Chu). While working the case, the two brothers meet and agree to work together on the investigation.
After being framed for murder, Lung seeks Ho's help. Ho is able to help him escape to New York, but Lung suffers a psychotic break and is institutionalised after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing his friend being killed.
Meanwhile, Ho learns that Mark Lee has a long-lost twin brother, Ken (Chow Yun-fat), a former gang member who went legitimate and left Hong Kong as a teenager to travel across America, eventually settling and opening a restaurant in New York City. However, Ho tracks down Ken and enlists his assistance in freeing Lung and nursing him back to health.
Targeted by both assassins hunting for Lung as well as American mobsters looking to extort Ken's business, Ken and Lung (who is still catatonic) go into hiding in an apartment building, and where Ken arms himself. During a shoot-out with the mobsters, but Ken and Lung find themselves cornered. Seeing Ken wounded and in trouble, Lung regains his sanity and kills the last of the Americans pursuing them.
The two return to Hong Kong and link-up with Ho and Kit. The group discovers that one of Lung's employees, Ko Ying-pui (Kwan Shan), is responsible for trying to kill Lung and has taken over the organisation in Lung's absence. Lung resolves that he would rather destroy his organisation by his own hands than let it fall into dishonor and ruin, and the team starts planning to act against Ko.
After doing some reconnaissance in Ko's mansion alone, Kit is fatally wounded, roughly at the same time his daughter is born. He is rescued by Ken, who attempts to rush him to the hospital. Knowing that he won't make it, Kit persuades Ken to stop at a phone booth to call his wife. He manages, just before he dies, to name his child Sung Ho-yin (in Cantonese, "the Spirit of Righteousness").
After attending Kit's funeral, Ho, Ken, and Lung take revenge on Ko by attacking his mansion during a meeting with a counterfeiting client. An enormous gun battle ensues. The three, assisted by Ho's former boss in the taxi company, kill approximately 90 others (including Ko) but are all severely (perhaps mortally) wounded in the process. After the shootout ends, the three sit down in the mansion and are surrounded by the police, led by Inspector Wu. Upon seeing the condition of the men, Wu motions to the other officers to lower their weapons. Ho remarks that Inspector Wu shouldn't retire yet as there is "much work left for [him] to do."

Review: Most of the original cast return, including Chow Yun-Fat as Mark Lee's twin brother Ken.Taking place a few years after the events of the first film, we see how things are finally starting to look up.
I love this movie to death, the acting is wonderful, believable and very realistic and Chow Yun-Fat which is my favorite actor gives one of his best convincing performances I have ever seen as Mark Gor's twin brother Ken. Not only he but everyone of the cast gives a wonderful performances on a screen which I love it.Plot: Restaurant owner Ken Gor, twin brother of Mark Gor, teams up with police detective Kit and his struggling ex-con brother Ho to avenge his old friend's daughter's death by a Triad gang.What I love about this movie is: Chow Yun-Fat does not die in this movie he acted wonderful his different character Ken. Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung are back as the brothers from the first film which I am not sure but I have saw a lot of actors from The Killer in this movie.
With Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Hard Boiled, Paycheck and The Killer would be a Better Tomorrow II my sixth John Woo favorite film that I love to death.A Better Tomorrow 2 is a 1987 Hong Kong action film written and directed by John Woo. A follow-up to its popular predecessor, A Better Tomorrow, the film stars returning cast members Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung alongside new cast member Dean Shek.
The film was released in Hong Kong on 17 December 1987.10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: Cinema City Film Workshop Distributed by Golden Princess Film Production Starring: Dean Shek, Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Emily Chu, Kwan Shan, Kenneth Tsang, Shing Fui-On, Lam Chung, Ng Man-tat, Peter Wang, Lung Ming-yan, Louis Roth, Regina Kent Director: John Woo Producer: Tsui Hark Screenplay: John Woo, Tsui Hark Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 45 Mins.
Chow Yun-Fat is back, teaming up the cop "Kit" and ex-con "Ho" to deal some serious whup-ass on a gang of thugs, for killing their friend's daughter.This one's not John Woo's best but it's still great in the genre of HK cop movies.
Not to give anything away but - you will see what I mean.Better Tomorrow II proves that nobody looks cooler wielding a 12-gauge shotgun than Chow Yun-Fat (ok, maybe Schwarzeneggar in T2).The final gun battle at Ko's mansion is phenomenal - it gives Scarface a run for its money in terms of body count and ropes of blood splashing on walls.
This time, the twin brother of Mark, (a character played by Chow Yun-Fat from the first A BETTER TOMORROW) Ken (Chow Yun Fat), must team up with undercover cop, Kit (Leslie Cheung), and his brother Ho (Ti Lung) and a good friend named Lung (Dean Shek) to avenge the death of Lung's daughter who was murdered by a Triads.
Like the first film, it's got a hard storyline to follow, however, it has some fine acting that makes you care for the characters and it has some awesome action scenes (most notably, the final shootout).
To me, Chow Yun Fat may have been the charismatic centre of ABT but it was always about the brothers Ho and Kit. In ABT2, the film spends way too much time on two NEW characters - the twin brother Ken and framed gangster Si Lung, who is gradually going insane after falling foul of Hong Kong's triads.
But saying 'this is a John Woo film' and that 'action is the priority' would do a disservice to the original, which may have changed action cinema, but always kept in mind the story and characters at hand..
The story begins where the first film left as Ho (Ti Lung) is in prison after the gun battle in which he and his brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) and Mark Lee (Chow Yun Fat) met their destiny at the end of the first film.
Kit is police again and works in the same underground operation as Ho. This all leads to series of betrayal, death and fighting back as Mark's twin brother Ken (Chow) arrives from New Your to Hong Kong to help his friends in this heroic fight that will end in one of the most over-the-top gun battles ever committed on celluloid.This film is more fierce than first Better Tomorrow, but not as fierce and merciless as Woo's most personal masterpiece, Bullet in the Head.
When a man grabs a gun in order to use it at some other human being, he takes the full responsibility for his actions and this is once again, very sadly, shown in Better Tomorrow 2.Better Tomorrow 2 is not as visually stunning as the first film, which ends in brilliant night time scene at the harbor where smoke and blue are as alive as the characters in that sad finale.
It is the most fierce segment of bullet spitting, blood spraying gun mayhem I have witnessed in any film, and I think the films which manage to come near this scene's power, come also from some Orient country, probably from Hong Kong since these film makers have their style in using camera and edits and it seems to have no comparison with films from other countries.Better Tomorrow 2 is great piece of action mayhem cinema, with heart too, but this is not its director's masterpiece, which is in my opinion Bullet in the Head, a film which the director himself prefers, too.
Better Tomorrow gets 9/10 from me and since it is not as deep and philosophical as possible, I really want to appreciate its cinematic styles and interesting themes and messages of film maker John Woo..
A shoot-em-up gangster melodrama from a then-little-known filmmaker named John Woo, "Tomorrow"'s rampant violence and stylish action scenes instantly established Woo as one of the greatest action directors in the world, and the result was one of Hong Kong's highest grossers ever.
After the trend-setting scene where Chow Yun-Fat burst into a room and gunned down a group of bad guys in all sorts of stylish and inventive fashions, everybody in Hong Kong had to go out and buy a trench coat like the one he wore, which guaranteed the actor instant stardom as well.
But bad subtitles do not ruin a film where what you see on the screen is too explosive to be described with words.This was the film where John Woo demonstrated that he could just go all-out, and two of his works that followed this, "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled", are placed by many among the ranks of the greatest action films of all time.
After watching it, I was quite happy that Mark had a twin brother.It's the individual moments like that which make "A Better Tomorrow II" an action classic.
The famous "Rice" scene shows where Tarantino got his trademark's strange dialogues, along with the black-suit-white-ties from "Reservoir Dog" (And he'll be the first one to admit it !) This mix of action and parody looks weird when you expect a straight sequel to the first one, but give it a second try - then check out the third part by Tsui Hark and the other John Woo's movies (except "Broken.
Being a big fan of John Woo's kinetically charged Hong Kong action films, including the first "A Better Tomorrow", this one came as a huge disappointment.
The slow motion shooting (a touch of Peckinpah) mixed in with fast and furious movement and close quarter gun battles was both stylish and exhilarating in these works."A Better Tomorrow II" may be at best adequate for a run of the mill Hong Kong action flick.
Chow Yun Fat's backslide down the stairs while shooting at a bad guy seemed like a bad photocopy of vintage Woo. Maybe it was the bad lighting, I don't know...it just didn't seem to work.And while these films always indulge in overblown melodrama, often with humour, some of the scenes in ABT II were just painful to watch.
This film broke off a potentially very creative relationship between Tsui hark and John Woo; and it certainly feels like more than one film Certainly, until Chow Yun Fat shows up, the plot is a little complicated, and a little unbelievable.
Ti lung must also be credited with turning in a strong and well-grounded performance, even when the script calls for him to get schmaltzy.This is also the film that salvaged character actor dean Shek from obscurity, he wanted to prove he could act, and though he over acts occasionally, he actually does pretty well, especially in the final gun battle.It must be said that throughout his career, John Woo has repeatedly attempted to grasp the essence of the 'battle of bloody porch' from Sam Peckinpah's "the Wild Bunch" and duplicate it - and he has always failed.
As in GOD OF GAMBLERS, one character's madness takes up a big part of the running time.What you get here are a number of Hong Kong megastars (alongside Yun Fat, Ti Lung has a welcome role, plus A Chinese GHOST STORY's Leslie Cheung) indulging themselves in some frenetically exciting shoot-outs.
This film is a prime example; the action set-pieces look terrific, even if the majority of the participants are relegated to the status of human cartoons, and Chow Yun Fat looks cool as the identical twin brother of his character from the first film, but other than that there's not a lot going for it.
Also, the pic fails to fully develop the younger brothers relationship of Kit and Ken Gor.Before A Better Tomorrow 2(1987), John Woo and Tsui Hark were good friends but after became bitter rivals.
Chow Yun Fat dishes out an emotional intensity that adds to the high octane action.The original cut of A Better Tomorrow 2(1987) is said to be around 130 minutes in duration.
Well, take the sheer amount of insane action that is packed into the movie into consideration, and then of course you have the likes of Chow Yun Fat and dead actor Leslie Cheung at the helm.The story in "A Better Tomorrow II" is pretty straight forward.
And this definitely is from the golden age of the action cinema to make it from Hong Kong.As mentioned earlier, then the movie does have some good acting performances in it, not only from Chow Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung, but also from the likes of Lung Ti, Kenneth Tsang, Man-Tat Ng and Ming Yan Lung.This is definitely a movie that should be on your to-watch-list if you are a fan of Asian cinema and in particular Hong Kong cinema.
The way they introduce his new character is perhaps one of the strangest "What am I watching?" moments I've seen in a long time, but again, once you get over the initial surprise, it's actually kind of fun.And on the technical side of things, John Woo doesn't disappoint.
The plot is a bit more convoluted this time around, but it's still easy enough to follow that you won't mind.All in all, A Better Tomorrow II isn't quite as good as its predecessor, but it's still definitely worth a watch if you're fan of John Woo and liked the original..
After years in prison, Ho (Ti Lung) is released and recruited by a task force intent on taking down a reputed counterfeiter, Lung (Dean Shek).With his brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) already under Lung's command, Ho agrees to help the police.But it's not Lung, Ho and Kit must worry about, it's Lung's lackey (Shan Kwan), who's usurping their leader.With help from an old friend's twin (Chow Yun-fat), Lung and his loyalists set out to ruin his former empire.While closely related to the characters from the first film, this John Woo helmed sequel doesn't require previous knowledge to impress viewers with its stylized gunfights.
The incredible Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung return in this epic sequel to the classic trend setter that took the world by storm!ABT2 takes the action scenes up a notch (or ten) and delivers the biggest body count of its time along with some of the greatest scenes of gun play from the works of John Woo, Ching Sui Tung and Tsui Hark.Featuring a host of well known faces from HK's golden age, A Better Tomorrow 2 is simply an action epic and beats its predecessor for action in what it lacks in drama!With a host of on-set trouble and production nightmares, the film still manages to come off near perfect and shames any US action flick that was kicking about around the same time.See it!.
First at all: I'm sorry about my bad English."A Better Tomorrow 2" is the best of the three Ying Huan Boon Sik-films of the action-god John Woo (Face/Off).
For fans of violent action for its own sake only;  those who are expecting the drama and terse emotion of the original will be disappointed.An unfortunate waste of the talents of Chow Yun-Fat and Leslie Cheung, but as usual the action sequences are lovingly crafted by John Woo..
The rest of the movie is pretty cool, including a gunfight in a Brooklyn hotel, Ala Taxi Driver, and a scene where Chow Yun-Fat makes fun of the fetishized Better Tomorrow dress..
From the beginning,you can tell this is a A Better Tomorrow movie, all the characters from the first (who lived) are back, the plot sometimes is a little weak, but you can tell the irreplacable master John Woo didn't initially want to make a sequel to his breakthrough,but he made a exception to help out his friend Dean Shek,who was having money troubles at the time, everyone puts in a great performance once again, and I know this will sound campy,but it felt good to see Kit and Ho getting along,when Ken Gor threw on his brothers sunglasses and jacket, it literally threw chills down my spine.
Now although the story isn't as good and the film isn't as dynamic, the action scenes rock and it gives you another look at the saga which is A Better Tomorrow.
"A Better Tomorrow II", sequel to Hong Kong's most successful film of alltime, follows the continuing struggles of Ho, the ex-con, and his cop brother Kit, the good-guy who can never succeed because of his brother's reputation.
Not an instant classic like Tomorrow 1 or The Killer, but worth taking a look at for people who've seen the first or enjoy watching Woo/Chow films..
Of course, it is helpful to remember that the first "A Better Tomorrow" film changed Hong Kong film history; it even put director John Woo and star Chow Yun-Fat on the map, where they have stayed ever since.
However, the last fight is amazing; real John Woo magic.In short, don't watch the whole thing, just fast-forward to the action at the end.I rate "A Better Tomorrow II": 2/10.
It's not worth your time for Woo, Yun-Fat, action, Hong Kong, or gun fans.
Review: Like the first movie, this complex storyline has enough elements to keep it interesting throughout and the gun action from Chow Yun-Fat was great.
That just shows you how unique John Woo's vision is.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/drama's starring Chow Yun-Fat, Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, Dean Shek and Shan Kwan.
Needless to say A Better Tomorrow 2 is long-winded, melodramatic and altogether too confusing, yet it is a better film than one thanks to John Woo hitting his straps in directing action sequences.It turns out that Ken (Chow Yun Fat) gets involved with Lung in the US (where he proves that he shouldn't have tried to speak English on film, at least at that time).
The original cast is back, including superstar Chow Yun Fat as the twin brother of one popular character killed in the earlier film, and the bigger budget means better production values, with a few scenes photographed on location in NYC.
"A Better Tomorrow 2" is a perfect example of Hong Kong's heroic bloodshed cinema.Chow-Yun Fat pulls off one of his most charismatic performances to date and Dean Shek is equally memorable as Lung.The plot may be slightly incoherent for some,but the characters are very well-developed and there is enough bloody violence to satisfy fans of heroic bloodshed cinema.The finale of the film is incredible with all the guns,grenades,bloodshed and swordplay.A must-see for fans of Chinese action.9 out of 10..
But while none of the actors do a bad job, none of them get to show off their acting abilities like they did in the first film because nobody goes through any arcs in this movie.There's also a really funny scene where Chow-yun Fat#2 deals with some a$$hole American who starts a temper tantrum over fried rice and it's just hilarious!
This film is a sequel to A Better Tomorrow, the movie that brought John Woo to the notice of the world.
The characters and cinematography may not be on par with films like Bullet in the Head and The Killer, but still has enough of a John Woo mark on it to make it a superior movie.
didn't Chow Yun-Fat's character die at the end of the original A Better Tomorrow?
The character of Mark Gor was definitely dead at the end of the original, so Chow Yun-Fat returns to play his twin brother!
Better Tomorrow II is the 1987 sequel to Better Tomorrow.It again is directed by John Woo and stars Chow Yun Fat.It's fairly interesting how they bring him back after the events of the first movie.I like this one more than the first one.While the first one had more drama and plot, this one has more awesome action scenes, as well as a good amount of drama and plot.The film is about people who kidnap a man's daughter and it is now up to him and another team of people to get her back.The action scenes in this one are great!