Ying hung boon sik II (1987)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

Hark Tsui (story)
John Woo (writer)

Release Date:

17 December 1987 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Brother | Police | Mafia | Gun | Undercover

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Dean Shek	...	Lung Si
Lung Ti	...	Sung Tse-Ho (also archive footage) (as Ti Lung)
Leslie Cheung	...	Sung Tse-Kit (also archive footage)
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ken / Mark Lee / Mark 'Gor' (also archive footage) (as Chow Yun Fat)
Emily Chu	...	Jackie Sung
Fui-On Shing	...	Ko's Right-Hand Man
Kenneth Tsang	...	Ken
Regina Kent	...	Peggy Lung
Sing Chau Wai
Marco Wo
Ken Boyle	...	Bearded Crime Boss
Ming Yan Lung	...	Chong
Sammy Lee
Chindy Lau
Shan Kwan	...	Ko Ying Pui

Also Known As:

A Better Tomorrow II (Hong Kong: English title) (USA)
Better Tomorrow: Rapid Fire II (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Ontario) | Malaysia:18PL | France:-12 | South Korea:15 (2008) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | USA:R | Japan:R-15 | Ireland:18

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Cinema City Film Productions

Trivia:

Some of the incidental music consists of incidental music from the film 52 Pick-Up (1986).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Kit gets shot in the basement, we can see a shadow of the camera.

Quotes:

Ken: [To Ko and Sung, after a bloodbath] We're dying; can we leave now?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Planet Terror (2007)

Soundtrack:

The Set-Up

Different from the original

Having seen A Better Tomorrow 1 and thoroughly enjoying it, I was eager to see it's sequel. Even though not all reviews I had read of it were positive, I still thought I should give it a go. I found out that A Better Tomorrow II is quite different from it's predecessor.

Probably the thing that stands out as the most different is the style it has been filmed in. More advanced camera angles etc. plus the picture quality is better.

That may be an improvement, but most of the other changes are not so good. For starters, there a lot changes to do with the characters. Lung Ti's character "Ho", who was definitely the main character in the last film, is turned into a secondary character this time round, but he still does a good job acting. Lung Ti's top spot is taken by Dean Shek, who plays an old friend of Ho's. While good at times, I don't think he should of been given the main role. The rest of the cast do a good job, with the stand out being, of course, Chow Yun-Fat.

One thing that does stay the same is the fabulous shoot-outs. They are more bloody this time and more elaborate, plus there is also more of them than in A Better Tomorrow 1. Even though it changes around some characters, it still has a good John Woo story. Filled with drama, emotion and plenty of action.

Overall it is still a good movie. It does have some big changes, but it does remain an above the average action movie.