A Better Tomorrow 2018

'A BETTER TOMORROW 2018': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A loose remake of John Woo's classic 1986 action crime-drama. It deals with the tale of a former drug smuggler, fresh out of prison, that tries to start a new crime-free life, and patch things up with his estranged brother, who's also a rising police star in the narcotics division. The film stars Wang Kai, Ma Tianyu, Darren Wang and Li Mincheng. It was written and directed by Ding Sheng. I found parts of it to be really slow-paced, and overly melodramatic, but the action scenes are really well done.

The story deals with two brothers, one's a rising narcotics police officer and the others a drug smuggler. When the drug smuggler is busted by his brother, and their ill father passes away, the police officer vows never to forgive his drug dealing brother. When the criminal gets out of prison though, he vows to start a new crime-free life, and to try to patch things up with his brother. Other dangerous criminals cause more problems for the siblings though. I saw the original movie a couple of decades ago, so I don't remember that much about it, but I do remember it being really melodramatic and cheesy. So it's no surprise to me that this remake is the same way. Like the original though, the action scenes are spectacular. They're definitely not as impressive as a John Woo movie, back in the day, but I'd say they're worth seeing the movie for (at least once).