This film just works!! Besides Woo's top notch action sequences, I was amazed by the great story. Chow Yun Fat is great as Mark and Leslie Cheung is very good as Kit. However, I think the main spotlight is on Ti Lung who is amazing as Ho. The story of loyalty & friendship is the main emphasis here and is essential. Plus, the chemistry between the actors is so apparent, you can see that they must've had so much fun making this movie.

I can see myself watching this again and again...

A BETTER TOMORROW sees director John Woo single-handedly inventing the 'heroic bloodshed' genre that was to flourish in Hong Kong for the following decade. It's a tough, atmospheric and ultra-stylish story of gangsters and betrayal, of brotherhood and pain, and it's also not quite up there with his famous later efforts.

Okay, call me spoilt; I think HARD-BOILED and THE KILLER are the two greatest Woo/Yun-Fat collaborations out there, and A BETTER TOMORROW is slightly weak in comparison to those movies. For starters, it's not an action film like those two; there are a few amazing scenes, but that's all you're going to get. Instead, there's a fair bit of overwrought melodrama instead, familiar for anyone acquainted with Hong Kong cinema. The beginning is quite slow, although you get drawn into the story before long and once it has you, it has you.

The film is widely advertised as being a Chow Yun-Fat movie, but the actor plays only in support, although it's a great role that tests the limits of his acting. The real lead is the great former Shaw Brothers star Ti Lung, excellent as always and finding a new lease of cinematic life here. Leslie Cheung completes the trio as the upstanding cop. Avoid the terrible quality British DVD of this movie, which spoiled my enjoyment of it the first time I saw it; the Hong Kong import is the way to go.

In Hong Kong, the gangsters Sung Tse-Ho (Ti Lung) and Mark (Chow Yun Fat) are best friends. Ho's younger brother Sung Tse-Kit (Leslie Cheung) wants to be a police officer and does not know that his brother is a criminal. When Ho travels with another criminal to Taiwan for a negotiation, he is betrayed and arrested by the police. Meanwhile Mark kills the gang that betrayed his friend. After three years, Ho is finally released from the prison and returns to Hong Kong. He finds that Kit hates him and is investigating the Mafia and Mark is limped and in complete misery. But Ho promises that he would not return to life of outlaw and prefers to work as taxi driver. However he is haunted by his past and the need of protecting his estranged brother. .

"Ying hung boon sik", a.k.a. "A Better Tomorrow", is a great crime film directed by John Woo. The good storyline about brotherhood, friendship and loyalty is full of action. The screenplay is tight and Sung Tse-Ho is a nice character incapable to regenerate due to the corrupt system. In the 80's, this movie had a greater impact but it is still a great action movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Alvo Duplo" ("Double Target")