A Better Tomorrow 英雄本色
In praise of John Woo 吳宇森’s seminal heroic bloodshed action flick, the magnetic Chow Yun-fat 周潤發, and brotherly love.
This is it, guys. The movie that sparked it all: a legendary new genre (Heroic Bloodshed, or Hong Kong Blood Opera), the career of the Chow Yun-fat 周潤發, and this wild, weird and ridiculous endeavour of mine.
Plot summary from IMDb:
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
I don’t actually remember when I first saw A Better Tomorrow 英雄本色. I was five when it came out, which feels way too young to be watching something this violent, but rewatching it recently, I was struck by how much I remember. The shootouts! The slow-mos! The soundtrack! That said, John Woo’s elaborate gun-fu and flurry of bullets is a widely used trope in many action movies. And the soundtrack, well, the soundtrack is mostly just one song played over and over again (當年情 by Leslie Cheung 張國榮*), and I’m pretty sure it was a frequent karaoke choice for my dad.
Of course, the most memorable and most amazing thing about this movie isn’t the outrageous gunplay or cinematic carnage. No, guys. Not at all. That honour goes to Mr. Chow Yun-fat 周潤發, who steals the entire movie as Mark Lee, the best friend and partner-in-crime of Sung Tse-ho (“Ho”, played by Ti Lung 狄龍), and known to everyone and revered by fans everywhere as “Mark Gor 哥” (Brother Mark).
CYF is unreal as Mark Gor 哥. (It blows my mind that he was 30 when this movie came out. Thirty. Three. Zero. They do not make 30-year-olds like this anymore.) Smooth, charismatic, impish, loyal, vengeful, heartbreaking, and vulnerable. At the top of his game, Mark Gor 哥 owns the room. And CYF leans into it with unabashed joy.
Mark Gor 哥 plays by no one’s rules but his own. And that is never more obvious than when we see him at the bar with Ho and their subordinate, Shing (played by Waise Lee). When Ho announces that the upcoming deal with the Taiwanese gang will be his last to avoid conflict with his younger brother Kit (played by Leslie Cheung 張國榮 — yeah, the same guy on the soundtrack), who’s on his way to becoming a cop and who doesn’t know about Ho’s criminal activities, he tells Mark it’s his turn to lead. Mark smirks and jokes that they’re doomed, that Shing should do it — while smoking a cigarette with a matchstick in his mouth at the same time. WHY? I do not know, but it works.
When Shing says he still has a lot to learn from Ho, Mark scoffs at his naïveté. Being a boss isn’t learned from watching or reading books! In a monologue recounting the first time he ever had a gun pointed at his head, 12 years ago on his first deal with Ho, Mark’s cool exterior cracks. He laughs it off at first, but as the story unfolds, he seethes with anger and bitterness at the fear and humiliation he had to endure. I love Cool AF Mark Gor 哥, but it’s a real treat to watch CYF ride this wave.
Anyway, Ho goes to see Kit before he takes off to Taiwan, and tells his little brother to take care of their sick dad while he’s away on business. Brotherly love is a big theme in this movie. And in Heroic Bloodshed movies in general. Any western (*ahem*white*ahem*) write-ups I’ve come across about the genre deem it “homoerotic”, which… fuck off, guys. It’s so sweet and tender. Two brothers who have and show genuine affection for each other is so friggin’ nice!!! Kit looks up to his big bro like crazy, and Ho loves his baby bro enough to give up his criminal life, so of course it’s the ultimate heartbreak for both when the truth is revealed. And the truth will be revealed. Because this is a movie and it would be a waste to not capitalize on this very conflict and tension.
So Ho takes Shing with him to Taiwan while Mark stays behind in case anything goes wrong. Which means, things will go wrong. And not just because Ho is dressed for maximum bloodshed.
The deal with the Taiwanese gang turns out to be a trap. A shootout ensues. Bullets fly. Gangsters dive. Ho sustains a gunshot wound, ruining his suit. He and Shing run from the local cops, but eventually Ho gives himself up, buying time for Shing to escape.
Back in HK, the triad sends a member to kidnap Ho’s father to make sure Ho remains loyal and keeps his mouth shut to the police. A fight breaks out. Kit’s girlfriend, Jackie (played by Emily Chu 朱寶意), is there and tries her best to fend off the attacker, but girl gets beat pretty bad. Like, she actually gets punched in the face! Kit arrives in time to help defend his dad, but sadly fails to prevent him from getting killed. With his last breath and because he knows about Ho’s criminal activities, he pleads for Kit to forgive Ho. Kit lets out a dramatic, devastating wail that made me legit LOL.
Mark learns that his best friend has been sentenced to three years in prison. He’s stunned. For only a moment. But enough to drop the newspaper from his hands, but not the cigarette from his mouth because he is still Cool with a capital ‘C’.
And then! Ohhhh boy. Mark goes after Wang, the Taiwanese gang member responsible for Ho’s capture in the movie’s most iconic shootout sequence. Mark enters the restaurant/brothel — slow-mo, of course — sauntering down the hall with his arms wrapped around a woman and hides multiple guns in flower pots behind her back. She’s none the wiser, thinking he’s just another rascal with overly grabby hands. He lets her go. We see Wang and his gang, livin’ it up in their private room when…
The double guns come out and this Wang Gang is no match.
He barely breaks a sweat.
THE END.
Ha! I wish, guys. Unfortunately, as Mark walks away, Wang crawls out and shoots him in the kneecap, leaving him disabled. I did not make a GIF of this because it bums me out.
Three years pass, and Ho gets out of prison, determined to start a crime-free life and reunite with his brother. Kit wants nothing to do with him. He blames Ho for their father’s death, of course. And because of Ho’s criminal past and connections, he’s been denied a promotion and taken off the case to bring the triad — now led by Shing — down. So he is extra pissed, and extra obsessed with proving to his superiors that his loyalty lies with the law. He ignores his boss’ commands and continues to work the case on his own.
Now, I don’t know if his familial ties is really what’s keeping Kit from getting his promotion because he is actually a terrible cop. He’s not covert at all. Shing can always tell he’s being followed. And he’s reckless. When he tries to get the drop on Shing’s men (But it’s actually a trap, because, as I said, Shing knows.), he runs out in the open, in broad daylight, with no back-up, and gets wounded. Oh, he’s also a terrible boyfriend! Dude shows up at home with a bag of garbage to sift through for clues, then leaves his girlfriend to clean the mess up!
Not only that, but the night he brings home the garbage, it’s also Jackie’s birthday. And when she — and rightfully so — gets mad…
HE IGNORES HER AND KEEPS WORKING.
This woman took a punch in the face for your father. HAVE SOME RESPECT, GODDAMNIT.
He ends up kinda making it up to her by giving her a gift, to show that he didn’t forget her birthday. She softens, because it’s the 1980s so what can you really expect. But he goes back to being a petulant child when Ho shows up to warn him about the trap. So nevermind, Kit!
Ho, while trying to live life on the straight and narrow as a taxi driver, sees Mark on the street, and is shocked by how things have turned out for him.
Lots has been said about CYF’s performance — and more will be said, because the next scene is also just a masterclass — but Ti Lung’s really great in his stillness throughout the whole film. Unlike Mark and Kit, he is the measured older brother, but it’s clear he carries a ton of pain, knowing he’s failed the two men he loves the most.
Ho follows Mark to confront him, as the letters that Mark wrote to him while Ho was in prison were clearly a far cry from what actually happened. The shame on Mark’s face is just soul crushing.
They embrace, and ohhhh, it’s so nice to see how happy Mark is to see his best friend. But the joyful reunion is short-lived when Mark tries to get Ho to team up again like the old days and Ho turns him down. Again, the emotional shifts that CYF makes are so great to watch.
But as much as Ho tries to stay away from getting tangled up in triad business, he can’t. Ho and Mark go out for drinks to catch up, and they run into Shing. Shing plays nice, but Mark can’t be bothered with the pleasantries and we get to see the swagger of the old Mark Gor 哥 come through.
Shing suggests that he and Ho should work together again, but Ho’s not interested. Shing backs off. For now. You know he’s not taking no for an answer. Sure enough, Shing sends his thugs over to Ho’s taxi garage to drag him to a meeting. There, he tells Ho that if he doesn’t accept his offer, he will be endangering Mark’s and Kit’s lives. Ho does not take kindly to this and storms out, but not before warning Shing that there will be payback if he hurts Kit.
Shing, pissed, takes his anger out on Mark. John Woo goes hard with the blood and the slow-mo.
Shing’s men dump Mark’s beaten and bloody body at Ho’s taxi garage. Ho and Mark hightail it out of there when the cops arrive. While Ho tends to Mark’s wounds, Mark tries to convince him to join forces one last time to take revenge on Shing. Ho pleads with Mark to let go of this grudge. He’s already lost his brother (As in, Kit’s disowned him. Kit’s not dead! Though Ho is dead to Kit…), he doesn’t want to lose his best friend too! Mark refuses to listen to reason. He will not be scared! He will take what’s rightfully his! He will fight with every breath to destroy Shing and he will do it alone if he has to!
Mark breaks into Shing’s counterfeiting lab, double guns (duh) blazing, and steals the data tapes. As he tries to escape, Shing’s men give chase, and he finds himself embroiled in another shootout. Outnumbered and operating at less than 100% mobility, he gets shot in the arm, leaving him only able to wield one firearm, and nearly loses the reel. Still, he keeps on shooting, and just as things are looking super dire, Ho shows up on his motorcycle! But not before the action culminates with my most favourite stunt out of the entire movie, as one of Shing’s dudes runs out of bullets and decides to just launch himself at Mark.
Ho demands $2 million USD and a boat from Shing for him and Mark to leave Hong Kong. If not, they’ll turn the tapes over to the police. Mr. Yiu — Shing’s boss — is furious at Shing for being so reckless with Ho and Mark, and orders him to make peace with them, so they can get the tapes back and ensure the organization stays intact. Because he’s a power-hungry shithead, Shing lies to Mr. Yiu and tells him that Ho will be over for dinner to talk things through. Ho never shows up. Shing kills his boss, and bullies the help to finger Ho for the murder. (Oh! We also find out that it was Shing who set Ho up back in Taiwan. Like, of course he did. God, this guy sucks.)
Before meeting with Shing, Ho drops off the tapes to Jackie to give to Kit, along with a voice-recorded message to explain the contents and his plan. Upon hearing it all, Kit rushes out to arrest his brother for breaking parole.
Ho and Mark wait for Shing to arrive with the money. And here I go, singing the praises of CYF again. When Shing tosses Mark the briefcase, he tells him not to open it just yet as there’s a bomb inside. Mark pauses, and Shing sneers at how easy it is to scare him. Mark then turns back to the briefcase, and the mix of emotions on his face as he wonders how serious Shing is about the bomb is just so honest and funny.
Ho and Mark make a break for the docks and take Shing hostage. Unfortunately, Shing’s men are all waiting for them. They manage to get to the boat, but Ho tells Mark to leave first and that he’ll meet him later as he still needs to take care of something. Mark promises to wait for Ho and reluctantly takes off.
Meanwhile, Kit is racing to the docks. And because he’s a terrible cop, he gets caught by Shing’s men. They threaten to kill him if Ho doesn’t release Shing, so Ho agrees to an exchange. And because Kit is reckless, he tries to grab Shing as they pass each other, and he gets shot. Goddamnit, Kit! A shootout breaks out and Ho dives to protect his little brother, taking a bullet to the stomach. From then on, it is just a ceaseless rain of bullets and roar of explosions. Mark turns the boat around and starts firing back at Shing’s men.
And oh man, the look on Ho and Kit’s faces when Mark shows up.
They manage to find cover, but when Mark sees how badly wounded the other two are, he erupts and goes on a full-on rampage.
The men gain a brief respite. As his best friend struggles to stay alive, Mark grabs Kit and forces him to face Ho, demanding to know why Kit won’t forgive his old brother. He tells him what happened in the past doesn’t matter. Ho’s here for him now! He’s about to extol the virtues of brotherhood when…
Fucking. Shing.
And because a gunshot to the head isn’t enough apparently, Shing keeps firing and Kit and Ho watch as Mark is brutally taken down in a firestorm of bullets. In slow-mo, of course.
Ho chases after Shing. Just as he has Shing cornered, the cops arrive. He shoots, but the chamber comes up empty. Shing smirks and says that he’s going to surrender to the police, but he’ll be able to walk free because he has money, whereas Ho is pretty much fucked. Kit overhears this exchange. And as Shing starts walking away…
The brothers have a moment as Ho tells Kit that they’ve been on different paths, but that Kit has always been on the right one. And now, Ho wants to be on that same path too.
THE END.
So uhhh… ahahaha, I did not expect to basically recap the entire movie, but well, I did. I don’t think the next one (City on Fire 龍虎風雲) will be as detailed. I made waaaaay fewer GIFs for one thing. And I liked this movie more. But who knows! I’m just making it up as I go, guys.
*Leslie Cheung 張國榮 actually passed away 17 years ago today. Dude was a huge star and pop culture icon in Asia, and when news hit, anyone and everyone who grew up listening to his music and watching his movies was devastated. Fans still pay tribute to him every year on April 1, including leaving bouquets and wreaths outside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong (where he leapt to his death). *sigh* R.I.P. Leslie Cheung 張國榮
