Film

A Better Tomorrow II

Name: A Better Tomorrow II
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Released: 1987
Cast: Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, Dean Shek Tin, Chow Yun-Fat, Guan Shan

A Better Tomorrow II is the 1987 Hong Kong action sequel that redefined the genre's kinetic language. It's a revenge thriller with operatic gunplay, stylish violence, and genuine emotional weight beneath the chaos. Director John Woo's signature slow-motion balletics and dual-wielding heroics set the template everyone copied afterward. For anyone who loves action cinema that feels like ballet conducted by someone with a vendetta.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like crime pictures built on loyalty, brotherhood and operatic gunfights, and don't mind a melodramatic streak if the stylish set pieces land.

Skip it if you find sentiment hard to forgive in a thriller, since the emotional speeches run long and the revenge story follows fairly familiar beats.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, with a slow, talky build that gives way to sudden, loud bursts of violence, so settle in and let the quieter scenes earn them.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Hard Boiled1992

John Woo's masterpiece of gunplay and heroism, featuring Chow Yun-Fat in peak form. The hospital and teahouse sequences are ballet-level choreography. Essential viewing if you loved the action language of Better Tomorrow II.

But It's essentially a greatest-hits compilation of Woo's techniques rather than pure invention. The plot—cop infiltrates triad—is familiar even by 1992 standards.

The Killer1989

Another Woo-Chow Yun-Fat collaboration that pairs operatic violence with unexpected tenderness. The relationship between the assassin and the blind singer gives the bloodshed real stakes and heart.

But Slower-paced than Better Tomorrow II, with long stretches of quiet before the gunplay erupts. Not everyone has patience for a hitman romance.

A Better Tomorrow1986

The original that started it all. Ti Lung's betrayal and redemption carries genuine weight, and the action—though less baroque—has a directness that makes the sequel's flourishes land harder.

But Some of the violence, including a rape scene, feels exploitative rather than thematic. It's where the franchise proves its ideas weren't fully formed yet.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Better Tomorrow II

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Godfather Part II1974

Both are revenge stories disguised as crime epics, where the real tragedy is how loyalty corrupts rather than saves. The sequel structure itself—revisiting and deepening the first film's betrayals—mirrors Coppola's approach.

Seems an odd match, but Coppola's film is the exact template Woo used: parallel narratives of loyalty and betrayal within family crime structures, violence as consequence not spectacle, and the moral weight of choosing between codes and survival. Both films understand that revenge stories are really about what winning costs you.

But It's 3 hours 20 minutes of slow-burn American drama. If you want Hong Kong action, getting Godfather instead feels like a bait-and-switch, no matter how structurally perfect the match.

City on Fire1987

A Ringo Lam thriller released the same year, starring Chow Yun-Fat as an undercover cop. The tension of a mole in a criminal organization has real dread, and the action is visceral without Woo's stylization.

But It's grittier and meaner-spirited than Woo's operatic violence. If you love the style of Better Tomorrow II, the absence of it here might disappoint.

Police Story1985

Jackie Chan's masterpiece of stunt-based action that came out just before Better Tomorrow II. It proves 1980s Hong Kong cinema had multiple approaches to action genius, each equally valid.

But It's comedy-action hybrid, which jars if you want pure adrenaline. Chan's humour won't land for everyone, and the tone shifts can feel uneven.

Infernal Affairs2002

A spiritual successor to Better Tomorrow II's themes of loyalty and betrayal within criminal and police worlds. The cat-and-mouse between mole and handler has the same moral complexity as Woo's best work.

But It prioritizes psychological thriller elements over action. If you came for gunplay and style, you'll find restraint and quiet instead.

The Long Good Friday1980

A masterclass in criminal underworld storytelling from the West. Bob Hoskins' performance and the film's brutal elegance show how the DNA of Better Tomorrow II extends across cinema traditions and oceans.

But It's British crime drama, not action cinema. The violence is sparse and the pacing is deliberate—not what you signed up for if you wanted Woo's ballet.

Bullet in the Head1990

John Woo's most ambitious film: an action-war-trauma epic about three friends caught between crime and the Vietnam War. It swings for something that transcends genre entirely.

But It's nearly three hours, uneven in tone, and some find it self-indulgent. The tonal whiplash between action and trauma can feel manipulative rather than cathartic.

Chungking Express1994

Wong Kar-wai's visually sumptuous romance-thriller with Chow Yun-Fat recontextualizing his star image. Proof that the great Hong Kong action stars of this era could pivot into something completely different.

But It's oblique, melancholic, and elliptical where Better Tomorrow II is direct and kinetic. The plot barely exists. Some will find it pretentious indulgence.

Le Samouraï1967

Both films treat violence as a formal language rather than spectacle, and both understand that professional criminals operate under unwritten codes that are more binding than law or family.

Melville's ice-cold French masterpiece about a hitman living by code. It's the aesthetic ancestor of Woo's violence: clean, stylized, ritual-like. The relationship between the killer and his mark mirrors the strange honour binding enemies in Better Tomorrow II.

But It's austere and nearly silent for long stretches. The pace is glacial. If you want energy and dialogue and Chow Yun-Fat's charisma, this will feel like the opposite of everything.

City Hunter2011

Same moral engine—a protagonist torn between law and loyalty, using increasingly stylized violence to navigate an impossible choice. The episodic structure lets it explore the cost of that choice across time in a way a 104-minute film cannot.

A Japanese manga adaptation (with anime episodes) that borrows Woo's action vocabulary but in serialized form. The hero walks the line between cop and vigilante across multiple arcs, exploring the same question Better Tomorrow II asks: what do you owe loyalty versus justice?

But It's 1993 anime, which means dated animation and a different visual language entirely. The tone ping-pongs between comedy and darkness in ways that feel jarring. Very much a 'different medium' choice.