A BETTER TOMORROW II is the superior follow-up to the John Woo original. This time around, both Tsui Hark and Woo share directorial duties in a typical tale of gangsters. Betrayal, violent shoot-outs and madness are the order of the day, and for the most part you'll be watching for the exemplary action.

Be warned: this is a film that requires you to suspend your disbelief. Chow Yun Fat's character doesn't return from the original - for obvious reasons - so instead his 'twin brother' makes an appearance here. Still, it gives Woo the chance to feature his favourite actor in more outrageous set-pieces, with the stair-sliding scene being a real highlight here.

The storyline involves a couple of ex-cons given the task of going undercover to take down a suspected smuggler (Dean Shek, of DRUNKEN MASTER fame). They soon find themselves embroiled in a murky world where a crime boss is planning a massive takeover and murder is the order of the day. As in GOD OF GAMBLERS, one character's madness takes up a big part of the running time.

What you get here are a number of Hong Kong megastars (alongside Yun Fat, Ti Lung has a welcome role, plus A Chinese GHOST STORY's Leslie Cheung) indulging themselves in some frenetically exciting shoot-outs. Woo's action choreography is superb, with hard-hitting bullets flying around the screen, slow motion blood sprays, and all manner of outrageousness. The ending, which is impossibly violent and over the top, proves a neat precursor to the later madness of THE KILLER and HARD-BOILED.

I mean if you haven't go watch that one and than come back. Did you like what you saw? If you did than rent this one. Since they do have something in common (I won't tell you what, because that would be a spoiler),you will have a blast watching this one too ... maybe you'll even watch them back-to-back! :o)

Since I do expect you to have watched at least one John Woo film before reading this complete review (read above for details, if you skipped the first paragraph),than you know all the ingredient a Woo film has and I won't have to tell you much more. Only that a shoot out, that is seen here, is easily in the top 10 of all times! Again don't let any kids watch it and especially don't try anything at home! ;o)

"A Better Tomorrow II" (aka "Ying Hung Boon Sik II") definitely is what one would think about when reminiscing about the Hong Kong cinema in the late 1980s. Why? Well, take the sheer amount of insane action that is packed into the movie into consideration, and then of course you have the likes of Chow Yun Fat and dead actor Leslie Cheung at the helm.

The story in "A Better Tomorrow II" is pretty straight forward. There are no major surprises along the way, for better or worse. But it doesn't make for a mundane storyline, not at all. Sure, it is predictable, yes, but the entertainment value to the script and storyline is capable of carrying the movie. Was it all good? No, not really. The entire part with the mental breakdown and how easily it was overcome was a bit forced and felt somewhat out of place in the movie.

"A Better Tomorrow" is definitely a movie franchise that you should be well familiar with, especially if you are a devoted fan to the Hong Kong cinema. And this definitely is from the golden age of the action cinema to make it from Hong Kong.

As mentioned earlier, then the movie does have some good acting performances in it, not only from Chow Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung, but also from the likes of Lung Ti, Kenneth Tsang, Man-Tat Ng and Ming Yan Lung.

This is definitely a movie that should be on your to-watch-list if you are a fan of Asian cinema and in particular Hong Kong cinema. If you haven't already seen the franchise, I can strongly recommend that you do so if you have the time and chance. This is Hong Kong entertainment at its finest.