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A Better Tomorrow was Woo's international breakthrough and it still works as a calling card for the charms of Chow Yun Fat. The man does stoicism and determination as well as any action star and certainly looks convincing with a loaded pistol in each hand, but he is also willing to be as utterly goofy as the plot requires and has no qualms about sacrificing small matters such as "pride" for the sake of the production. I haven't seen many of his roles that showcase the more comic side, however. A question that has occurred to me: Has anyone ever attempted to lasso Yun Fat and Bruce Campbell together for a buddy film? We've had Chow and Stifler (Bulletproof Monk) and Chow and Marky Mark (The Corruptor), but no Chow and Ash.

ABT is enjoyable but average and simply suffers in comparison to its brethren - which is an apt choice of words since both films concern the importance of brotherhood. ABT is a standard tale of good brother Kit (police inspector) and bad brother Ho (counterfeiter) and bad brother's right hand man (Mark, played by Chow). There are betrayals and subterfuges but at the end, the brothers are united - though Ho is letting himself be taken back to prison - and Mark has gone down in a plethora of bullets after coming back to save both of them. The film was a huge commercial success in 1986 and the following year ABTII came out.

It wouldn't do, of course, to have your breakout star not return for the second installment just because his character died. What to do? You could make a prequel (which is what A Better Tomorrow III turned out to be) or .... you could write a scene that goes something like:

"Who's that in the photo with Mark? They look a lot alike."

"That's Ken, Mark's twin brother. He lives in Brooklyn and runs a noodle shop." (Great Scene #1)

All kidding aside, I find it impossible to be cynical about such a ridiculous plot turn when it is done with such a straight face.

Thankfully, Ken is also an ex-gangster so he knows how to be intimidating around shakedown artists. When a couple of goons come around his shop, scare customers away and knock a bowl of Ken's rice to the floor (!) all in the name of getting him to pay protection money, we get to witness Chow run the gamut of emotions and chew the scenery like it was made of salt water taffy. Ken is by turns genial, wounded, bitter and vengeful and the scene ends with him scooping the rice off the floor, and forcing Goon #1 to eat it at gunpoint. We never see the goons again but the point has been made: Ken is a mofo badass, who has a very personal sense of wronged honor (Great Scene #2).

Woo's screenplay (based on a story by Tsui Hark) amps up not only the comic interplay but also the action sequences as well. When cars are shot at and crash, it always ends with a fiery explosion as if the anonymous gangsters had stopped off at the local filling station en route to their ill-advised attempt to off Ken and his ward (Lung, a retired Hong Kong kingpin who has been targeted for a rubout). At one point, the hood actually shoots up off a car in a majestic trajectory towards the heavens and Woo captures it in slow motion. Small but noticeable touches like this are particularly endearing.

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