In almost stark contrast to my personal favorite: Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow dives into the drama side of things head first. I think the fact that its more heavy on drama and thematic material plays to its advantage. Its a slow burn movie thats highlighted with scenes of intensely graphic violence in classic John Woo style. But its not a full out action epic like Hard Boiled until like... the last 20 minutes. I only make note of this because I was expecting something with wall to wall action. Buts its definately more of a crime drama thats about what family really is, and the bond between brothers and friends. Ontop of all of this emotionally heavy material, its also about choosing the right path, doing the right thing, despite your mistakes in the past. All of this emotion and tension and suspense builds up continually throughout the movie, with the resulting pressure relieved in violent spurts through intense and bloody action scenes.
Its refreshing to see so much story and character development in this movie. The characters in here are defined by what they do, not their violence unlike a typical Woo movie. In Hard Boiled the characters were defined by how and why they used violence. Which I have no problem with that approach, but in Tomorrow' its all about actions, and choices. The violence and such is simply a byproduct of such choices. Its an amazing movie, but its not a action movie per se. But the action IN the movie is spectacular as always. Totally reccommended.
