Movies - A Better Tomorrow 2

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	Movies - A Better Tomorrow 2

A Better Tomorrow 2 (英雄本色 2; pinyin: yīngxióng běnsè èr) is a 1987 film, which is a follow-up to its popular predecessor, A Better Tomorrow. A Better Tomorrow 2 is notoriously known for its over-the-top violence, exaggerated blood and gore and body counts nearing its hundreds. A Better Tomorrow 2 is directed by John Woo and stars Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Dean Shek and Ti Lung.

Synopsis

Taking place a few years after A Better Tomorrow, Ho is drafted from prison by federal agents to spy on his former master, Lung, suspected of heading a money counterfeit operation. Ho considers this traitorous and declines with disgust. He changes his mind when he discovers that his younger brother, Kit, now an aspiring police lieutenant, and expecting a child with his wife Jackie, is on the same case. Ho takes the job to protect his brother. After being framed for murder, Lung seeks Ho's help. Ho helps him escape to New York, but Lung becomes temporarily insane after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing his friend being killed. Mark's twin brother, Ken, comes to the rescue, and the two go into hiding in a hotel. After a shoot-out with mobsters, Ken and Lung find themselves cornered. Lung snaps out of insanity and gets Ken and himself out of trouble. The two return to Hong Kong and link up with Ho and Kit. The team then discovers that one of Lung's former employees, Ko, is responsible for trying to kill Lung. After doing some reconnaissance work in Ko's mansion alone, Kit is fatally wounded, roughly at the same time as his child is born. He is rescued by Ken and manages to name his child (In Mandarin, the Spirit of Righteousness) just before he dies. The remaining three take revenge on Ko by attacking his mansion during a meeting with a counterfeiting client. The three manage to max out the body count to approximately 90 before killing Ko, and getting themselves terribly wounded, thus ending the movie.

Cast

Chow Yun-Fat
as Ken Lee (or Ken Gor)
Dean Shek as Lung
Ti Lung
as Ho
Leslie Cheung
as Kit
Emily Chu as Jackie (Kit's wife)
Regina Kent as Peggy (Lung's daughter)

Trivia

Apparently, Quentin Tarantino
conceived the idea for the black suits in Reservoir Dogs
from A Better Tomorrow 2. This is disputed, however, by fans, as similar black suits were featured in movies such as the Blues Brothers and Le Samourai.
The main type of handgun used in A Better Tomorrow 2 is the Beretta 92FS, John Woo's trademark weapon. Examples of this can be seen in The Killer, Face/Off
, and Mission: Impossible 2.
89 people were killed by the trio in the final shootout.
There is a scene in the film where we see a group of kids wearing long coats. The previous film in this series was so popular that young people in Hong Kong dressed like the lead character and the scene comments on that trend.
Director 'John Woo' and producer 'Tsui Hark' had disagreements over the focus of this film. Tsui felt that the film should focus more on the Dean Shek character. This led to the film being edited in halves by both Tsui and Woo. Woo has all but disowned this film apart from the final gun battle.
This film was notorious for stunt mishaps. Yun-Fat Chow was almost blown up when the explosion outside the mansion door being more powerful than expected. Some of his hair was singed, and he was blasted forward. The shot in the film is his real reaction. Director Ronny Yu was the stunt double in the warehouse scene. He wrenched his back after slipping on water puddle while carrying Dean Shek. Also the stuntman for Leslie Cheung who performed the speedboat jump landed incorrectly and broke his foot.
Some of the incidental music consists of incidental music from the films 52 Pick-Up (1986) and Birdy (1982).

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