DigiPack A Better Tomorrow Trilogy (Blu-ray Digipack) [Korea]

[RomanCH]

A Better Tomorrow Trilogy (Blu-ray Digipack) [Korea]

Release date: June 18, 2015
Price: USD 60.99
Link: kimchidvd

 

[lolwut]

Looks like there's only one English-friendly release of the original film, from Hong Kong. And that release has a mediocre transfer according to a user review on the Blu-ray site. Hopefully this is English-friendly and has a better transfer.

 

[psychoscot]

Personally I would have preferred separate releases for these films, mainly because Woo never directed part 3 and it badly shows being an uttery dire film.

On the transfer front, much of Woo's back catalogue is long past the date of finding good masters. He's been asked many times if we would see full remastered versions of The Killer, Hard boiled and especially Better Tomorrow Prt2 "the best of the trilogy" and his answer has been no we won't see anything better than what Criterion managed to get hold of for some of those. Tarantino even wanted to release new versions under his Rolling Thunder imprint but nothing has become of that except a trickle of some old grindhouse films.

On a side not this included the heavily cut version of part 3 which when uncut runs at 145mins, this version looks to be the cut Hong Kong version.

 

[Futurhythm]

Since this is another Fortune Star licensed set, it's gonna use the same upscales found on the Hong Kong and Japanese Blu-rays. The first movie has been remastered in 4K is playing at Cannes this year though so hopefully we'll get a good Blu-ray at some point.

I wouldn't completely give up on good masters of these movies existing either. The fact they've been able to actually create an HD remaster for the first movie means that proper materials do exist and it's just a matter of finding them and most important of all, somebody willing to foot the bill. There's also been a resurgence lately in Hong Kong of old movies being properly remastered in HD and being released on Blu-ray. Four of them are comedies starring Michael Hui, Hong Kong's king of comedy in the 70s-80s, and this was something absolutely nobody saw coming or even expected to ever happen.

 

[psychoscot]

Since this is another Fortune Star licensed set, it's gonna use the same upscales found on the Hong Kong and Japanese Blu-rays. The first movie has been remastered in 4K is playing at Cannes this year though so hopefully we'll get a good Blu-ray at some point.

I wouldn't completely give up on good masters of these movies existing either. The fact they've been able to actually create an HD remaster for the first movie means that proper materials do exist and it's just a matter of finding them and most important of all, somebody willing to foot the bill. There's also been a resurgence lately in Hong Kong of old movies being properly remastered in HD and being released on Blu-ray. Four of them are comedies starring Michael Hui, Hong Kong's king of comedy in the 70s-80s, and this was something absolutely nobody saw coming or even expected to ever happen.

Sounds very promising. I know it was finding the good masters that Woo had a problem with and obviously the cost of doing it, but if by chance a collector out there has a master of each film then it's definitely good news. So far all the versions I've seen have not been great. It would be very sad if they can remaster the first film and not the second one, no one cares about the 3rd film so not a problem lol

 

[satanclaus]

Should I be ashamed of myself for never having seen these?

 

[psychoscot]

Should I be ashamed of myself for never having seen these?

Not really, it depends on the type of films you like. For fans of Asian Crime cinema yes not seeing these is basically disastrous, they are the Godfather 1 and 2 of Asian gangster films, and the movies that made Chow Yun Fat the biggest star in Asia. For Tarantino fans also not worshiping these films is just embarrassing as they are referenced so many times through his career, and modern action/gangster films wouldn't exist in their current form without them. The first couple are two of the most important iconic Asian films in history depending on the genres that interest you.

Those that haven't seen these or Woo's the Killer will never understand why Face/Off isn't an action film, it's a religous experience as it was the one time he was allowed free reign by Hollywood to do what he wanted with a film "style wise" where all the others were heavily altered or cut to shreds. Resulting in him going back to China and never making another Hollywood film again.

A Better Tomorrow isn't amazing, it's just good, but you can see the foundations being laid for what was to come. A Better Tomorrow Prt 2 changed Crime/Gangster film history. In came the 2 handed guns shootouts, killer suits and cool shades, everything young directors from Tarantino onwards have borrowed heavily from since. This was THE film that started it all.

 

[satanclaus]

Not really, it depends on the type of films you like. For fans of Asian Crime cinema yes not seeing these is basically disastrous, they are the Godfather 1 and 2 of Asian gangster films, and the movies that made Chow Yun Fat the biggest star in Asia. For Tarantino fans also not worshiping these films is just embarrassing as they are referenced so many times through his career, and modern action/gangster films wouldn't exist in their current form without them. The first couple are two of the most important iconic Asian films in history depending on the genres that interest you.

Those that haven't seen these or Woo's the Killer will never understand why Face/Off isn't an action film, it's a religous experience as it was the one time he was allowed free reign by Hollywood to do what he wanted with a film "style wise" where all the others were heavily altered or cut to shreds. Resulting in him going back to China and never making another Hollywood film again.

A Better Tomorrow isn't amazing, it's just good, but you can see the foundations being laid for what was to come. A Better Tomorrow Prt 2 changed Crime/Gangster film history. In came the 2 handed guns shootouts, killer suits and cool shades, everything young directors from Tarantino onwards have borrowed heavily from since. This was THE film that started it all.

tl;dr

Joke! I don't generally have favoured genres, I like a bit of everything really. These are films that I was aware of, but the opportunity to see them has never presented itself. Saying that, I've also never gone looking for them. I'll concede, I'm not a massive fan of his body of work, I don't mind The Killer and Hard Boiled (I used to have the Criterion's of them), but them aside, I love Face/Off but I think that's because I like Nic Cage films of that era, he was at his batshit crazy best then. I think the reason I don't love his "classics" now is that I've only seen them since they were already "out of date", so the stories stand up, techniques used, styles used and the overall feel, as well as some of the acting, but effects have the feel of Red Dwarf at times. I do, however, appreciate them because of what they've brought to modern films, their legacy, as you say.

Oh and you seem to have forgotten John Woo's finest work, Mission:Impossible 2.

...in fairness, I quite like it...

 

[psychoscot]

tl;dr

Joke! I don't generally have favoured genres, I like a bit of everything really. These are films that I was aware of, but the opportunity to see them has never presented itself. Saying that, I've also never gone looking for them. I'll concede, I'm not a massive fan of his body of work, I don't mind The Killer and Hard Boiled (I used to have the Criterion's of them), but them aside, I love Face/Off but I think that's because I like Nic Cage films of that era, he was at his batshit crazy best then. I think the reason I don't love his "classics" now is that I've only seen them since they were already "out of date", so the stories stand up, techniques used, styles used and the overall feel, as well as some of the acting, but effects have the feel of Red Dwarf at times. I do, however, appreciate them because of what they've brought to modern films, their legacy, as you say.

Oh and you seem to have forgotten John Woo's finest work, Mission:Impossible 2.

...in fairness, I quite like it...

LMAO! I actually like it more than I liked part 4 which I thought was starting to border into Bond silly territory, but style wise it's definitely a Woo film. I even liked Broken Arrow more because I loved Pump Up The Volume as a teenager and enjoyed seeing Slater and Mathis together again more than anything else. Travolta camping it up and the over the top western music added to a silly but very enjoyable film.

The Killer has stood the test of time where Hard Boiled certainly hasn't. The over the top nature of Hard Boiled and the amount of cheap stunts etc he crammed in has seen it date badly and some of the stunts and effects look terrible now. A Better Tomorrow part 2 is more like Face/off it spans both Hong Kong and the US with much of it filmed in New York and a large canvas to play with, it finally made a megastar of Yun Fat and out of all Woo's films is the one that has least dated. It also doesn't help that nearly every version available even Criterions version which I had on laserdisc are pretty poor quality.

I can still understand the love for these films as I saw them all in the early 90's just as Tarantino hit the scene, and it was very obvious that a new breed of directors were borrowing heavily from them especially Quentin and his best bud Robert as Desperado is basically a Mexican version of The Killer with a few tweaks. I could see that to a modern audience brought up on todays action movies, they would find them quaint and dated not realising half of what they are watching wouldn't exist without them. Action movies had become so bland by the early 90's in the US and along comes these ultra violent Hong Kong films with way more action and blood than Hollywood would ever allow I'm not surprised the kids loved them and then borrowed from them.

I do feel for Woo as Hollywood just didn't get him. Hard Target was completely butchered and recut "I'd love to see HIS version" before release, Broken Arrow was "Woo lite" MI2 was a paycheck as was Paycheck lol. Thank God for Michael Douglas who being a fairly powerful producer said go make Face/Off you have free reign this time to do it your way, and that he did lifting heavily from both The Killer and A Better Tomorrow. Cage and Travolta were just jawdroppingly good together, and the style was hardcore Woo through and through. If only Hollywood had continued to just let him make films like that instead of trying to tame all his idea's.

 

[Futurhythm]

The Killer has stood the test of time where Hard Boiled certainly hasn't. The over the top nature of Hard Boiled and the amount of cheap stunts etc he crammed in has seen it date badly and some of the stunts and effects look terrible now.

I have to completely disagree with you, because I think Hard Boiled remains one of Woo's best. The opening teahouse sequence is perfect and it's the one time where he made in my opinion, a straight action movie that works. In general, John Woo makes action melodramas rather than action movies and it's this combination of exaggerated emotions and over the top action that really sets his work apart. I think his best movie remains Bullet in the Head - it has everything you expect from a Woo picture, but it's also uncompromising and brutal with a genuine sense of grit, as well as a very satisfying emotional arc.

That being said, I also wanted to add that contrary to popular belief, the first A Better Tomorrow is really a melodrama first and an action/gangster movie second. A Better Tomorrow 2 on the other hand... well, it's as much action movie porn as it is action movie literature. It's the creation of almost Lennon/McCartney-like magic, where Woo and producer Tsui Hark, both unwilling to back down and having completely different creative visions, ended up combining their two disparate movies into one crazy beautiful thing. Of course, the two men then never talked to one another ever again, but we got a fantastic movie out of it at least.

 

[psychoscot]

I have to completely disagree with you, because I think Hard Boiled remains one of Woo's best.

Very interesting as most Woo purists tend to dislike Hard Boiled because it's over the top and silly compared to all the other films he made before going to the US. You study Woo in film school and that film is seen more as an over the top calling card to finally get Hollywood interested than it is anything else. I do love the film, I just feel it has dated more than some of the others, maybe more because many of the other films are still borrowed from so feel a little less dated.

There has been talk by both Woo and Fat very recently about doing Hard Boiled 2 "before Fat gets too old" but so far it seems to be just at the stage of both parties want to do it but no script as yet. "Fingers crossed"

 

[lolwut]

tl;dr

Joke! I don't generally have favoured genres, I like a bit of everything really. These are films that I was aware of, but the opportunity to see them has never presented itself. Saying that, I've also never gone looking for them. I'll concede, I'm not a massive fan of his body of work, I don't mind The Killer and Hard Boiled (I used to have the Criterion's of them), but them aside, I love Face/Off but I think that's because I like Nic Cage films of that era, he was at his batshit crazy best then. I think the reason I don't love his "classics" now is that I've only seen them since they were already "out of date", so the stories stand up, techniques used, styles used and the overall feel, as well as some of the acting, but effects have the feel of Red Dwarf at times. I do, however, appreciate them because of what they've brought to modern films, their legacy, as you say.

Oh and you seem to have forgotten John Woo's finest work, Mission:Impossible 2.

...in fairness, I quite like it...

You hate a bit of everything too!