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Ying hung boon sik II
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Ying hung boon sik II (1987) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   3,559 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 6% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
John Woo
Writers:
Hark Tsui (story)
John Woo (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for A Better Tomorrow II on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 December 1987 (Hong Kong) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama | Thriller more
Plot:
A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
A Better Tomorrow II
 (From LateFilmFull. 15 June 2009, 2:19 AM, PDT)

Dead Alive: Bringing Popular Characters Back to Life in Sequels
 (From IFC. 16 April 2009, 7:59 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Misses the Mark, in too many ways more

Cast

  (in credits order)
Dean Shek ... Lung Si
Lung Ti ... Sung Tse-Ho (also archive footage) (as Ti Lung)

Leslie Cheung ... Sung Tse-Kit (also archive footage)

Yun-Fat Chow ... Ken / Mark Lee / Mark 'Gor' (also archive footage) (as Chow Yun Fat)
Emily Chu ... Jackie Sung
Fui-On Shing ... Ko's Right-Hand Man

Kenneth Tsang ... Ken
Regina Kent ... Peggy Lung
Sing Chau Wai
Marco Wo
Ken Boyle ... Bearded Crime Boss
Ming Yan Lung ... Chong
Sammy Lee
Chindy Lau
Shan Kwan ... Ko Ying Pui
Paul Francis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mike Abbott
Dean Harrington ... Hitman in the hallway
Mark King ... Shotgun Pete
Siu-Ming Lau ... Inspector Wu
Waise Lee ... Shing (archive footage)
Ming Leung
Man Tat Ng ... Mr. Wong
Peter Wang ... Sam
Charles Dumas ... New York Cop (uncredited)
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Directed by
John Woo 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Hark Tsui  story
John Woo  writer

Produced by
Paul J.Q. Lee .... associate producer
Hark Tsui .... producer
 
Original Music by
Joseph Koo 
Lowell Lo 
 
Cinematography by
Wing-Hung Wong 
 
Film Editing by
David Wu 
 
Production Design by
Andy Lee 
Chi Fung Lok 
 
Costume Design by
Pauline Lau 
 
Production Management
Tony Chow .... post-production manager
Kar Man Won .... production manager
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Randy Ostrow .... assistant director: New York
 
Stunts
Siu-Tung Ching .... stunt coordinator
Phil Neilson .... stunt performer
Peter Rocca .... stunts
Chi-Lung Wu .... assistant stunt coordinator
Tak Yuen .... assistant stunt coordinator
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Jonathan Burkhart .... assistant camera
Kim-Kit Chik .... lighting technician
Jules Labarthe .... director of photography: second unit
Clay Liversidge .... gaffer: New York
 
Editorial Department
Simon Broderick .... colorist
 
Music Department
David Wu .... music editor
 
Other crew
George Camarda .... location manager
Siu-Tung Ching .... action choreographer
Siu-Tung Ching .... action director
Hark Tsui .... presenter
 

Production CompaniesDistributorsSpecial EffectsOther Companies
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
A Better Tomorrow II (Hong Kong: English title) (USA)
Better Tomorrow: Rapid Fire II (Philippines: English title)
more
Runtime:
105 min
Country:
Hong Kong
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Filming Locations:
Hong Kong, China more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
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. more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When Kit gets shot in the basement, we can see a shadow of the camera. more
Quotes:
Ken: [To Ko and Sung, after a bloodbath] We're dying; can we leave now? more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Matrix (1999) more
Soundtrack:
Forward To The Days In The Future more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful:-
Misses the Mark, in too many ways, 16 March 2008
5/10
Author: mjscarface from United Kingdom

The first 'A Better Tomorrow' was a stunning, kinetic and emotional roller-coaster that changed the face of HK cinema. The success of ABT meant a sequel and some bright spark decided that Chow Yun Fat (whose character was definitely quite dead at ABT's finale) should make a return.

A prequel would have made more sense, but instead Chow yun Fat returns as dead Mark's identical twin Ken. Holy plot contrivances Batman! After reformed gangster Ho is sent to prison at the end of ABT, his brother Kit has gone undercover to investigate a suspected counterfeiter. Given the chance to join the investigation, Ho is released to act as an informer, if only so he can protect Kit.

All good so far right? The film does well to pick up from where last time left off, thankfully bringing back Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung... but then totally takes the wrong direction. To me, Chow Yun Fat may have been the charismatic centre of ABT but it was always about the brothers Ho and Kit. In ABT2, the film spends way too much time on two NEW characters - the twin brother Ken and framed gangster Si Lung, who is gradually going insane after falling foul of Hong Kong's triads. For every tense sequence of Ho and Kit's investigation, there's two or more scenes or Si Lung's shaking and shuddering and Ken's attempts to snap him out of it.

As far as the action goes, there are no complaints here. The finale is top-drawer chaos on behalf of John Woo and at least gets a great build up sequence to lead into it. But the story focuses on characters and subplots that, to be frank, are mostly irrelevant. Before you criticise me, I love Woo's other work. But saying 'this is a John Woo film' and that 'action is the priority' would do a disservice to the original, which may have changed action cinema, but always kept in mind the story and characters at hand.

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Ying hung boon sik II (1987)
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Awkward homoerotic orange feeding scenes Redfoot84
Best shootout in the history of cinema? bobfred1288
You no like my rice? johnny_suede666
The end... Ziggy4001
Chow yun Fat's sunglasses??? yah870
Mark's Theme wangchungvslopan
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