Bromance & gunplay – on John Woo’s “A Better Tomorrow” (1986)

Woo.

Devastatingly effective and hard-hitting gun action filmmaking against a backdrop of orthodox, broad emotions - familial love, the pathos of a criminal’s flawed attempt to go straight, self-sacrifice and vengeance for a sworn blood-brother.

My head knows this stuff is pat, but it’s hard to put into words how much the earnestness of this film moves my heart.

Nobody does Heroic Bloodshed better. Perhaps Ringo Lam’s “City on Fire,” but otherwise John Woo himself with "The Killer" comes close.

5/5 stars.

2023/10/12 update: watched it again. I’ll put it another way:

I love John Woo's worldview - basically, the only things worth dying / killing / crying / getting covered in blood for are your brothers (whether literal or figurative)