Shout! Factory’s John Woo 4K UHD #2 is the A Better Tomorrow Trilogy. These are significant because Woo considers the first film the beginning of his auteur phase. However, Heroes Shed No Tears began experimenting with double guns and jumping through the air. This trilogy folllows three friends who get involved in the criminal underworld and engage in visceral violence but also face tragedy in their personal lives.
In the 4K transfers, you see all the grain in all three films. A lot of action is set at night against a pure night sky, sometimes even on the docks with water essentially the same color except when nearby streetlights shine on them. Somkey, hazy interiors are penetrated by shootouts.
The commentaries are by historians. It’s good to hear David West on Tsui Hark’s third film, and it’s James Mudge on the first two. Mudge knows the troubled production and post of Better Tomorrow II. The work print is 35 minutes longer but still not the full Woo cut. Mudge also puts the films in context of memes and Tsui’s franchise mentality.
Woo still gives an interview about II and the first film. Terrence Chang, writers and historians also give interviews, one of whom is The Raid director Gareth Evans sharing Woo’s influence on him.
A Better Tomorrow III is so interesting because Woo went off to make Bullet in the Head (coming soon from Shout!) but the A Better Tomorrow characters had a similar adventure in Vietnam with gold. It’s sort of a what if alternative, but Anita Mui joining them is pretty awesome.
I understand why there are no subtitles for the Vietnamese spoken, because the characters don’t understand it either, but there are none for Mui’s song either so I don’t know the lyrics.
I can’t necessarily pinpoint what was added to the Better Tomorrow II workprint. It just breathes more at the 140 minute pace and therefore feels more Woo.