San ying hung boon sik

RETURN TO A BETTER TOMORROW is a surprisingly enjoyable little gangster movie from Wong Jing, although be warned that it has nothing to do with the John Woo series of the 1980s. Instead, this tells a stand-alone story of rival gangsters working out of Hong Kong. Lau Ching Wan and Ekin Cheng are the leads, working under the aegis of a mysterious boss, while Michael Wong plays one of his goofiest characters. It's a fast-paced, densely plotted affair of shifting allegiances and treachery, with hardly any of Jing's trademark comedy. Although Jing's action sequences are mere child's play compared to the masterful Woo, this does have a focus on bodily disfigurement and some very dark moments. Chingmy Yau, Parkman Wong, Lo Meng and Paul Chun co-star.

I do believe that I have now watched the 1994 Hong Kong action crime thriller "San Ying Hung Boon Sik" (aka "Return to a Better Tomorrow") two or three times since it was originally released.

The storyline in the movie, as written by Jing Wong, whom also directed the movie, was fair enough. I mean, it made for a watchable movie, though it was hardly an outstanding movie in the action crime thriller subgenre. Watchable for what it is, "San Ying Hung Boon Sik" is not going to become a Hong Kong classic.

What keeps the movie afloat is the cast ensemble, because they definintely had a good handful of familiar talents on the cast list. And if you are familiar with the 1990s movies of Hong Kong cinema, then you will recognize the likes of Ekin Cheng, Ching Wan Lau, Michael Wong, Chingmy Yau, James Wong, Collin Chou and Paul Chun.

There is a lot of action, fighting and shooting in the movie, and that definitely helped to carry the movie as well, because the storyline was a bit erratic and somewhat lacking a cohesive red thread.

All in all, then "San Ying Hung Boon Sik" is watchable for what it is, but there are far better Hong Kong Triad-related movies out there.

My rating of writer and director Jing Wong's 1994 movie "San Ying Hung Boon Sik" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I didn't expect it to have anything to do with the first three movies. I didn't expect the action or the stars to be as powerful. All I wanted was a solid, fun action movie. I didn't even get that! Instead I get another throwaway stupid movie that makes you turn off the DVD player about 20 min. into it.

The "cool" factor is gone. All you have are the typical blue lights symbolizing nighttime and a bunch of guys walking in slo-mo WITHOUT looking cool. Ugh, I usually write reviews longer than this but you get the idea. The typical blurry, fast-forward-punches, blue-lights as nighttime crap everyone ignores....except this has the "Better Tomorrow" name on it! John Woo should make another one in the series just so this cannot be the last one.

Although it has nothing to do with the A BETTER TOMORROW series, this movie still packs a wallop. It is a very stylish actioner with a very good performance by Lau Ching-Wan. This movie is sometimes very brutal even though it has been severely cut by the Hong Kong censors probably to avoid a category III rating. Of course, there's plenty of references to the works of John Woo but the director manages to not rip off his style and scenes. Here, Wong Jing told his movie straight-forward with flesh and blood characters and, for once, he avoids his typical low-brow juvenile humour opting for a more realistic and pessimistic approach. Highly recommended.

Let me get one thing straight before I start reviewing Return to a Better Tomorrow. It is in no way a sequel, or prequel to John Woo's class "A Better Tomorrow" starring Chow Yun Fat.

Return To A Better Tomorrow is like many underrated Hong Kong action movies. It has great action sequences, good unknown actors and a healthy storyline. The great thing about Hong Kong movies is that no matter how small the budget, it always seems to pull off pretty well. Like Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" for example, even if it's not a Hong Kong action movie, considering it's budget ($7000) it's a great movie.

Anyway back to Return to a Better Tomorrow. Although it has nothing to do with A Better Tomorrow, this movie does seem to take a leaf out of John Woo's classic film. Some of the scenes in RTABT do have a slight "deja-vu" feel to them, I thing the director was heavily influenced by A Better Tomorrow and decided to base a lot of the action within RTABT from Woo's ABT.

The storyline has all the classic elements of a gangster/Hong Kong action movie: faith, brotherhood, trust, treachery etc, just like A Better Tomorrow, this is when RTABT does start to feel like it's been heavily influenced by the classic John Woo movie, none the less...it's still a great film, if underrated.

This should please most action junkies out there, but please...don't consider it a sequel to A Better Tomorrow.

7/10.