Moo-jeok-ja

Review: This movie seemed like it was never going to end. So much time was wasted on the younger brothers remorse towards his older brother, which ended up getting on my nerves after a while and the fact that it didn't have English dubbing, also contributed to me falling asleep halfway through the movie. Anyway, the film's about a South Korean detective, Kim Hyuk (Joo Jin-Mo), who is also an illegal arms smuggler with his partner in crime, Lee Young-Choon (Song Seung-Heon). Hyuk has a younger brother, Chul (Kim Kang-Woo), who he left behind with his mother when they defected from the North. After spending time looking for his brother, Hyuk eventually finds Chul in a internment camp but Chul resents Hyuk for leaving him behind. When Hyuk finds out that his mother died when he left them behind, he's full of guilt and he tries his utmost to get close to his brother again but Chul doesn't want anything to do with him and his criminal activities. Hyuk then goes to Thailand with a new member of there crew, Jung Tae-Min (Jo Han-Sun) but Hyuk he's double crossed by Jung and the Thai gang, which leads to a big shootout. Hyuk surrenders to the police and ends up in jail for 3 years and when Lee finds out about the double cross, he heads to Thailand to kill the gang leader who had a hand in putting his best friend in jail. During the shootout, Lee gets shot in his knee, which makes him crippled, so with his best friend in jail and Jung in control of the smuggling operation, Lee ends up on the streets washing cars. When Hyuk is released from jail, he tries to make contact with his brother Chul, who is now a police detective but he still has bad feelings towards him. He also makes contact with Lee, who wants to get back into the business to take revenge on Jung but Hyuk is determined to go straight. He becomes a taxi driver to convince his brother that he is done with the criminal world but he is constantly pushed by Jung to rejoin the operation. Chul is determined to take down Jung but he hasn't got enough evidence to put him in jail. Jung then severely beats up Lee and he threatens Chul's life so Hyuk puts together a plan to kill Jung. Chul then has a suspicious car crash which has Jung's henchmen written all over it, so Lee takes it upon himself to steal some incriminating evidence to stop the feud. They agree to exchange the evidence for a large amount of money so they can escape on a boat but Hyuk has given the evidence to the police and he ends up taking Jung as a hostage so they can escape. When Chul turns up at the exchange, the whole situation leads to a massive shootout which also leads to some fatal consequences. I really didn't like the ending of this film and the whole "feuding between the brothers" concept, became very irritating. I really liked Lee's character, before he came a cripple and the shootout at the end was realistic. The actors also showed some deep emotion throughout the movie but Hyuk seemed like a lost puppy dog through most of the film. Anyway, it's not a bad movie and the storyline is very detailed, like a lot of Oriental movies but I was slightly disappointed with the outcome. Watchable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Hae-Sung Song who has only directed 6, unknown movies in his career and it was written by the great John Woo, who also wrote and directed the original, A Better Tomorrow with Chow Yun-Fat. 

Budget: $8.7million Worldwide Gross: $10.7million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/drama movies starring Jin-Mo Ju, Seung-Heon Song, Kang-Woo Kim and Han Sun Jo. 4/10

I wonder if filmmakers and their chosen cast suffer the jitters when they attempt to remake a cult classic, trying their best to recreate the formula that worked in another setting and timeline. A Better Tomorrow needs no introduction as it has elements that are deeply entrenched in the minds of any Asian cinephile, where John Woo revived the gangster genre in Hong Kong and created a phenomenon, inspiring copycats both in film and male fashion.

After all, who has the ability to recreate the Chow Yun Fat charisma as Mark Gor, with his long trenchcoat and aviator sunglasses inspiring a legion of followers to the character, so much so that he has to be brought back as twin brother Ken in A Better Tomorrow II? And 70s icon Ti Lung as co-chief protagonist around that brought about bona fide gravitas of a man betrayed, and finding true brotherhood with his best friend? Then there's the late Leslie Cheung, who goes to show that he's not out of place in an actioner, and brings out the role of the cocky young adult unwilling to forgive his brother in most excellent terms. And Waise Lee rounding up the quartet as the villain you'd love to hate especially when gloating with one of his last lines.

The Korean remake was wrong on a number of counts, especially if one were to be a purist and find objectionable character motivations, and scenes rearranged with elements tweaked that's as proportionally controversial as A New Hope's Did Han Shoot First?. The basic structure got retained where it introduced the quartet of characters, with Kim Hyuk (Joo Jin- Mo) and Kim Chul (Kim Kang-Woo) being brothers from North Korea separated when Hyuk abandoned his younger brother to escape to the South, hence setting up resentment which serves the crux of the film. Compensating for this brotherly kinship is his good friend Young- Choon (Son Seung-Heon), who finds himself going from riches to rags, a pale self to his former glory when his revenge didn't go as smooth as he planned it would be.

I don't mind that things got changed slightly, from counterfeiting to arms smuggling. I don't mind that since this is a Korean remake the plot naturally revolved around North and South tensions amongst the characters. I don't mind too that the characters' overseas romp shifted from Taiwan to Thailand. All these, coupled with the updates introduced by director Song Hae-Sung, are pretty minor. The major changes were what irked me, since they don't resemble the cult characters they are based on, especially that of Kim Chul and his estranged relationship with his brother Kim Hyuk, which bordered on thick melodrama that gave an about turn to the latter character when the finale rolled along. There's this obsession with not forgiving his brother yes, but things take an inexplicable turn which transformed him from rugged tough guy, to wimpy, weepy crybaby. What gives?

Song Seung-Heon perhaps drew the shortest end of the stick, because trying to emulate Mark Gor with his Young-Choon was nothing short of a futile attempt unfortunately. Clearly lacking the charisma to pull the role off, he tried his best and came up short, and in an unceremonious exit, I think director Song Hae-Sung has to bear the blame for some shoddy work here, even though we know the original had loopholes in the shoot out department that sort of became terms of endearment with weapons blessed with unlimited supply of bullets that always find their way to embed into bodies of faceless goons, these were opportunities that weren't seized to go one leg up before John Woo went balletic with his gun fights and shoot outs.

What worked though was how sinister Jo Han-Seon played chief villain Jung Tae-Min, whose meek demeanour hides his sinister nature and becomes the villain you'd love to hate. I thought he did well because he wasn't really trying to live up to what had already been done, though perhaps maybe it wasn't as intimidating as trying to fit into the shoes worn by Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung or Chow Yun Fat. There's also a distinct lack of female roles here to trip up this gang of four, eliminating frivolous romantic subplots where females are nothing but flower vases, allowing themes of betrayal, friendship, brotherhood and camaraderie to ring through much louder.

Still, this remake is slow to start, and it took some 30 minutes before the first major action sequence. To fans of A Better Tomorrow there's nothing here that will surprise you anyway, except to raise an eyebrow or two when motivations and subplots deviate. And if there's one more element that this film sorely lacked, it's the very, very iconic theme tune that accompanied the Hong Kong original. This one pales in comparison and somehow turned out dull for the most parts. You have been warned to stick to the definitive John Woo version.

I am a fan of Korean movies. Or so I thought after watching some of the legendary movies like the Vengeance Trilogy, Memories of Murder etc. However, it turns out, a lot of movies from Korea are just not for my taste as well.

Usually, I find that out pretty quickly, i.e. I don't bother watching love stories and comedies for teens. But this one looked like an action packed movie a la "The Good, The Bad and The Weird". Not quite.

It was a waste of a time. I wouldn't say it was amateurish in choreography or screenplay, I'd say it was terrible in terms of its script. Movie is so annoying, unbelievable. Like you know what stupid things one brother might do, and he ends up doing all of that. Also, script writing is so poor, that all these "gangsters" look more like high school gangsters than real life ones. Tears, crying, begging, pitying each other. A bunch of pathetic girlie gangsters => similarly pathetic movie.

4/10

This 2010 version of "A Better Tomorrow" is not a bad movie, but why it came into being is somewhat of a puzzle to me. Why take something that was so unique back in 1986 and then remake it in 2010? And to go even further, why go from Hong Kong to Korea? Perhaps these are questions not meant to be answered, but it does make for an alright action movie. Just don't put this Korean version up against the Cantonese version, because that is a bad mistake.

If you watch this 2010 version for a stand-alone action movie, then it is a great experience by itself. The story is driven by a good, solid storyline, though it had a tendency of being a bit jumpy and hard to keep track of who was who, unless you pay a very close attentive eye on the movie. And this is what the movie suffers under, it is a bit too skittish.

This version of the "A Better Tomorrow" storyline is driven by a heavy dramatic storyline that is focusing on brotherhood and loyalty, and that does work out quite well in favor for the movie.

Compared to the original trilogy, then the 2010 Korean version has less action and shootings in it, but it is obvious that they have focused more on the aspects of brotherhood and loyalty, rather than just hardboiled action and gunfights.

And the movie was well carried by the four actors in the lead roles; Jin-mo Ju (playing Kim Hyeok), Seung-heon Song (playing Yeong-choon), Kang-woo Kim (playing Kim Cheol) and Han Sun Jo (playing Tae Min). Thumbs up to these four guys for really adding dimension and character to the 2010 version of "A Better Tomorrow".

The 2010 Korean version of this 1986 Hong Kong classic is well worth a watch for fans of Asian action cinema. Just keep this version aside from the Hong Kong trilogy, and you'll be fine.

Directed by Hae-sung Song A Better Tomorrow is a remake of the 1986 film "A Better Tomorrow" by John Woo, it's a co-production between South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.

A Better Tomorrow tells the story of Hyuk (Joo Jin-Mo), who lives the fast life as a high-ranking mobster in the port city of Busan, South Korea with his closest pal, fellow mobster Lee Young-Chun (Song Seung-Heon). Though Hyuk seems to be on top of the world, he is haunted by the memory of leaving behind his younger brother Chul (Kim Kang-Woo) and mother as they attempted to flee into South Korea from North Korea. Hyuk's mother was beaten to death while Chul was imprisoned after they were caught by North Korean authorities (plot).

I didn't saw the original one but i think this film was great in every thing, the story was very simple but the actions scenes was really cool, director Hae-sung Song shows that he is ready to play with the likes of To and Woo with this film and I hope he really grows into himself, because he can craft brutal action while make the rest of the frame dance with beauty. Overall I would say the remake of A Better Tomorrow is an awesome movie that any action lover should give it a watch.

4/5