Moo-jeok-ja

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.

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.

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

A BETTER TOMORROW is the South Korean remake of the classic John Woo '80s Hong Kong action flick. If I'm honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the Woo original to begin with - I think the sequel's a lot more lively and entertaining - but nonetheless, I had high hopes for this remake, which I hoped would continue in the trend of fantastic South Korean thrillers. Sadly, what I got was a badly-written, overly-complex movie that seems to go on forever whilst offering the viewer very little at the same time.

The scenario is needlessly complex, weaving back and forth through time with the tale of a pair of brothers and their friends who variously betray and end up on different sides of the law. There are brief sojourns to Thailand and North Korea, but it's all very confusing and I was trying to figure out who was who for most of the running time. It doesn't help that a lot of scenes, particularly in the second half, descend into dodgy melodrama.

So what of the action? At least the Woo film had that. Sadly, A BETTER TOMORROW is a disappointment in that respect too, as there's hardly any in it. There's a good assassination scene and a couple more shoot-outs, before an admittedly decent climax, but the action feels oddly limited given the length of the running time. I'm afraid that A BETTER TOMORROW is one remake they never should have bothered going ahead with.

One of my favorite movies i loved the action in it and how the brothers are standing for each other.