A Better Tomorrow 2018

This movie is not related to the 86 version. The story happens in present day China regarding smugglers. But it doesn't just show the tenseness of crime activities. The brotherhood among the main characters is very touching. I like this movie because the story is realistic and the roles are of ordinary people that we may come across in our lives. The gun fights and action scenes are not exaggerated and make sense (I have watched movies where the whole Central district of HK was blown up and the main character is still alive, ridiculous). In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it!

'A BETTER TOMORROW 2018': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A loose remake of John Woo's classic 1986 action crime-drama. It deals with the tale of a former drug smuggler, fresh out of prison, that tries to start a new crime-free life, and patch things up with his estranged brother, who's also a rising police star in the narcotics division. The film stars Wang Kai, Ma Tianyu, Darren Wang and Li Mincheng. It was written and directed by Ding Sheng. I found parts of it to be really slow-paced, and overly melodramatic, but the action scenes are really well done.

The story deals with two brothers, one's a rising narcotics police officer and the others a drug smuggler. When the drug smuggler is busted by his brother, and their ill father passes away, the police officer vows never to forgive his drug dealing brother. When the criminal gets out of prison though, he vows to start a new crime-free life, and to try to patch things up with his brother. Other dangerous criminals cause more problems for the siblings though. I saw the original movie a couple of decades ago, so I don't remember that much about it, but I do remember it being really melodramatic and cheesy. So it's no surprise to me that this remake is the same way. Like the original though, the action scenes are spectacular. They're definitely not as impressive as a John Woo movie, back in the day, but I'd say they're worth seeing the movie for (at least once).

This movie feels a lot like the original "A Better Tomorrow" (Because it takes heavy inspiration off of it from score to plot) which gives us a nice more modern approach to the classic story. While it isn't as good as the original, it redoes classic scenes that you'll notices and recognize if you came into this movie after watching John Woo's movie. This movie does have a lot more fun with it's sidekick brother character which honestly is a nice feeling change to the story.

So, I'm going to start by saying that this movie is an homage to the 1986's movie A Better Tomorrow. The story goes around two brothers and a friend, in opposite sides of the law, and the ups and downs in their lives.

1986 is one of my all-time favourites, in 2010 there was a korean remake of this movie, very competent as well. This one hasn't got the finesse of Woo's shootouts - that why he is one of the most famous action director in asian/american cinema - and hasn't the "deepness" of the story in the korean version - usually the koreans try to build a solid story, and by doing so, they build characters, as well - but this is really a very good movie. The story is straight forward, the pacing is very nice, there's a lot of action scenes, here, more direct and simple...

So, eventhough there's no way this can match to the original, is, still, one hell of a joy ride.

They seriously just remade the plot and every scene, with bad actors and stupid fights scenes.. This is just like those cheap hollywood remakes.