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A Better Tomorrow 2018

Original title: Ying xiong ben se 2018
  • 2018
  • 1h 54m
IMDb RATING
4.9/10
561
YOUR RATING
Kai Wang, Tianyu Ma, and Talu Wang in A Better Tomorrow 2018 (2018)
ActionCrimeDrama

This film traces the journey of a former smuggler attempting to start his life anew and repair his relationship with his estranged brother after his release from prison.This film traces the journey of a former smuggler attempting to start his life anew and repair his relationship with his estranged brother after his release from prison.This film traces the journey of a former smuggler attempting to start his life anew and repair his relationship with his estranged brother after his release from prison.

  • Director
    • Sheng Ding
  • Writer
    • Sheng Ding
  • Stars
    • Kai Wang
    • Tianyu Ma
    • Talu Wang
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.9/10
    561
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Sheng Ding
    • Writer
      • Sheng Ding
    • Stars
      • Kai Wang
      • Tianyu Ma
      • Talu Wang
    • 9User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations total

    Photos348

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    Top cast8

    Edit
    Kai Wang
    Kai Wang
    • Zhou Kai
    Tianyu Ma
    Tianyu Ma
    • Zhou Chao
    Talu Wang
    Talu Wang
    • Ma Ke
    • (as Darren Wang)
    Ailei Yu
    • A Cang
    Suet Lam
    Suet Lam
    • Ha Ge
    Yue Wu
    Yue Wu
    • Pi Jin
    Mincheng Li
    • Guo Dui
    Eric Tsang
    Eric Tsang
    • Prisoner
    • Director
      • Sheng Ding
    • Writer
      • Sheng Ding
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews9

    4.9561
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    Featured reviews

    7ChandlerHammer

    A Modern Take On A Classic John Woo Movie

    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.
    MovieIQTest

    The usual suspects still there

    What made me feel uncomfortable again about this Chinese movie was the ridiculous script about putting the Chinese police force to carry out missions on foreign soil. We know that the Chinese communist government has something similar to American's FBI and DEA, issuing some kinda "Red Warrant" to catch some Chinese criminals abroad and bring them back to China. But such warrant has not sanctioned or legalized by almost every foreign governments, so it'd carry out under the radar of the foreign authorities.

    But what we saw at the very beginning in this film was not what it should be or shouldn't be. A bunch of Chinese plain-cloth detectives, most of them were too young to be convinced easily qualified as detectives, they openly used firepower trying to catch some dubious Chinese criminals in an European city, looked more like in Italy since all the roofs were red-clay tiles.

    Then when the camera lens shifted, we saw the Chinese smugglers trying to do business in Japan. We saw a very bad Taiwanese actor acting like an annoying clown, a sidekick to a cool Chinese veteran smuggler.

    At that moment, the usual formulaic Chinese movie production had become so obvious, readily kicked in again: The Chinese screenplays, no matter what, doing good or doing bad, got to be in foreign countries, on foreign soil. Well, I'm just so tired of this kinda unrealistic phony Chinese movies.
    9lightronger

    A bold visual and auditory delight and a boatload of fun.

    From some of the boldest music choices to drastic switches in tone of cinematography to one of the best shootout scenes in forever, A Better Tomorrow 2018 felt like a firework so bursting with life that it left me too busy savoring every minute details of brilliance to think about its flaws. You can just feel how much love and thought director Ding Sheng and the cast put into every scene. Even all the jokes avoid lazy one-liners but instead are all carefully set-up earlier to land perfectly.

    The film itself is loosely based on the 1986 film by John Woo. While the overall story is the same, the tone is completely different. This one is louder, more fun, yet somehow has more grounded characters that loses some of the dramatic feel but still tells the story.

    The boldest and most perfectly cast character in the film is the nepotism casting of Qingdao, the director's hometown and a port city that's also the beer capital of China (it was colonized by the Germans). Far from the rough, gritty urban streets of Hong Kong, the sprawling seaside port of Qingdao brings to the film more vibrant and boisterous street tales and a sense of lostness on the sea. The city is used as a story-telling device so much that it's hard to imagine the story being told anywhere else. Every aspect of the city is used, from a cool boat chase scene earlier on, to the contrast between Zhou Kai's floating boat home and Zhou Chao's grounded home, to Zhou Kai's post and Ma Ke's post-heist jobs both involving the sea, to its apparently very cool underground water system that sets as a location for several key scenes. All of those combine to form the theme of the story is brotherhood as a harbor, a haven for you no matter how far you've sailed.

    Wang Kai gives one of his strongest performance yet as Zhou Kai, a reformed smuggler trying to make mends with his cop brother (Ma Tianyu) and his buddy Ma Ke (Darren Wang). There are certainly notable details that he added to his character, but for the most part, it just felt so natural. After the rather mediocre The Devotion of Suspect X, I had almost forgotten how good Wang Kai could be at acting. Not for a moment did I feel like he was giving the performance of his life, because it never feels like a performance. No lengthy monologues, no powerful speeches, no psychotic personalities, just Zhou Kai being Zhou Kai, an ordinary person in extraordinary situations.

    The film feels completely different from the 1986 version. The synopsis is the same, and that's about it. The film knows its limits. Instead of trying to replicate the classic Chow Yun-fat role, Darren Wang's Ma Ke is a completely different but still lovable character. Darren Wang plays his forte as a street punk with a heart of a gold, and completely sold it. He did all his punchlines in character, and mostly sold emotional scenes. There was also shootout scene that he got to do that's nothing short of iconic, and he did not disappoint. A few of his mini-monologues could've used better delivery, but this is easily his best performances yet (although to be fair, that bar is not that high).

    Compared to his co-stars, Ma Tianyu's performance was not so smooth-sailing. It's unfortunate because his role actually has a lot of room for character development, but Ma Tianyu was able to do the perfunctory acting as an officer and a little brother and that's it. There were three key scenes that jumped out as stagey, and two of them were due to Ma Tianyu's facial expressions (or lack there of). In one scene, Zhou Kai conveyed more emotion with his eyes alone than Zhou Chao with his whole body and face. Luckily, Ma Tianyu looks the part and did fine enough in most of the other scenes (and pulled off his other two key emotional scenes) to not be too much of a distraction.

    The last scene that felt off was mostly due to poor martial arts choreography. The film is produced by Jackie Chan's company, so of course it is choreographed by Jackie Chan's team. Unfortunately, the hand-to-hand combat scenes had way too many edits for me to tell how good the choreography is, and at least one shootout had people falling weirdly. Two highly-stylized shootout scenes were amazingly edited, though, combining the beats and performances Peking opera and geisha dance with gunshots and punches.

    It's a delight to see any director to use music as a character, a punchline, and to define mood, and Ding Sheng does all of those. The bold music uses mostly paid off, especially in all the fight/chase/shootout scenes. On the other hand, the use of hymns in two scenes felt out-of-place for a modern Chinese film, and the main theme was overused. Wang Leehom's theme song (penned by the director) was perfect for the scene it was used for. Either way, I was just excited to see a Chinese director unafraid to use music.

    A Better Tomorrow 2018 may be far from perfect, but it gave me so much too love that I don't care.
    10hcnj-79021

    Outstanding movie

    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!
    1zixiong

    What's the point? Everything is a downgrade

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

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      There are two songs that are repeatedly played in the movie, Silence is golden and Dang Nian Qing , both of these songs are sung by the late Hong Kong singer and actor, Leslie Cheung, and the songs are placed in the movie as a tribute to him as he also starred in the original.
    • Quotes

      Zhou Kai: No matter how much the world changes, brotherhood never changes.

    • Soundtracks
      Goodbye Heroes
      Written by Sheng Ding and Leehom Wang

      Performed by Leehom Wang

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 18, 2018 (China)
    • Country of origin
      • China
    • Official site
      • Official Site
    • Language
      • Chinese
    • Also known as
      • Bản Sắc Anh Hùng 2018
    • Production companies
      • Film Workshop
      • United Entertainment Partners
      • Beijing Culture
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $10,067,151
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 54m(114 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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