A Better Tomorrow – 4K Restoration (15)

The film that laid the blueprint for the ‘heroic bloodshed’ genre, A Better Tomorrow is the movie that launched a thousand bullets. A heady collision of brotherhood between anti-heroes, honour among thieves, brutal, balletic violence and – of course – bloodshed, A Better Tomorrow changed the course of action cinema for good, bad and ugly.

After a money counterfeiting deal takes a violent turn, triad gangster Ho finds himself sentenced to prison and estranged from his brother Kit, a police cadet, who holds him responsible for the tragic repercussions of his criminal actions.

Upon his release, Ho tries to lead a civilian life and reconnect with Kit. But Ho’s criminal past is never far away, and Kit has ambitions of climbing the ranks of the police force, putting the two brothers on a violent collision course with destiny.

A Better Tomorrow electrified the career of filmmaker John Woo, marking him out as one of the most distinctive and distinguished purveyors of cinematic carnage. Chow Yun-fat also launched himself to stardom with this 1986 classic – it lit the fuse on an explosive collaboration with Woo, which spanned five films and made Chow an icon of Hong Kong action cinema.