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TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

A BETTER TOMORROW (2010)

DVD Review by David Blackwell

 

DETAILS:  123 minutes, featurettes, trailers

VIDEO:  2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO:  Korean 5.1, Korean 2.0 Dolby Digital

Subtitles:  English

 

STUDIO:  Well Go USA Entertainment/ Formula Entertainment/ CJ Entertainment/ Michigan Venture Capital/ Fingerprint/ Lion Rock Productions/ Fortune Star Entertainment

RELEASE DATE:  11-8-2011

A BETTER TOMORROW is a tale of loyalty and brothers.   Hyoek once left behind his younger brother Cheul and his mother when escaping North Korea years ago.   He is now a criminal who deals back and forth between Busan, South Korea and Thailand.   He is partners with another guy, Cheun, who considers Hyoek to be a brother.  It all changes when Cheul shows up in a South Korean jail.   He doesn't want anything to do with Hyeok.   A betrayal on a business trip to Thailand leaves Hyeok in a Thailand prison while Cheul gets released to train as a cop.   When the brothers are reunited, they have to contend with Tae Min who has built a criminal empire out of betrayal.  

 

A BETTER TOMORROW continues the South Korean dominance in the Asian crime action genre.   It is a remake of the John Woo film of the same name.  I have to say that  ABETTE TOMORROW was one of my least favorite John Woo films, but I do really like the remake despite it being a little slow in the middle (and yet it pays off with the big action climax).   A BETTER TOMORROW features two other action sequences (with one of them proving you should never wear a white suit to a gun battle).

 

SPECIAL FETAURES:

The original trailer and the USA release trailer are included on the disc in addition to three short promotional featurettes:

CHARACTER INTRO CAST INTERVIEW features interviews with the four lead actors.   This featurette is under five minutes.

MAKING OF A BETTER TOMORROW is almost four minutes and gives a very quick promotional fluff look at the making of the film.

INTERVIEW WITH SONG HAE-SUNG & JOHN WOO is shorter than the other two featurettes and only lasts about two minutes.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  I love the action sequences in the remake of  A BETTER TOMORROW.   It develops the characters and takes us on a journey that focuses on brotherhood and loyalty.   I do wish the extras weren't so brief because I wanted to know a little more about the making of the film and how the Korean remake is different from the John Woo version (compare and contrast the two).

 

this DVD review is (c)11-10-2011 David Blackwell and cannot fully be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com