|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A
Better Tomorrow III:
Love & Death in Saigon |
|
|
|
Anita Mui, Tony Leung and Chow Yun-Fat
|
|
|
|
review | awards | availability | also
see | |
|
|
Year:
|
1989 |
|
|
Director:
|
Tsui
Hark |
|
|
Cast:
|
Chow
Yun-Fat, Anita Mui Yim-Fong,
Tony Leung Ka-Fai,
Shih Kien,
Tokito Saburo, Maggie
Cheung Ho-Yi, Nam
Yin |
|
|
The
Skinny: |
Was
this necessary? Interesting prequel to the classic Hong Kong
films arrives without John Woo or any real reason for happening. |
|
|
Review
by Kozo: |
Tsui Hark brings us this prequel to A Better Tomorrow,
which is noticeably without original director John Woo. Tsui
had a falling out with Woo, so Tsui himself directs Chow Yun-Fat
as his Mark character from Better Tomorrow 1. Mark
heads to Saigon 1974 and hooks up with his cousin Mun (Tony
Leung Ka-Fai). Together, he and Tony run into tough-as-nails
gangster Anita Mui, who takes a shine to the two boys. She
teaches Chow his gun moves and begins to fall for him, but
Chow is oblivious. Meanwhile, Mun gets the idea that Anita
fancies him.
This love triangle creates most of
the drama for a good two-thirds of the film before the darkness
of their world crashes in on them. It seems Anita’s last lover
was a gang boss, so he doesn’t take kindly to the idea of
Mark romancing his former flame. Even worse, the VC are taking
Saigon, so it isn’t the best time to be hanging around Vietnam.
The film is not bad, with decent gunfights and a generous
helping of slo-mo. Still, what’s the point? Unfortunately,
this film has absolutely nothing to do with A Better Tomorrow
(or its flawed sequel), so it pretty much comes down to this:
is Mark so fascinating that he needs his own movie? Not really.
Still, Chow is great and his pairing with Mui is a natural
one. (Kozo 1995) |
|
|
Awards:
|
The
9th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
• Nomination - Best
Art Direction (Luk Chi-Fung)
• Nomination - Best
Original Film Score (Lowell
Lo Koon-Ting) |
|
|
Availability:
|
DVD
(Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Intercontinental Video
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Original Cantonese Language Track
Remixed Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1
Remixed Cantonese DTS 5.1
Remixed Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles
featurette, trailers, photos |
|
|
Also
see: |
A
Better Tomorrow (1986)
A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
image courtesy
of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2008 Ross Chen |
|
|
