The festival of guns and machismo known as Hong Kong cinema gets another outing tonight and tomorrow night at midnight at the Charles. The craziness on display this time is called "A Better Tomorrow III," starring the great Chow Yun-Fat.
The odd wrinkle here is that the film isn't directed by John Woo, who did the first two "Better Tomorrows," but rather by Tsui Hark, known more for pure martial arts films. Thus the action sequences, of which there are many, lack the crazed balletic choreography of Woo's work, although the bullet count is equally high.
The film appears to be a kind of Asian attempt to deal with the moral meaning of the Vietnam War. Like, say "The Deer Hunter" or even the original "Lethal Weapon," every character in the film has been soaked in and formed by the great war.
I confess some confusion. This movie actually appears to be a sequel to Woo's "Bullet in the Head," which was about a trio of Hong Kong youths who callowly came to Saigon to make a fortune off the war, and suffer terribly for their greed; it seems to have little relationship to the first two "Better Tomorrows," which took place in gang and cop culture in the Hong Kong underworld in the '80s.
This one is set in 1974 and features only two of the original three (Leslie Cheung, who also starred in "Farewell My Concubine", is absent), who have returned to Cholon district of Saigon, that is, the ethnic Chinese sector. The two -- Fat and Tony Cheung -- go to urge a revered relative -- Fat's uncle, Cheung's father -- to leave before Saigon falls (there's a fine sense of the end of the world throughout the film). But they encounter terrible corruption and cruelty from Vietnamese secret police, who confiscate their money.
They also meet Anita Mui, as "Kit," a true dragon lady who can outshoot either of them. The serpentine plot turns on Vietnamese corruption, sense of family obligation (always huge in these films) and love. They are incredibly romantic for movies so drenched in blood.
I don't think Tsui Hark has the intensity of Woo, and he uses Fat in a much less intense way too. But the film still really cooks. After you leave this one, you won't be hungry to see a movie again two hours later.
"A Better Tomorrow III"
Starring Chow Yun-Fat and Anita Mui
Directed by Tsui Hark
Released by Rim
Unrated
** 1/2