A Better Tomorrow Trilogy [4K Ultra HD]

Director(s): John Woo, Tsui Hark

Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Ti Lung, Dean Shek

Release Date: November 18, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Release Rating: 9.5/10

Synopses:

A Better Tomorrow: A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break. Two friends, Ho (Ti Lung) and Mark (Chow Yun-Fat), are triads in a counterfeiting operation who end up doing ‘one more job’ and what do you know, this one more job gets messier than they had hoped…

A Better Tomorrow II: Restaurant owner Ken Gor, twin brother of Mark Gor, teams up with police detective Kit and his struggling ex-con brother Ho to avenge his old friend’s daughter’s death by a Triad gang.

A Better Tomorrow III: This prequel to the popular film franchise finds Chow Yun-Fat reprising his role as Mark Gor, who travels to war-torn Vietnam to get his uncle and just-out-of-jail cousin Cheung Chi-Mun to Hong Kong. Gor finds complications when he falls in love with a female gangster with a dangerous ex.

The unforgettable action-packed and emotional ‘A Better Tomorrow’ trilogy returns home in a new box set collection that features all three installments in the beloved series. The first film joins an ex-gangster that is trying to reorganize his life and go straight, but ends up caught up with his police-officer younger brother and a longtime friend when he hesitantly accepts one last job. The sequel rejoins the brothers as they attempt to infiltrate a known criminal which soon results in an old friend’s daughter being killed, forcing them to join forces with a New York restaurant owner named Ken to enact much deserved vengeance. The third film in the series offers a look back in time and follows Mark shortly after the war as he tries to help his family members get to Hong Kong until things get complicated when he falls in love with a dangerous and mysterious woman.

‘A Better Tomorrow’ and ‘A Better Tomorrow II’ are each directed by iconic action filmmaker John Woo, while ‘A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon’ is directed by Tsui Hark; the first two films are definitely a step above the third installment although all three hold up admirably in their own right and benefit from the choices and guidance of the directors. All three films star Chow Yun-Fat, with other notable stars from the trilogy including Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Dean Shek, Emily Chu, Tony Leung and Anita Mui, along with many more and the majority all offer generally capable and in many cases noteworthy performances in their respective roles.

‘A Better Tomorrow’ was first unleashed upon Hong Kong moviegoers in the summer of 1986 and its impressive success and growing fan base quickly led to a sequel being developed and fast-tracked which was itself released the following year in 1987. The third film in the series would serve as a prequel and see Tsui Hark take over as director from John Woo for a release in 1989. Easily one of the most beloved sagas during that era, it also helped to skyrocket filmmaker John Woo to worldwide success and acclaim, as well as charismatic star Chow Yun-Fat. The films stand out due to a number of factors, not the least of which is the outstanding action sequences featured within which still hold up beautifully today in nearly every way, with action movie fans all over the world familiar with John Woo’s unique style and stunning manner of capturing action like no other.

The manner in which the unforgettable action is balanced with an unflinching look at the humanity and heart of the characters is where it stands out even more, focusing on such relatable subjects as a struggle to change and a rift between brothers both existing in drastically different worlds. The expert guidance of Woo in the first two films only helped them to excel to something incredibly special that have already stood the test of time quite impressively, while the third film may not quite hold up on the same level as its predecessors it remains a largely beautiful, unique and memorable tale nonetheless.

All three films in the ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ arrive home in glorious 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray in the 7-disc ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray box set release as part of the Hong Kong Cinema Classics line from of Shout! Studios. This marvelous set serves up all three films fully restored and remastered from 4K scans of the original camera negatives and presented in full Ultra High Definition with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 and they all look simply fantastic to say the least. The impressive new UHD presentations are each paired with clean and crisp DTS-HD MA mono soundtracks offering the option to view with the original Cantonese audio or English dubbed, and also including newly translated subtitles on top of it.

There’s no question that these spectacular new video and audio presentations are an absolute joy to experience alone, yet this trilogy collection also features an impressive collection of bonus content for each installment that offers numerous brand new interviews and much more. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy additions of all is the inclusion of the long-lost workprint edition of ‘A Better Tomorrow II’ which was unearthed during the restoration process and features over thirty minutes of never before seen footage and offers a look at the film that’s surely far closer to Woo’s preferred version. Altogether this is a truly phenomenal box set that will have fans of the ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ beyond thrilled with what it delivers and if you’re a fan of the series that’s already considering a purchase I can’t recommend it highly enough and you should have no regrets whatsoever in adding it to your collection.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative on all three films, with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 and presented in their original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentations look outstanding as a whole and they each provide clean, sharp and filmic presentations that retain a nice grain structure. Detail is tremendous on nearly everything from character specifics to the interior and exterior surroundings, action sequences and more, while the Dolby Vision HDR nicely enhances many colors such as bits of clothing, blood and scenery and it’s all further boosted by deep, clean and rich black levels. Overall, these are spectacular Ultra High Definition presentations that have the beloved trilogy looking better than ever and fans should be ecstatic with the results.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 2.0 dual mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack both in the original Cantonese language, as well as English Dubbed for all three films. I primarily watched them with the Cantonese audio track with the new subtitles and they sound extremely solid as a whole, while the English dubbed tracks sound great in their own right aside from the typical negatives like the voices sounding largely out of place much of the time. Each film sounds great and does a tremendous job of balancing the numerous audio elements within; with music, dialogue, action effects and everything else holding up without issue and never allowing any simultaneously occurring audio elements to contradict or negatively impact any others, ensuring that everything is clean and fully audible. Overall, these are very nice 2.0 mono DTS-HD MA soundtracks that hold up splendidly and should satisfy fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ features a solid collection of bonus content including brand new extras for each film, and perhaps most notably the long-believed lost workprint edition of ‘A Better Tomorrow II’ featuring over 30 minutes of never before seen footage is offered on a Blu-ray bonus disc that also includes the extended Taiwanese cut of the third film. I’ve broken down the extras by disc below for simplicity and easier navigation.

Disc 1 (A Better Tomorrow UHD) includes an ‘Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks’.

Disc 2 (A Better Tomorrow BD) also includes the ‘Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks’, along with some new Interviews and videos including ‘Better Than the Best with John Woo’ (running approximately 34 minutes in length), ‘Between Friends: Remembering A Better Tomorrow’ (running approximately 7 minutes), ‘When Tomorrow Comes with Screenwriter Chan Hing-ka’ (approximately 21 minutes), ‘Thoughts on the Future with Gordon Chan’ (8 minutes), ‘Better and Bombastic: Gareth Evans on A Better Tomorrow and John Woo’ (23 minutes), and ‘Hong Kong Confidential: Inside A Better Tomorrow with Grady Hendrix’ (18 minutes). ‘2 Trailers’ for the movie (6 minutes combined) and an ‘Image Gallery’ are also included.

Disc 3 (A Better Tomorrow II UHD) also features an ‘Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks’.

Disc 4 (A Better Tomorrow II BD) features the ‘Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks’ along with various Interviews and more including ‘A Tumultuous Tomorrow with John Woo’ (running approximately 26 minutes), ‘Better Than Ever! With Film Historian Frank Djeng’ (approximately 19 minutes) and ‘Hong Kong Confidential: Inside A Better Tomorrow II with Grady Hendrix’ (10 minutes). ‘2 Trailers’ for the film (9 minutes) and an ‘Image Gallery’ are also featured.

Disc 5 (A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon UHD) includes an ‘Audio Commentary with Critic and Author David West’.

Disc 6 (A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon BD) also features the ‘Audio Commentary with Critic and Author David West’, along with various new Interviews and videos such as ‘Third Time Lucky with Screenwriters Yiu-Ming Leung and Foo Ho Tai’ (approximately 24 minutes), ‘Hong Kong Confidential: Inside A Better Tomorrow III with Grady Hendrix’ (10 minutes), ‘All Our Tomorrows’ (23 minutes) and ‘Nam Flashbacks: How A Better Tomorrow III Represents the Conflict’ (17 minutes). The film’s ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (5 minutes) and an ‘Image Gallery’ are additionally included.

Disc 7 (Blu-ray Bonus Disc) features the long-lost Workprint edition of ‘A Better Tomorrow II’ featuring over thirty minutes of never before seen footage (running approximately 141 minutes in length), along with the Taiwanese cut of ‘A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon’ (running approximately 130 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Remastered Blu-Ray discs included in the release and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD discs themselves and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the releases are the property of their respective owners.

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Release Rating: 9.5/10

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‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ is Now Available to Own in a 7-Disc 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Box Set from Hong Kong Cinema Classics & Shout! Studios

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You can purchase ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

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