A BETTER TOMORROW III: LOVE AND DEATH IN SAIGON – Shout! Review: Tsui Hark’s Epic Finale To A Chow-Fueled Franchise
You would almost think that after two successful movies in a franchise that its director would jump back in for a third round. In this case, not if you’re either John Woo or Tsui Hark…
As history tells it, creative differences on the second installment, among other things, resulted in both cohorts going their own way. That also meant taking their ideas with them for what would have led to a third chapter in the A Better Tomorrow films, a franchise reliant heavily on themes of stoic loyalty, friendship and brotherhood.
For better or worse, Hark attributes his approach to these aspects accordingly for his 1989 helmer, A Better Tomorrow III: Love And Death In Saigon, with a story that predates the first two films, and brings leading man Chow Yun-Fat’s initial character, Mark, back into focus for the masses and studio execs riding high off of Chow’s starpower. The cast also adds Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Shih Kien, and superstar Anita Mui.
Set in the years leading up to the fall of Saigon, we meet up with Mark who convenes with ex-con cousin, Michael (Leung), before convening with Michael’s father, Uncle (Shih), who’s long established himself at an apothecary for more than two decades and remains weary of ever going back home. Mui’s introduction comes earlier at the top of the film just as we meet our younger portrayal of Mark with both characters getting off a plane landing in Saigon; Mark is checked in and searched by corrupt airport guards and cops, only to be spared upon seeing the woman observing from a distance. The woman’s name is revealed as Kitty Chow, a businesswoman who happens to wield her share of influence. Some of that clout also extends to the gunrunning trade, and with a deal set to go down with a local warlord, the arrangement is set in motion with Mark and Michael invited to learn the ropes.
Needless to say, the deal goes south and the trio are forced to fight for their lives in a night that offsets the first chapter in a tale of friendship with a titlating romantic twist: A catch-22 in which Mark’s loyalty and love for both his cousin and their newfound business partner are put to the test. Adding to an already percolating situation amidst relocating from Vietnam to Hong Kong is the sudden emergence of Kitty’s business partner and former flame, Sam Ho – played by Saburo Tokito, who finds the newfound competition just as fierce in love as it is in business.
As A Better Tomorrow III: Love And Death In Saigon unfolds, Hark’s focus is less so on the supposed love triangle between our three mains. The story is anchored with the oblique setting of international upheaval in the backdrop between the Vietnam War and the fallout of the Watergate scandal permeating then-US President Richard Nixon. The chaos is the point – the crux that preambles our characters’ fight for survival as the film’s climax unfolds well into the second half, pitting Michael and Mark against Sam Ho and vicious warlord Bong (Nam Yin), amid their desperate search for Kitty back.
Chow and Mui have a stronger presence in the film in terms of chemistry, anchored firmly by a script that keenly pressure-tests both their characters during their evolutions from cordial business partnership to stoic lovelorn romantics lost in their own priorities. It’s a peculiar relationship paradigm that holds its own with solid writing and Hark’s eye firmly on the ball.
The film’s action scenes feasibly send up Woo’s stylish vision on the first two, particularly with Mui standing out as fierce as ever in the role of a gun-toting action heroine. The finale is certainly something out of a familiar action franchise that might have taken inspiration from here, and you might recognize it when you see it – kind of like Michael Bay’s downhill shantytown car chase a la Jackie Chan’s Police Story, for example.
One hangup that I do have with this film is that there still isn’t much of a connection to Mark’s incarnation in the original. There’s no connectivity, or even an introduction of some kind to Ti Lung’s Tse-Ho character as a preamble – something that would have been great for Hark to include to make this film feel like a genuine prequel to a Hong Kong classic.
Rather, A Better Tomorrow III: Love And Death In Saigon remains inescapable in its intended fanservice. Its best and most redeeming quality is the veracity and gumption Hark and his team bring to the table here to end this saga on its most explosive and poignant note possible.
I think it’s great that Chow got to explore more of Mark’s roots this time around and in a world-building sense, although you can’t help but wonder the possibilities if Hark, and Woo back then, had a plan. Understandably though, Woo’s career was in a different space and just getting even one film made was a miracle…
Them’s the breaks, I guess, or as the “wild west” as some would call it. Screenwriters Jason Lam Kee-To and Damu Liu had plenty to offer here while regaling in their experiences working with Hark in their interview segment, “Third Time Lucky”. The extras on Shout! Studios’ Blu-Ray of the film go even deeper with Hong Kong Filmmaker and Academic Gilbert Po diving into the franchise, one-offs and remakes of A Better Tomorrow in “All Our Tomorrows,” which is a great featurette to look at if you’re like me and haven’t seen Wong Jing’s Return To A Better Tomorrow, or even Ding Sheng’s own 2018 remake of Woo’s film due to proximity or time. I did see the Korean remake which isn’t bad, but as I’ve written before, it’s been a while since I had eyes on it so I really hope to rectify that someday soon.
Vietnam War researcher Dr. Aurélie Basha i Novosejt takes a deeper dive into Vietnam with a storied look at the country in “Nam Flashbacks.” Novosejt offers a layered view of the region with an insightful look into the locations and historical timeline in accordance with its contextual adherence to the film in its construction. The Blu-Ray disc rounds out its extras with a trailer reel and an image gallery, as well as a feature length commentary track for the movie that also comes available with the film’s 4K disc presentation.
What will really tickle you in is the seventh disc. It includes extended version of Woo’s A Better Tomorrow II, which adds close to maybe forty minutes or so of footage that was removed from the film’s initial release; An opening crawl delineates what went into putting the film’s original elements together between audio and visual issues, thus allowing for Shout!’s assembly and delivery to bring forth the very footage that Woo once thought was lost to the ages.
The disc also includes an extended Taiwanese cut of A Better Tomorrow III: Love And Death In Saigon. I only sampled some of the footage in time for this post due to time constraints to assure the discs contents and indeed, they were.
This may be a trilogy boxset, but it’s totally worth looking at as a five-film bundle. Shout! knew what they were doing when they put this package together and I’m thrilled to lend my approval. The A Better Tomorrow Trilogy is as entertaining as it is educational in both the films, and the fascinating histories and legacies left by its makers.
Feel free to visit – or revisit – my reviews of the first two films in this collection, and then get your copy over at Shout!’s new online store at Gruv.
