Analysis
of A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled
John Woo is a Hong Kong director whose films fall under the
gangster genre, while also containing heavy melodramatic tones. Two of his
films, A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled, both depict these
conflicting genres. A Better Tomorrow
was filmed in 1986 and is the story of two triad members, Mark and Ho. The
relationship between the two of them contains hints of brotherhood. Due to the
strength of their relationship, they are each willing to make sacrifices for
the other. In Hard Boiled, which was
produced in 1992, a similar relationship develops between two police officers
who are working on the same case, Tequila and Tony. Tequila is in charge of the
case, while Tony is an undercover cop playing the role of an assassin to
infiltrate the gangs. While each film contains a different plot line, the relationships
between the main characters in A Better Tomorrow
and Hard Boiled share the same elements
of brotherhood and self-sacrifice.
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| Tony and Tequila talk while they are trapped |
The two relationships are founded on the concept of mutual
survival, but they develop into something stronger as time passes. The
relationship between Tony and Tequila in Hard
Boiled best represents this concept, but Mark and Ho’s relationship also
experiences similar foundations. Tony and Tequila first agree to combine their
work because they know that they will be more likely to achieve their goal if
they work together. However, Tequila lacks respect for Tony’s undercover
behavior, and Tony does not wish to let Tequila steal the glory for solving the
case. Their first interactions involve pointing guns at each other due to the
lack of trust between the two characters. Mark and Ho’s relationship is already
strong during the events in A Better
Tomorrow, but they allude to its beginning as being similar to Tony and
Tequila’s. Their “affective obsession with mutual survival” (Stringer 33) is
seen in how they interact while fighting against other gangsters. In both
relationships, the two men work together to defeat their enemies, and the
fluidity of their fights is attributed to the bond they share. Their intent on
mutual survival enables them to defend each other and to complete the task they
are assigned. When Mark carries out an assignment without Ho, his partner, he
is unable to focus on survival and completion, and is crippled due to his lack
of diligence.
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| First meeting |
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| Teamwork |
Along with a shared goal of mutual survival, each
relationship is characterized by the older brother and younger brother bond between
the characters. In
A Better Tomorrow, Ho
assumes the role of older brother in his relationship with Mark by accepting
the responsibility for Mark’s injury. Furthermore, the maturity with which he
handles the decision to leave the triad overshadows Mark’s somewhat childish
desire to complete one last job. Ho advises Mark to forget about revenge and
leave the gangster lifestyle, rather than risk losing everything. Like any
brother relationship, Mark looks up to Ho and respects him. Similarly, in
Hard Boiled, “A big brother’s concern
for a little brother, as well as a little brother’s respect for his elder,
emerges…” (Stokes & Hoover 59). During
the scene where they are trapped in the morgue together, Tony and Tequila
discuss their dreams, because they know they may die before the arms-dealing
case they are working on is solved. Tequila teases Tony for his wish to live in
Antarctica, much as an older brother affectionately teases his younger brother.
However, Tequila also feels concern for Tony’s safety, which is why he tries to
joke to relieve the fear they both feel in their prison. Tony looks up to
Tequila because, unlike Tony, he can live as a normal person after the
conclusion of the case. Tony knows he will be forced into hiding from both the
police and the triad. Like Mark and Ho, Tony and Tequila assume the roles of
older and younger brothers in their relationship.
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| Tequila laughs at Tony's life goal |
The strength of the relationships leads to the “older
brother” characters’ willingness to do whatever they need to protect their “younger
brothers,” even at the cost of their own pride. Mark alludes to Ho’s protective
instinct during the bar scene with Ho and Shing in A Better Tomorrow. During one of their first assignments, Mark had
multiple guns pointed at his head and Ho was coerced into drinking bottles of
whisky to appease the bodyguards who have Mark trapped. By doing so, Ho saved
Mark’s life by endangering his own safety. Ho risks himself for Mark again
during the ambush, when he allows himself to be captured by the police so that
Mark can escape. Ho knows that Mark will be in much greater trouble than Ho if
he is captured, so he presents himself as a distraction rather than allowing
both of them to be hunted down. Tequila is also willing to put himself into
harm to protect Tony in Hard Boiled. At
the end of the film, Tony is used as a hostage so the villain, Johnny, can
escape from the police. Johnny threatens to shoot Tony unless Tequila
humiliates himself by hitting himself. Tequila willingly degrades himself
rather than have Tony be shot in the head. Both Ho and Tequila allow themselves
to be harmed to save the lives of their friends.
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| Tequila is coerced to hit himself |
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| Tequila kneels before Johnny |
The “younger brother” figures both sacrifice their lives at the
end of the films to fulfill their obligation to their friends. Mark is shot at
the end of A Better Tomorrow because he
wishes to help Ho reconcile with Ho’s younger brother, Kit. He returns to the site
of the final shootout to save their lives by sacrificing his own. The emotions
he feels for Ho drive him to give his life so Ho can survive. Tony makes the
same sacrifice when he is a hostage at the end of Hard Boiled to save Tequila from further humiliating himself. Tony
realizes that Tequila will do anything to save him, and he does not want the
other cop to be harmed any further for his sake. He turns Johnny’s gun on
himself and shoots both himself and Johnny. As Philippa Gates states in her
analysis of the films, “The relationships that develop between the two men in each
of these films, whether the relationship between the two friends who are
divided at the beginning of the film or the two friends who prove their loyalty
to one another at the end, are highly emotionally charged” (Gates 65). The
strength of the relationship between the two characters drives each of them to
commit acts of self-sacrifice so they can save the other.
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| Tony uses Johnny's gun to shoot himself and Johnny |
The relationships between Mark and Ho, and between Tequila
and Tony, share many similar elements. They both are depicted as brotherly,
with an older brother in Ho and Tequila, and a younger brother in Mark and
Tony. They also contain elements of willing self-sacrifice from all of the
characters. The older brothers are willing to be humiliated to help their friends,
and the younger brothers both give their lives. The self-sacrificial nature of
the relationships emphasizes the power of the bond they feel. The deaths of the
two younger brother characters are devastating to their friends, and they both
retreat inward as a result of the loss. The strong emotional ties between the main
characters fuel the plot of the films.
