A Better Tomorrow (1986)

The first John Woo-Chow Yun-fat collaboration that singlehandedly ushered in the era of "heroic bloodshed" Hong Kong action cinema. Considered by many to be one of the greatest Chinese films ever made.

It's nice to see where all of this stuff started, but being the film to usher in a new trend isn't always the best thing. ABT comes off as a bit dated and takes a while to establish its story rhythms. It is certainly not up to the standard of Woo's later efforts, but seeing as this was the first time around all is forgiven. It's quite enjoyable if you can find good enough subtitles. And Chow Yun-fat steals the movie. As usual.

A respectable 3 balls out of 4. Wish there was a better subtitle track.

And this happens in the first 5 minutes:

It's as if the gods said: let us create a badass actor who combines the right qualities of Clint Eastwood and Cary Grant. And thus there was Chow.