A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989)
Director: Tsui Hark
Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Anita Mui, Tony Leung, Shih Kien
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Drama
The second installment to John Woo’s masterpiece, A Better Tomorrow (1986) is what happens when filmmakers do not have their ego checked. The producer and (mediocre) director Tsui Hark took over Woo after their creative fall out in A Better Tomorrow II (1987) attempting to recreate in vain his slick gun fu style with downright embarrassing results. A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon feels several steps down in terms of quality featuring also an unbelievable melodramatic story. As a prequel, it swaps the 80s Hong Kong for a 70s Vietnam during the American exodus for unknown reasons. But at least, you can see how Chow Yun-fat’s Mark got his 80s looking coat and sunglasses!
“Nobody knows what tomorrow might be”
The performances are mediocre. Considering how both Yun-fat and Anita Mui had the same year much better films (John Woo’s The Killer, Jackie Chan’s Miracles), it is surprising to find them here in an autopilot mode. Yet, blame should not be put solely on them. The script makes no effort to explain what the hell is going on leaving the audience to wonder what everyone is talking (or yelling) about and why. The presence of a love triangle (which becomes a quartet later on!) is always a risky move since you need to showcase three different perspectives. The title Love & Death in Saigon promises a lot of heroic-bloodshed moments so naturally, melodrama is part of the film. However, the movie’s complete disregard for genuine dramatic heft is hard to experience. The villain of the piece is not even registered with lame and muddled motivations and a face that looks like a teenage boy.
Leaving Hark behind (very wise move), Woo demonstrated what he was really capable off with The Killer blowing Hark’s movie to oblivion. Meanwhile his own idea for this prequel became due to the grace of cinematic gods, the superb and dramatically heavy Bullet in the Head a year later, so in this regard, you have to be happy for the release of A Better Tomorrow III. Rushed with glaring editing and period mistakes and dull action sequences that although they have Woo’s trademark pirouettes, they lack his visceral, multi-angle capturing, gun fu staging. You won’t be experiencing a symphony of destruction amidst breathtakingly dangerous stuntwork and extravagant visuals. Instead, Hark bizarrely tones down the violence too, replacing squibs with firecracker effects which if you thought they looked bad then, imagine now. Some ideas are there like a final showdown involving a tank. Hark, though, is clearly the wrong man for the job bringing as much excitement as a looking at a frozen lake can generate.
Love & Death in Saigon is nothing more than a pointless cash grab that has nothing exciting to go in its favor despite a solid cast. Stick with the original.
Pointless cash grab
+Yun-fat, Mui, the only things deserving any respect
-Terrible plot
-Dull action
-Cheap
-Convoluted
-Mediocre performances