A Better Tomorrow II: More Guns, Less Brains?

Okay, so I finally got around to watching "A Better Tomorrow II" and...whew. It's definitely got that John Woo over-the-top action that I kind of love, but honestly, without Chow Yun-Fat playing Mark, it felt a little...hollow? Don't get me wrong, Lung Ti and Dean Shek (especially Dean Shek, lol) were great! The whole thing with them trying to clear Lung's name after the counterfeit money thing and dealing with that crazy gangster was pretty intense. That scene where Lung Ti just goes totally berserk after seeing the dead body in the restaurant? Intense! Like, legit scary. But honestly, I missed the emotional core of the first movie. It was all revenge, revenge, revenge this time. And while I'm here for some good ol' vigilante justice, I kinda needed a bit more substance. Also, the plot got kinda confusing at points? Like, who was betraying who and why? I had to rewind a couple of times, not gonna lie. I think this one is good if you just wanna turn your brain off and see some dudes shoot each other in slow motion, which, hey, sometimes I do! But don't expect the same level of feels from the first one. The ending was a total bloodbath and that's what made it so good. Overall, I'd say it's a decent action flick, but don't go in expecting another "A Better Tomorrow." It's more like a "A Better Tomorrow-Adjacent" type of thing, if that makes sense lol. Definitely worth a watch if you're a hardcore fan, but maybe not if you're expecting something super deep. Who knows though, maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it. Ha!