Up until the 1980s, most of Hong Kong’s action films were consistent with the Swordplay/Kung Fu style. This was mostly attributed to the early influential films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, which were already focusing on practice of martial arts and masculinity/male relationships. However, even these classic artists’ work could be traced back to King Hu, a pioneer for martial arts films because of his new shooting style and technologies for the swordplay genre. He also placed emphasis on the literature that his stories originated from, because films back then were usually not simply developed from imagination, but kind of served as a cinematic portrayal of a piece of old literature. Furthermore, he wanted his productions to uphold sinophone networks, which meant that there would be various localized accents or dialects among the actors to bring out a presence inclusion for differences. However, as Kung Fu gained more popularity in film, a new paradigm emerged that deemphasized literature and focused more on the artistic choreography of physical combat.

John Woo’s film, A Better Tomorrow, sought to bring a different type of violence to action films; a combination of gunplay and Kung Fu: Gun Fu. We saw a perfect display of this in the scene where Mark goes to assassinate the Taiwanese gang leader in the restaurant. His movements were choreographed and timed precisely with the camera angles, a more advanced filming technique than prior ones. The gunplay was smoothly planned, with Mark hiding guns in the flower pots before he went inside for the first part of the shootout. When he turned to walk away, slow-motion was added as he picked up the guns, one by one, to shoot at the people who tried to retaliate. Although we do not see him fighting physically, there was still a definite flow to his body as he performed these actions, which demonstrates the more martial arts side to this swiftly choreographed scene. Contrasting from previous Kung Fu films, this was seen as a more Westernized style of fighting because of the use of guns and graphic violence, which usually led to a giant bloodshed at the end of each fight. Previously, we would see a lot more emphasis on the meditation and the training to become a martial arts master, plus the extraordinary talents that were blessed to individuals from divine spiritual powers. Gun Fu was a genre that directed the focus on the individual ability to exterminate your enemies with this powerful and deadly tool. 

A Better Tomorrow is a film that really influenced my parent’s generation; I finally watched it with them this past summer break after their persuasive spiel on why it is such a great movie. Even though the acting in it is not the best, Woo’s film was able to breakthrough the traditional norm of action movies during his time. Instead of the typical pattern of just Kung Fu and some light-hearted comedy, this film was rather serious and focused on the realistic lives of people in the Triad. There were a lot more emotional scenes, accompanied with dramatic music, to emphasize the inner feelings of the characters; for example, the reunion scene in the parking garage between Ho and a crippled Mark. This was most likely attributed to the fact that the themes were revolving heavily around loyalty and brotherhood, both by blood and by “Jiang Hu”. I think these uniquely advanced aspects of A Better Tomorrow made it an influential film that is remembered by people of that era; this new style paved a way for the action films that followed, even the ones we watch today. Chow Yun-Fat’s gangster image was so popularized after the release of this movie that a lot of people went to buy trench coats, and it soon became a trend, which shows how much popular media can affect the public's opinion on even items such as clothing. As a person who does not particularly enjoy gunplay or violence in movies that much, I really liked this classic film and I think that it has a well developed plot for a "gangster" movie of that time.