Crow and Lee, the blood brothers.
Hero of Tomorrow is a 1988 Hong Kong crime drama directed by Poon Man-kit and starring Max Mok and Michael Miu. Starting off rather slowly as a dramatic character piece, the film in its last few minutes suddenly dives straight into John Woo territory concluding with a massive gunfight, and capped with a Bolivian Army Ending.
Miu plays "Third Brother", Lee Sam, a gangster who was framed by his fellow triads and sentences to three years of prison before being discharged. Fleeing to Taiwan, Lee befriends a local Taiwanese betel nut seller, Yeung Tin-sun a.k.a Crow (Max Mok), whom have always imagined himself to be a gangster and mobster.
This film contains examples of:
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Crow and Lee Sam whenever they’re fighting or shooting against a superior number of enemy mooks.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Crow finish off Ah Kui the triad boss in the ending.
- Cool Shades: Worn by most of the gangsters in the film, even in night scenes. Boss Kui, the Big Bad, notably have them as Sinister Shades.
- Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Crow, who takes an interest of becoming a triad enforcer upon learning of Sam Lee’s past, after living a dull life as a betel nut seller. Even before meeting Sam, Crow have always dreamed of becoming a triad leader someday.
- Driven to Suicide: Yeung, the night after being brutally assaulted and raped by Boss Kui and his mooks to intimidate Crow. When Crow reaches her home, he finds her dead in her bathroom, having slashed her own wrists in the shower.
- Face Framed in Shadow: The film’s very first shot is literally Lee Sam’s face being partially hidden in the shadows of his prison cell, as he awaits his impending release.
- Fingore: Crow, who has to cut off his little finger himself as a sign of allegiance to the triad.
- Guns Akimbo: Crow and Lee Sam in the final shootout against Ah Kui’s henchmen.
- It's Personal: Crow’s vendetta against Boss Kui becomes personal once he found out Kui is behind his girlfriend being brutally assaulted, raped, and forced to suicide.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Subverted with Max Mok’s character, Yeung Tin-sun, whose nickname is "Crow". Everyone calls him by the nickname despite knowing his real name.
- Scrolling Text: Used in the opening scene. After Lee Sam is arrested in the opening scene, the film then cuts to a paragraph of white text against a black background saying Lee Sam is subsequently arrested and sentenced to three years of prison after being framed, and that his mother had passed away during his sentence, and upon his release he decides to escape to Taiwan. All narrated in two paragraphs without dialogue.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: Yeung is shown in this attire while in Crow’s home, waiting for him to come back when making dinner late one night, the night when Kui’s henchmen invades their home, beats her up and have a Giant Mook rape her while everyone else watches.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Crow keeps a shotgun hidden in his bathroom, and uses it to blast away at mooks trying to ambush him the very night he found out about Yeung’s suicide.
- Taking You with Me: At the end of the film, Crow is among the final survivor of the airport shootout, and is pointing his pistol at Boss Ah Kui, the Big Bad, just as the police arrives and points guns at them both. Deciding that he’s done for either way, Crow ultimately puts a bullet into Ah Kui’s forehead, prompting the police to open fire on him, where he dies seconds after killing his sworn enemy.
