Guest dndcollect Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Woo is the man no question but he has fell off. I personally liked Face Off ALOT and I loved MI2. I think that these two films have many similaraitys to the Killer and his other films. Now, if you are going to compare the US movies to the hong kong ones there is no comparision here, but I unlike alot of people like most of his US stuff. With that said Pay Check crushed me. That movie was beyond awful. It was unwatchable and it was for me the end of a great era. Woo is my favorite director period. Anyone that says Hard Boiled is a bad movie should be put in prision for such sacrilig. While I agree it was a rather cold movie it was still great. The Killer was obviously great but to me my favorite all time Woo film is A Better Tomorrow Part 2. That movie is one of the greatest films ever made IMO. The sequence where Kit is dying and names his child while on the phone with his wife and then the scenes with Ho greiving his brother outside the hospital and then finally Ken, Ho, the Uncle, and the other dude praying at Kit's alter and then turning around and walking away in their black suits on their way to take out their enemys for me is the greatest and most powerful scene I have ever seen in a movie. While it embarrases me to say the first time I saw all that I had tears in my eyes and a feeling of such adreleine I almost had to change my underwear. And then to top it off, you have one of the best action sequences in the history of movies at the end. Man, I have goose bumps typing this. Also, the music score of that movie in brilliant. The scene when the Uncle comes back to Hong Kong and calls up his boy who sold him out with that music is wonderful. I could go on and on. with all this said there are also simiilary moving scenes in the Killer. Anyway this topic has envoked one of my passions in life so sorry if I am rambeling. Now finally with all that said since sadly Woo has dropped off a new Hong Kong director has taken his place and his name is Jonnie to. If you like Woo you MUST watch the following To movies: Full Time Killer, The Mission, and A Hero Never Dies. Ok im done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rederror Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Yeah i agree with a lot of these aopinions on this subject. In my opinion Hard Boiled and Bullet in The Head are his best, with Bullet being my personal favourite. The Killer is brilliant aswell and i was blown away seeing all these films for the first (and many times after) time. Another of my favourite John Woo movies is Last Hurrah For Chivalry which in my opinion is brilliantly directed and shows he can direct any king of action if it be Kung Fu, or shootouts. As far as his US movies go, i liked Face Off quite a lot but the others i didn't really care for. As a last note i think there is no better director than Woo for absolute ballistic action scenes and i don't think the likes of Hard Boiled, Bulllet In The Head and The Killer will ever be topped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marvel Minion Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 I'm sure i'm not alone in saying this, but John Woo is one of my favorite directors...of ANY genre. I love the symbolism, the themes, his ability to get the best out of his actors, and above all...the action . Like a previous poster mentioned, I'm not sure why Woo received so much negativity for his US stint. His American films aren't on the level of his Hong Kong work (masterpieces), but they serve as satisfying popcorn flicks. Face Off is probably my favorite US Woo film, followed by the much-maligned MI-2. I didn't really enjoy Broken Arrow, however. Bullet In The Head and Hardboiled are my favorite Woo films. They're untouchable. ABT I, II are both fantastic films as well. I felt The Killer was abit overrated...I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't register the same emotional impact the previously mentioned films have. It's still a great film, by all rights, but I don't see how people can consider it his best work. I'm trying to make a point to view Once A Thief, but from the less than stellar reviews I have received about it, I've been putting it off. Anyone have some thoughts they'd like to share about that movie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member odioustrident Posted May 5, 2009 Member Share Posted May 5, 2009 I doubt John Woo has really nailed most genres of HK action, but Hard Boiled is easily the best gunplay film (definitely the best choreography from what I can see). Last Hurrah for Chivalry is definitely a contender for best straight ACTION wuxia. I'm sure Tang Chia-directed stuff from the early 80's is in competition for the action wuxia title as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 2, 2021 Member Share Posted May 2, 2021 John Woo is basically what would have happened had Sam Peckinpah hadn't died in 1984. It's too bad that he never made a Western. If only someone could have offered him the chance to direct something like Bad Girls (1994). It would have made The Avenging Quartet (1992) look like silly posturing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted May 24, 2021 Member Share Posted May 24, 2021 He is defiantly one of the best. I don't think anyone can argue with that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 The below pages are from a 1976 issue (#75) of Movie Story magazine. John was directing a Cantonese Opera titled Princess Chang Ping. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 11, 2021 Member Share Posted June 11, 2021 I've not seen this photo before. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 7, 2021 Member Share Posted August 7, 2021 On 6/11/2021 at 2:27 PM, Cognoscente said: I've not seen this photo before. Looks like this was taken during the promotion of Broken Arrow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 7, 2021 Member Share Posted August 7, 2021 Btw, I've been searching for info on Woo's current activities in film-making... He's been doing a Red Cliff web-series with both Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro reprising their roles from the movies. In addition, he became a grandfather last year. https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2021/05/19/a103123063.html https://stars.udn.com/star/story/10091/4968309 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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