Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 10, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 10, 2012 A few recent comments on the forum have mentioned how John Woo's Hollywood output was of a pretty good quality compared to other Hong Kong stalwarts who jumped ship after the '97 handover. It got me thinking about, out of the seven full feature length productions that he made while he was in the States, which one is your personal favorite & why? For me personally I will go with 'Hard Target', it was one of those movies that I watched when I was first getting into HK cinema, and although my memory is a little hazy might have also been responsible for leading me to seek out 'The Killer' and 'Hard Boiled'...and any movie that's responsible for that should be rated highly! I do remember being impressed by the staging of the shootouts though, the ridiculous vehicle stunts, and Van Damme's mullet...so my vote goes there. How about everyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hard Target rocks. Easy choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 I'm a "Face Off" fan. When it first came out I loved it for its action and crazy plot. Now I've grown up a little, I love it for its action, crazy plot and utter ridiculousness. It's camp, cheesy action at its best. Throw in some trademark Nicolas Cage over-acting and you have yourself a certified classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Broken Arrow by far for me---one of my favorite action movies ever. edit: actually, looking at the list again, I forgot about MI:2--I like that almost as much as Broken Arrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hard Target, with Broken Arrow as a close second! Didn't care for the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Phoenix Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 None compare to his HK best, but 'Face Off' is hilarious. Very enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hmmm. I've only see 5 of the 7. (The 2 missed being Blackjack and Windtalkers.) Face-Off was pretty good. Broken Arrow was actually better than I thought it'd be. I loved Paycheck. And I find Hard Target to be one of JCVD's best films. But......I'm going with Mission Impossible 2. It's the best of the franchise (haven't seen Ghost Protocol yet though). I love the action sequences in it. And if Dougray Scott hadn't gotten held up in its production, we wouldn't have Hugh Jackman for Wolverine in the X-MEN films. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hard Target for the action but overall I choose Face Off. It has more depth and the acting makes you care about the characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 But......I'm going with Mission Impossible 2. It's the best of the franchise (haven't seen Ghost Protocol yet though). I love the action sequences in it. And if Dougray Scott hadn't gotten held up in its production, we wouldn't have Hugh Jackman for Wolverine in the X-MEN films. It was the best action movie of the franchise, but it had nothing to do with what M:I was all about. The first will always be the best. Face Off for me, easily. It was his biggest most ambitious Hollywood production and he pulled it off. In fact M:I 2 almost felt like Face Off 2. And as I said before, first is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 11, 2012 Author Moderator Share Posted February 11, 2012 I loved Paycheck. ShaOW!linDude....I think you are the first person I've come across to actually give this movie any love, in general it seems to be regarded as Woo's weakest and most tame Hollywood movie, which to be honest my opinion also falls under. What did you love about it!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted February 11, 2012 Member Share Posted February 11, 2012 ShaOW!linDude....I think you are the first person I've come across to actually give this movie any love, in general it seems to be regarded as Woo's weakest and most tame Hollywood movie, which to be honest my opinion also falls under. What did you love about it!? Whoops! I confused Paycheck (starring Ben Affleck), which I did think was pretty good, with Payback (starring Mel Gibson) which I love. I did like the premise of Paycheck though. It was sort of futuristic and the fact that he had all these the items for which he had no idea the reason for. Then things just fell into place. (I confess though.....it's been years since I've seen this and then that was at the $2 movie theater. Hey, for $2?.......it was good! Not a bad film for Affleck but then......I liked Reindeer Games.) Thanks for calling me out on that, OAB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted February 11, 2012 Member Share Posted February 11, 2012 In order from best to worst 1. Face/Off 2. Hard Target 3. Broken Arrow 4. Mission: Impossible II 5. Windtalkers 6. Paycheck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member wildzerouk Posted February 11, 2012 Member Share Posted February 11, 2012 Its close between Hard Target & Face Off but being a big Van Damme fan id have to go with Hard Target. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member gwailosforever Posted February 11, 2012 Member Share Posted February 11, 2012 I remeber Ben Affleck being interviewed in Empire magazine. He was asked what it was like working with Woo and he responded saying he'd always been a big fan and that Woo is a true gentleman and a wonderful human being. When asked what Michael Bay was like he responded with "a twelve year old c*nt" hehehe For the record it's a tie between Hard Target and Face/Off, although I do have a soft spot for Broken Arrow and MI2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator thekfc Posted February 12, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 12, 2012 Hard Target by half a hair over Face/Off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Paycheck was OK. I liked the premise even if it was ultimately watered down Woo. I found it more enjoyable than Windtalkers. The action in Hard Target is masterful given the restraints placed on him by the producers (I'm obviously ignoring the R-rated version). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted February 12, 2012 Member Share Posted February 12, 2012 The fact that Face/Off is winning this poll, is beyond me. I find that movie atrocious! But maybe that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yi-Long Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Hard Target is my favourite American Woo flick. I hated Face-Off, which was just stupid, and I didn't care about any of those other movies listed either. Haven't seen Windtalkers yet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted February 13, 2012 Member Share Posted February 13, 2012 Face Off with Hard Target in 2nd. Those are the only two American Woo films that I genuinely enjoyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member popsjnr Posted February 13, 2012 Member Share Posted February 13, 2012 Has to be Face Off, it's the only movie Woo made in America that even looks like one of his movies. Hard Target, as a U.S movie in general, was okay, but a big quality drop from Hard Boiled that's for sure!! (I reckon, if you took Woo's name off the credits, anyone who didnt know anything about HK fliks would never guess there made by the same man-Target just looks like a bad rip-off). The only other Woo US flik I dont mind is Windtalkers, coz at least it's well made and Nic Cage is excellent in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I could easily tell Hard Target was a John Woo movie. It has his style written all over it. Face/Off on the other hand looks like the work of any accomplished action director. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member bigrogie Posted February 13, 2012 Member Share Posted February 13, 2012 HARD TARGET hands down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted February 13, 2012 Member Share Posted February 13, 2012 Face/Off on the other hand looks like the work of any accomplished action director. In respect, I disagree with this. Compare this film with other action films of its time like The Rock or Con Air. This movie is more focused on gun play and had some signature slow motion shots. On the other hand, I didn't get much style at all from Hard Target. But it has been awhile since I've seen it...maybe I need to watch it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 It's funny how we feel the complete opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 15, 2021 Member Share Posted May 15, 2021 I've always thought that how much you like Hard Target depends on where you live and when you saw it. If you saw the American version back in the nineties then you were bound to be underwhelmed. In the UK, it was a different story altogether. With the few extra minutes of bloodshed, the movie is so popular that it used to be aired on ITV 4 once a month then it became once a week, and even twice in the same week...but this was back in the previous decade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.