As a teenager I bought a dvd box set for about £2 with the killer, bullet in the head and hard boiled. To this day they stand as my favourite movies of all time. Such a refreshing alternative to western macho action.
What a steal! Took me years to track down The Killer and Bullet in the Head at the time; the western DVDs were out of print and trended anywhere from $100-400.
@@WildFlicks And now you can watch them on youtube. The box set is missing A Better Tomorrow, which you can see here: th-cam.com/video/zHeicVLGC88/w-d-xo.html
I had a very similar experience. You catch Woo’s classics in high school as a burgeoning film geek, and everything else is ruined for you. Cheers, man.
John Woo did that on purpose. He took the James Bond element and made his MC's comically charming and over the top way too suave to just be some sort of James Bond clone.
I am a John Woo fanboy. I first saw the killer in 1990 when I was in high school. I cried at the end. I was never the same since. I compare all action movies to the masterpiece known as the killer. Honorable mention to hard boiled and God of gamblers. Awesome video man
I remember watching Hard Boiled in your basement like it was yesterday, and being fascinated with the action and explosions. I need to watch the other classics for sure. Your passion for film has impacted me profoundly. Thank you for your hard work on this video (obviously you’re talking about four flicks rather than one, but I love the longer format)!
Hard Boiled will forever occupy a place in my mind as the most riveting piece of visual media I have ever seen. I just wish Criterion would get around to releasing a new BluRay of it.
Same, the connection between the assassin and the cop and then joining together in the end to fight the bad guys in the church. Where the face off church scene was inspired from
Bullet in the Head is one of John Woo's most underrated films ever! Remember watching it on TV and thought at first that it's gonna be a dragging bore fest but man! It was super intense and sooo action packed and heart wrenching. 👍🔥
Last Hurrah For Chivalry is his most underrated film, great movie. Just Heroes is his under the radar "peak" film, it features a slew of HK talent, very much worth a watch.
Just hearing the music from Bullet in the head damn near brings tears to my eyes. When I rented it from a library, it was the last film of Woos I had left to watch, I thought I had already seen the best and like you thought it might be boring. Boy that night was a crazy one when I finished the film. What a toll.
Tony Leung changes from smile to tears when killing his first boss is a tremendous acting performance. No cut, one take, all done as if it was real emotions.
I also am partial the The Killer. I like the storyline that Chow + Lee, initially on opposite side of the Law, end up forming a "Heroic Brotherhood" for justice. (I always though Lee would not go to jail for killing the triad perv.) Although Tony Leung is considered to be handsome, his crew cut gave him a "harsh look". Aesthetically, Lee looks better with Chow on screen, than Leung.
I saw them both at the same time and the critics all said The Killer was the superior film. It's a great flick, but I prefer the non-stop cartoonish action of Hard Boiled. In my opinion, the melodrama of Woo movies is his weakness, so the less of that the better.
I can't believe I only saw this now. This was a VERY well done video about the Woo Essentials. The Killer is still my favorite John Woo film, but the first 2 Better Tomorrows, Hard Boiled and Bullet to the head are no slouches. I even remember buying the Tai Seng DVDs wayy back in 2001, then eventually getting a double pack that includes The Killer and Bullet To the Head. Your attention to using the music from most the films are so spot on and shows how much you're a fan. Thank you for sharing this, especially since I rarely have friends whom I can talk to about these classic films. Well done sir
I knew it was going to be these four. Personally, I think A Better Tomorrow 2 has one of his best shootouts (or maybe the best?) but otherwise it's pretty terrible until that last scene. But anyway, there's no real way to top Hard Boiled in that John Woo style. Right time, right place, right actors and right crew.
Fantastic job. I can remember so vividly the first time I saw Hard Boiled, it felt like such a watershed moment. Mixed with what's going on in HK today, the 90s was truly the golden age of cinema and it will never be like that ever again.
BULLET also my favorite Woo. Refreshing to see you focusing not only on Woo's action, but on the power of the performances and subtle camera moves even in the simpler scenes (Tony meeting with boss in the garden) and themes. I feel JUST HEROES deserves more praise, too. Shame the available versions of BULLET lack the original music cues (VHS and HK VCD's excepted). Nice work.
Cheers! I agree 100% on Just Heroes - took me a long time to track down a watchable copy, but the somewhat awkward meta bits aside, it’s Woo in peak form. May cover it in another video soon!
Goddamn! That's a fabulous Essay about one of the best Directors of the late 80s and early 90s! My love goes completely to Hard Boiled, but his other movies (except for Bullet in the Head, I didn't had the chance to see that one) are also brilliant and I fucking love him for these movies!
Bullet in the head is such an underrated movie, even among John Woo fans its not as well recognized as hard boiled or the killer, even though it deservers it
I agree! The Killer and Hard Boiled may be tighter and a bit more consistent (and to be clear, it’s hard to pick favourites with films as amazing as these four) but Bullet in the Head’s emotional punch is so strong.
I love A Better Tomorrow 2, but I totally respect not including it here. 😂 That movie’s a mess. I love it, but it’s a fucking mess. “You don’t like my rice?! Mama mia! I’m so sad ABOUT it!” Edited to add: I’m an absolute Woo-geek, and this is one of the best analyses I’ve ever seen of his work. Props, man. 🍻
“It’s beautiful to me, but to you, rice is nothing! To us, it’s just like my father and mother!” ABT II is still ridiculously entertaining, and I grew up with it as much as the original - but… yeah. 😂 Cheers, thank you!
my buddies and I have a running joke that Chow-Yun-Fat's Shotgun in Hardboiled is really a China Lake. Watch the shootout in the hospital, homeboy was leaving smoking craters in the floor
Great video. I would also put Last Hurrah for Chivalry on the list. It has a great story and so much of what would come later begins there. He just moved his same themes from period kung movies to modern gangster stories.
every take from hard boiled and some of the others looks so good that could be a wallpaper, but once he goes to hollywood all look like a generic action film
I loved Killer as a young boy, it is probably one of my mom's favorite movies, she would always say "Jeffery, oh Jeffery" in reference to the movie. I cried when Jeffery died.
what a great vid. Remember being a little kid and reading about John Woo in an article on Tarantino and getting my dad to rent The Killer for me and being utterly blown away.
Well put together and a completely thoughtful look at a Master of action filmmaking. 'Hard Boiled' is my personal favorite but you encouraged me to take another look at "Bullet in The Head". Well done.
While The Killer is one of my favorite movies of all time, Bullet in the Head is the most fascinating to me, it's a complete antithesis of Woo as an artist, stripping away the libearting nature of his violence and turning the classic badass into a side character. The movie basically becomes a triumphant clímax that instead of ending when the heroes win, it kicks off the darkest stuff he's ever made.
While I personally prefer Hard Boiled and believe it to be a perfect movie, I think The Killer is ultimately John Woo’s magnum opus. It has some of the best acting ever in an action movie and overall is just a haunting, moody tragedy.
The killer is definitely my favorite john Woo. The fact is that Woo can give us intense and hard-hitting scenes. And mix in some humor without breaking the scene is amazing.
I was fortunate to have Showtime back in the early/mid 90s. The Killer came on one night and I don't know what made me watch it but I was hooked. Sally Yeh's singing was beautiful.
My experience was very much like yours. I caught The Killer in the early 90s when Cinemax was doing their Vanguard Cinema (or whatever it was called), and it pretty much ruined most other action movies for me. Some of the greatest action ever filmed + operatic-level tragedy = all-time classic movie!
Incredibly made video that expertly displays why these movies are so essential. I’m right with you that Bullet In The Head is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Thanks for making this!
Honestly western action films lack the emotions w all the macho bs, whereas woo characters showed that men can cry and they are vulnerable. Woo and audiences were blessed with such fine actors like chow and tony.
I really wish criterion would add more Hong Kong heroic bloodshed in their collection like Bullet in The Head, City on Fire, A Hero Never Dies, My Heart is That Eternal Rose
Great job on this video, loved the teenage film footage too! Just re-watched Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow recently. Definitely going to hunt a copy of The Killer too, I remember that being a favourite.
The Killer is still one of my favorite movies of All Time! The Hero not getting the happy ending he deserves at the end (in fact it was a freakin tragedy) just stuck with me for so long. Movie is a Masterpiece!
Fantastic video. I do think there’s some fun to be had with Hard Target and MI2, but aside from some of Face/Off and the Director’s Cut of Windtalkers I feel so many of his US films miss a lot of the nuances and subtleties of Woo’s characters that populated his Hong Kong work. Even though him and Jackie Chan arguably made it out the most intact stylistically for their Hollywood works from that period of Asian talent going west, there’s still always something missing. I still hope one day Woo will be given the chance to do another big, proper bloodshed epic (maybe one more with Chow Yun-fat) without the overbearing Hollywood system and with his own script.
I agree 100%, and that’s an interesting comparison as far as him and Jackie Chan’s US careers - both were absolutely often missing the right script, which is an essential ingredient even in an action film. I’d also love to see him and Chow Yun-Fat team up again.
My intro to John Woo. I was lucky enough to catch Hard Boiled on the big screen when it was released in the UK in the 90s. Didn't know anything about it going in. One of the best cinema experiences of my life. Was able to get pirate VHS of Better Tomorrow 1&2, The Killer and Bullet In The Head from my local Chinese takeaway. Good times 🙂
The Max Payne fan in me got me intrigued with John Woo, who inspired it. Got really into these films as a precursor to a newfound interest in wanting to explore Asian cinema, and becoming a flat out CYF fan.. watching every movie of his I could find! By the way, where did you manage to find Bullet in the Head? I couldn't manage to find it myself, and I've been trying to find it lately
Was definitely big into Max Payne 1 & 2 when I first discovered these films! As far as Bullet in the Head, I was able to track down a Chinese DVD on eBay when I first watched. There are a lot of Chinese and South Korean discs online, just make sure they’re compatible with your region. The UK Hong Kong Legends DVD has the best English subs.
@@WildFlicks Cool to hear you heard of Max Payne first too! And while I am thankful for your recommendation, as a broke senior high kid from Southeast Asia; I might not be able to afford a physical copy of it.. Might have to ship farther through the deeper seas of piracy to maybe find it in better quality. Anyways, amazing video!! You really convinced me better to actively look for Bullet in the Head. It being ultimately a commentary to its time is giving me some Lino Brocka with Manila in the Claws of Light vibes.
Hard Boiled and The Killer are masterpieces. Most filmmakers would be happy with just those two under their belt. Bullet in the Head is great (the performances by Leung, Cheung and Waise are epic) but its suuuch a depressing movie. I think I've only managed to watch it completely through three times and I've been watching John Woo since The Killer first came out. It makes me want to crawl in a dark hole, maintain a fetal position and weep silently.
I have often over the years have watched this 4 legendary John woo movies . Bullet in the head being my favourite since I first watched it at the age of 12 . Sadly he was never able to make great cinema , tell a real story again . Hollywood fucked him up
My top 3 John Woo's movies he made in HK: 1 - Hard boiled; 2 - Killer; 3 Bullet in the head; Movies that John Woo made in Hollywood for sure are not as ''hard boiled'' what he created in HK, but still are ok. In Hollywood he was not free, he was not able to do whatever he wanted. On making ''Hard Target'' he had a lot of conflicts with JCVD; When 'Hard Target'' finally was finished it was not the movie that John Woo wanted to create. ''Face Off'' in my opinion is the best movie he has made in Hollywood. Story line, Travolta and Cage, still good action, still 9mm guns rule the parade, still two strong characters, two Maestros in nice suits give ''old school'' stylish performance. I was lucky to watch this movie in cinema. And due to fact that Travolta and Cage were equal each other as actors (not like Bruce Willis against 20 or 30 unknown bad guys) i really had no idea who will survive in the end.
Mid 90s. I used to go to my grand parents house every summer and get pretty bored. I had just been given a list of recommended movies made by a friends older brother on the last day of school. When I arrived at my grandparents house, my grandad presented me with a blockbuster video card. A new HUGE branch had just opened nearby. First 4 movies I rented were Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Killer and Hard Boiled. What a weekend 🫠
My first ever job was at Blockbuster when I was 16 - they were just starting to feel the pinch from Netflix towards the end of my tenure, and the company didn’t last long after I left. But it was a glorious time/place for discovering great films. Employees got ten free rentals a week, so we could talk to customers about what we’d seen. I rented our copy of Hard Boiled over and over until it went to previously viewed, then I bought it 😂
Its a shame that the only readily available Woo movies are his American works. The prices for the classic quadrilogy jumps up and down in price all the time, and stuff like Bullet in the Head is hard to come by. I know some of Woos films are on TH-cam but I want to own these treasures for myself. I guess it just adds to the mysticism of John Woo. Great video lad.
Proud to say I own all of these except Bullet in the Head on dvd. Wish they were more widely available on blu-ray 😢 I also love and own Hard Target and Face Off
I'd love to see a self-aware John Woo homage movie called "Heroic Bloodshed" where Chow Yun-fat plays a stylized fictional version of himself, forced to become a true action hero ala Nicholas Cage in The Overbearing Weight of Massive Talent.
Lol I’d go see that! A lot of room to play with the persona there, as Chow Yun-Fat is a pretty sensitive guy; all the guns and violence didn’t come super naturally to him
Bullet in the Head is great (the performances by Leung, Cheung and Waise are epic) but its suuuch a depressing movie. I think I've only managed to watch it completely through three times and I've been watching John Woo since The Killer first came out. It makes me want to crawl in a dark hole, maintain a fetal position and weep silently.
the studios didn’t do bullet in the head justice. that movie would have been a masterpiece if the director’s cut exist. Woo said the version that exist now is the one he dislike. the movie originally ran for 50 more minutes. It’s was like a 3 hrs + films. But the studios force woo to cut out those 50 mins footage to lower the runtime because it’s too long. Sadly I don’t think we will ever see the rest of the movie that woo intended. The ending that you seen now wasn’t the original ending for the film. It has a much better one and went on for 50 mins longer. they had multiple ending but the official one we seen now fit the cut so they went with it. could have been so so so much better but they ruin it just like what they did with ABTII when they cut like hour of that movie down and was ruin
These movies are so special. John Woo and Wong Kar-wai are my favorite favorite directors off all time. Hong Kong cinema brought us something that Hollywood never could.
I used to order vhs copies of these movies in the 90s at some video store. They cost quite a lot back then...but I loved them Bullet in The Head was so good. That was the hardest one for me to get.
Definitely his best film -- but, for me, with the office ending. The car chasing is tonally inconsistent. Shame so many versions end with the car chase and delete so much of the original music. Truly a masterpiece.
I’ve always been torn on this. The office ending is definitely cleaner, and more tonally consistent. But, the ending fight is a great set-piece, even if it is bombastic. I think the conflict between these two men ending in a literal surreal inferno works, and the match-cut dissolves back to their early bike ride during the car chase... who else but John Woo could’ve pulled that off?
"HARD BOILED" was censored in a lot of countries! When I finally found it, I showed it to all my Friends! One of my favorite Movies!!! 😇😇😍😍😍 John Woo is an amazing guy! Glad to have known you, Sir. An Incredible mind for music, action, and story-telling, in general.
It is absolutly awesome to see that people still talk about John Woo Movies. Back in the 90. I knew alot of people who hated these movies. Infinite Ammo, overdramatic, people d*i*e for minutes but are not accually d*y*i*n*g, and so on. I never understood the hate of some people, i really loved all of this Things in this Movies. It gave them a touch of gaming character, aswell as a total unique Style of Action Genre, that still holds to this day. Bullet in the Head was one of first Action movies with The Killer i cried to when i was in my youth or better said a Teenager (man, i'am old😅) Thanks for the Love to this Masterpieces and sorry if my english is a lil bit broken🙂 Much Love from Germany💖
Hard Boiled imprinted itself on my grown-up mind like no other aaction film other than Die Hard at the time. It was many years before another action film would compete with HB. Then I saw The Raid. These are my three top action films. I look forward to seeing The Killer. The emotional content is what makes HB the best of the 3 I love.
All amazing movies, I remember picking up Hard Boiled in some discount movie bin somewhere... maybe blockbuster video or something, and I fell in love with it immediately.
I watched A BETTER TOMORROW and its sequel at your recommend. Lemme tell you, that "Eat the Rice" scene was even more glorious than I could've ever imagined. Chow Yun-Fat is a GOAT if ever there was one.
@@WildFlicks I'm always delighted by the foreigners they scrounge up for these HK films. If memory serves right, they'd literally put up posters in Chungking Mansions and other expat hotspots that read something like "Speak fluent English? Come star in our movie!"
A Bullet in the Head is also my favorite. It's not perfect but I love it. I actually like how much it's like The Deer Hunter. I love how dark the story gets. Hard Boiled is also probably the best action filmmaking I've ever seen. CGI sucks.
In the early 1990s the UC Theater in Berkeley California had a Hong Kong movie festival that went for several years with several new movies every Thursday night and then re-run on Friday. I went to at least a hundred such nights. The Killer stood out as a favorite. I'm here because Woo re-made it but I feel it will lose something in the Americanization and with one of the leads being a woman. Not that a woman can't do the work, but that love affair is going to be so different now.
There are good movies, and there are good movies that stick with you as the years pass by. I still remember, very clearly, when I rented the vhs tapes of "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled". Got hooked on right away and the hype and rush and excitment for those movies are still alive in my life.
![[Live] ศึกมหึมันส์มวยไทยสังเวียนเดือด เวทีมวยชั่วคราวสวนสยาม | จันทร์ 30 กันยายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pM1k6f7JXUc/mqdefault.jpg)
As a teenager I bought a dvd box set for about £2 with the killer, bullet in the head and hard boiled. To this day they stand as my favourite movies of all time. Such a refreshing alternative to western macho action.
What a steal! Took me years to track down The Killer and Bullet in the Head at the time; the western DVDs were out of print and trended anywhere from $100-400.
@@WildFlicks And now you can watch them on youtube. The box set is missing A Better Tomorrow, which you can see here: th-cam.com/video/zHeicVLGC88/w-d-xo.html
I had a very similar experience. You catch Woo’s classics in high school as a burgeoning film geek, and everything else is ruined for you. Cheers, man.
@@WildFlicks I happened upon the American release of The Killer at the Fort Jackson PX when I was 14. I was ecstatic.
just saw the Killer last night, holy shit one of the best action movies ever
I blame John Woo for turning my mom into a Chow Yun Fat fangirl 😂
Can’t really blame your mom tho
She should watch God of Gamblers, Return Of The God Of Gamblers and Tiger on Beat if she hasn't already - they're all incredible films starring Chow.
John Woo did that on purpose. He took the James Bond element and made his MC's comically charming and over the top way too suave to just be some sort of James Bond clone.
I am a John Woo fanboy. I first saw the killer in 1990 when I was in high school. I cried at the end. I was never the same since. I compare all action movies to the masterpiece known as the killer. Honorable mention to hard boiled and God of gamblers. Awesome video man
I remember watching Hard Boiled in your basement like it was yesterday, and being fascinated with the action and explosions. I need to watch the other classics for sure. Your passion for film has impacted me profoundly. Thank you for your hard work on this video (obviously you’re talking about four flicks rather than one, but I love the longer format)!
Ah, good times. :) Thanks Casey.
Hard Boiled will forever occupy a place in my mind as the most riveting piece of visual media I have ever seen. I just wish Criterion would get around to releasing a new BluRay of it.
Yes, that is long overdue Criterion!
Hard Boiled is the most balls to the walls action film ever!
I absolutely adore The Killer. Seen it hundreds of times, never ever get tired of it.
Just saw it for the first time. It’s already in my top 25 of all time.
John woo best creation The killer👍🏾
Same, the connection between the assassin and the cop and then joining together in the end to fight the bad guys in the church. Where the face off church scene was inspired from
The Killer is one of those movies it's okay to cry at.
❤
Not Just The Killer, also Bullet in the Head.
Today, I Like to say: Kids cry at Fast&Furious, Men at John Woo Movies 😁
That fan film of yours genuinely had me bursting out laughing, great video
Bullet in the Head is one of John Woo's most underrated films ever! Remember watching it on TV and thought at first that it's gonna be a dragging bore fest but man! It was super intense and sooo action packed and heart wrenching. 👍🔥
Last Hurrah For Chivalry is his most underrated film, great movie. Just Heroes is his under the radar "peak" film, it features a slew of HK talent, very much worth a watch.
Just hearing the music from Bullet in the head damn near brings tears to my eyes.
When I rented it from a library, it was the last film of Woos I had left to watch, I thought I had already seen the best and like you thought it might be boring. Boy that night was a crazy one when I finished the film. What a toll.
When I first saw Hard Boiled, it was the rush I'd needed for a long time.
I felt like I was watching something illegal. I thought Interpol would barge in at any moment and confiscate the VHS tape.
@@onyx2626 Ha ha ha. That good, isn't it?
I prefer The Killer to Hard Boiled but Tony Leung's mad smile when Tequila's revolver runs out of bullets is magic.
Tony Leung changes from smile to tears when killing his first boss is a tremendous acting performance. No cut, one take, all done as if it was real emotions.
I also am partial the The Killer.
I like the storyline that Chow + Lee, initially on opposite side of the Law, end up forming a "Heroic Brotherhood"
for justice. (I always though Lee would not go to jail for killing the triad perv.)
Although Tony Leung is considered to be handsome, his crew cut gave him a "harsh look". Aesthetically, Lee
looks better with Chow on screen, than Leung.
I saw them both at the same time and the critics all said The Killer was the superior film. It's a great flick, but I prefer the non-stop cartoonish action of Hard Boiled. In my opinion, the melodrama of Woo movies is his weakness, so the less of that the better.
I can't believe I only saw this now. This was a VERY well done video about the Woo Essentials. The Killer is still my favorite John Woo film, but the first 2 Better Tomorrows, Hard Boiled and Bullet to the head are no slouches. I even remember buying the Tai Seng DVDs wayy back in 2001, then eventually getting a double pack that includes The Killer and Bullet To the Head. Your attention to using the music from most the films are so spot on and shows how much you're a fan. Thank you for sharing this, especially since I rarely have friends whom I can talk to about these classic films. Well done sir
Excellent video essay. John Woo must be considered as a visionary. He redefined the stylistics of the action genre, and his influence is undeniable.
It begun the Heroic Bloodshed genre.
Tarantino stole the Inglorious Basterds projection room shootout from Wild Flicks confirmed
I knew it was going to be these four. Personally, I think A Better Tomorrow 2 has one of his best shootouts (or maybe the best?) but otherwise it's pretty terrible until that last scene. But anyway, there's no real way to top Hard Boiled in that John Woo style. Right time, right place, right actors and right crew.
Fantastic job. I can remember so vividly the first time I saw Hard Boiled, it felt like such a watershed moment. Mixed with what's going on in HK today, the 90s was truly the golden age of cinema and it will never be like that ever again.
As long as Beijing exist, they will never allow masterworks like the Killer, HB to be crafted.
This was an absolute masterclass of a video essay and you've made me fall in love with the Woo/Yun Fat collabs all over again.
BULLET also my favorite Woo.
Refreshing to see you focusing not only on Woo's action, but on the power of the performances and subtle camera moves even in the simpler scenes (Tony meeting with boss in the garden) and themes.
I feel JUST HEROES deserves more praise, too.
Shame the available versions of BULLET lack the original music cues (VHS and HK VCD's excepted).
Nice work.
Cheers! I agree 100% on Just Heroes - took me a long time to track down a watchable copy, but the somewhat awkward meta bits aside, it’s Woo in peak form. May cover it in another video soon!
Goddamn! That's a fabulous Essay about one of the best Directors of the late 80s and early 90s! My love goes completely to Hard Boiled, but his other movies (except for Bullet in the Head, I didn't had the chance to see that one) are also brilliant and I fucking love him for these movies!
Bullet in the head is such an underrated movie, even among John Woo fans its not as well recognized as hard boiled or the killer, even though it deservers it
I agree! The Killer and Hard Boiled may be tighter and a bit more consistent (and to be clear, it’s hard to pick favourites with films as amazing as these four) but Bullet in the Head’s emotional punch is so strong.
I love A Better Tomorrow 2, but I totally respect not including it here. 😂 That movie’s a mess. I love it, but it’s a fucking mess.
“You don’t like my rice?! Mama mia! I’m so sad ABOUT it!”
Edited to add: I’m an absolute Woo-geek, and this is one of the best analyses I’ve ever seen of his work. Props, man. 🍻
“It’s beautiful to me, but to you, rice is nothing! To us, it’s just like my father and mother!”
ABT II is still ridiculously entertaining, and I grew up with it as much as the original - but… yeah. 😂 Cheers, thank you!
my buddies and I have a running joke that Chow-Yun-Fat's Shotgun in Hardboiled is really a China Lake. Watch the shootout in the hospital, homeboy was leaving smoking craters in the floor
your film is amazing bro please submit to Sundance
Great video. I would also put Last Hurrah for Chivalry on the list. It has a great story and so much of what would come later begins there. He just moved his same themes from period kung movies to modern gangster stories.
every take from hard boiled and some of the others looks so good that could be a wallpaper, but once he goes to hollywood all look like a generic action film
Listening to Leslie singing brings me back so many great memories rip him and great video
The Killer is like a beautiful art especially final shootout scene and its my most favorite Woo’s classics.
I loved Killer as a young boy, it is probably one of my mom's favorite movies, she would always say "Jeffery, oh Jeffery" in reference to the movie. I cried when Jeffery died.
A Better Tomorrow is my favorite movie and it's always awesome to see people who "get it." I like your take on the sequel too. What a shitshow.
A couple other good Chow Yun-fat films that aren't John Woo directed are TRAGIC HERO & FULL CONTACT.
Full Contact is excellent. Still trying to track down a watchable copy of Tragic Hero, but it’s been tapped for me many times!
what a great vid. Remember being a little kid and reading about John Woo in an article on Tarantino and getting my dad to rent The Killer for me and being utterly blown away.
Well put together and a completely thoughtful look at a Master of action filmmaking. 'Hard Boiled' is my personal favorite but you encouraged me to take another look at "Bullet in The Head".
Well done.
While The Killer is one of my favorite movies of all time, Bullet in the Head is the most fascinating to me, it's a complete antithesis of Woo as an artist, stripping away the libearting nature of his violence and turning the classic badass into a side character. The movie basically becomes a triumphant clímax that instead of ending when the heroes win, it kicks off the darkest stuff he's ever made.
While I personally prefer Hard Boiled and believe it to be a perfect movie, I think The Killer is ultimately John Woo’s magnum opus. It has some of the best acting ever in an action movie and overall is just a haunting, moody tragedy.
Face/Off and Broken Arrow are Woo Classic(American) MI2 and Windtalkers are both solid Flix too........😎
The killer is definitely my favorite john Woo. The fact is that Woo can give us intense and hard-hitting scenes. And mix in some humor without breaking the scene is amazing.
5:15
Dean Shek would be in only 4 more Movies after A Better Tomorrow 2, last one was in 2016, before his Death in 2021.
2:36 I swear that suit is referenced in Sleeping Dog's wedding shootout.
Great catch! Quite possibly. Hugely underrated game.
Hard Boiled is the greatest shoot ‘em up action movie EVER!
I was fortunate to have Showtime back in the early/mid 90s. The Killer came on one night and I don't know what made me watch it but I was hooked. Sally Yeh's singing was beautiful.
My experience was very much like yours. I caught The Killer in the early 90s when Cinemax was doing their Vanguard Cinema (or whatever it was called), and it pretty much ruined most other action movies for me. Some of the greatest action ever filmed + operatic-level tragedy = all-time classic movie!
Incredibly made video that expertly displays why these movies are so essential. I’m right with you that Bullet In The Head is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Thanks for making this!
Silent Night, December 1st , 2023
LFG. Will be there opening night.
I love John woo so much! The killer is my all time favourite
This is a great video :) There are not enough videos dedicated to thoughtful analysis of Woo's work . Keep up the good work :)
Super enjoyable and well explained content! John Woo's masterpieces have definitely influenced tons around the world however, he's the one and only!
Honestly western action films lack the emotions w all the macho bs, whereas woo characters showed that men can cry and they are vulnerable. Woo and audiences were blessed with such fine actors like chow and tony.
Yo I unironically like that clip of your John Woo Home movie. Made me laugh at least
I really wish criterion would add more Hong Kong heroic bloodshed in their collection like Bullet in The Head, City on Fire, A Hero Never Dies, My Heart is That Eternal Rose
Agreed! I have a video planned on My Heart is That Eternal Rose, hopefully for the end of the month - always had a soft spot for that one.
How the hell do you make a video like this you deserve more subs seriously great video
Great video. I'm a huge fan of Woo and Chow Yun Fat. And I live 20 minutes from the theatre you showed at the beginning of the video.
Great job on this video, loved the teenage film footage too! Just re-watched Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow recently. Definitely going to hunt a copy of The Killer too, I remember that being a favourite.
great video! I watched Bullet in the Head a couple of days ago, years after I saw the others in this video, and god damn it was incredible
The Killer is still one of my favorite movies of All Time!
The Hero not getting the happy ending he deserves at the end (in fact it was a freakin tragedy) just stuck with me for so long. Movie is a Masterpiece!
Fantastic video. I do think there’s some fun to be had with Hard Target and MI2, but aside from some of Face/Off and the Director’s Cut of Windtalkers I feel so many of his US films miss a lot of the nuances and subtleties of Woo’s characters that populated his Hong Kong work. Even though him and Jackie Chan arguably made it out the most intact stylistically for their Hollywood works from that period of Asian talent going west, there’s still always something missing.
I still hope one day Woo will be given the chance to do another big, proper bloodshed epic (maybe one more with Chow Yun-fat) without the overbearing Hollywood system and with his own script.
I agree 100%, and that’s an interesting comparison as far as him and Jackie Chan’s US careers - both were absolutely often missing the right script, which is an essential ingredient even in an action film. I’d also love to see him and Chow Yun-Fat team up again.
Glad I saw these four Gems on a screen in LA back in early 2002. Egyptian Theatre I believe. Woo at his ultra BEST.
That glass scene in 12:16 plus the Hard-Boiled score kicking in, still gives me goosebumps. Still my all time favorite action movie!
The killer is really good but you can’t say they weren’t gay for each other
Truly excellent work. My third time watching it.
My intro to John Woo.
I was lucky enough to catch Hard Boiled on the big screen when it was released in the UK in the 90s. Didn't know anything about it going in. One of the best cinema experiences of my life.
Was able to get pirate VHS of Better Tomorrow 1&2, The Killer and Bullet In The Head from my local Chinese takeaway.
Good times 🙂
The Max Payne fan in me got me intrigued with John Woo, who inspired it. Got really into these films as a precursor to a newfound interest in wanting to explore Asian cinema, and becoming a flat out CYF fan.. watching every movie of his I could find!
By the way, where did you manage to find Bullet in the Head? I couldn't manage to find it myself, and I've been trying to find it lately
Was definitely big into Max Payne 1 & 2 when I first discovered these films! As far as Bullet in the Head, I was able to track down a Chinese DVD on eBay when I first watched. There are a lot of Chinese and South Korean discs online, just make sure they’re compatible with your region. The UK Hong Kong Legends DVD has the best English subs.
@@WildFlicks Cool to hear you heard of Max Payne first too! And while I am thankful for your recommendation, as a broke senior high kid from Southeast Asia; I might not be able to afford a physical copy of it.. Might have to ship farther through the deeper seas of piracy to maybe find it in better quality.
Anyways, amazing video!! You really convinced me better to actively look for Bullet in the Head. It being ultimately a commentary to its time is giving me some Lino Brocka with Manila in the Claws of Light vibes.
Hard Boiled and The Killer are masterpieces. Most filmmakers would be happy with just those two under their belt.
Bullet in the Head is great (the performances by Leung, Cheung and Waise are epic) but its suuuch a depressing movie. I think I've only managed to watch it completely through three times and I've been watching John Woo since The Killer first came out. It makes me want to crawl in a dark hole, maintain a fetal position and weep silently.
Oh my god thank you for the best laugh I’ve had in a long time - the foyer gun-Fu battle - excellent production ❤
Hey as another kid who made his own movies, yours was ten times better than what we came up with using my father's camcorder circa 1985!
Bullet in the Head is so underseen/underrated
I have often over the years have watched this 4 legendary John woo movies .
Bullet in the head being my favourite since I first watched it at the age of 12 .
Sadly he was never able to make great cinema , tell a real story again .
Hollywood fucked him up
Rewatching these movies theres alot of john woo influence in cowboy bebop an just alot of media
I think black lagoon has character based on the main character mr cheng
This was awesome, subbed!
My top 3 John Woo's movies he made in HK: 1 - Hard boiled; 2 - Killer; 3 Bullet in the head; Movies that John Woo made in Hollywood for sure are not as ''hard boiled'' what he created in HK, but still are ok. In Hollywood he was not free, he was not able to do whatever he wanted. On making ''Hard Target'' he had a lot of conflicts with JCVD; When 'Hard Target'' finally was finished it was not the movie that John Woo wanted to create. ''Face Off'' in my opinion is the best movie he has made in Hollywood. Story line, Travolta and Cage, still good action, still 9mm guns rule the parade, still two strong characters, two Maestros in nice suits give ''old school'' stylish performance. I was lucky to watch this movie in cinema. And due to fact that Travolta and Cage were equal each other as actors (not like Bruce Willis against 20 or 30 unknown bad guys) i really had no idea who will survive in the end.
Mid 90s. I used to go to my grand parents house every summer and get pretty bored. I had just been given a list of recommended movies made by a friends older brother on the last day of school. When I arrived at my grandparents house, my grandad presented me with a blockbuster video card. A new HUGE branch had just opened nearby. First 4 movies I rented were Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Killer and Hard Boiled. What a weekend 🫠
My first ever job was at Blockbuster when I was 16 - they were just starting to feel the pinch from Netflix towards the end of my tenure, and the company didn’t last long after I left. But it was a glorious time/place for discovering great films. Employees got ten free rentals a week, so we could talk to customers about what we’d seen. I rented our copy of Hard Boiled over and over until it went to previously viewed, then I bought it 😂
@@WildFlicksblockbuster was a dreamland ❤️
3:13 That was Oscar worthy.
Actor Chu Kong (he played Chow Yun-Fat's agent/middleman in "The Killer") actually has family in Toronto. His niece used to tutor me at math, lol!
He doesn’t even acting anymore. He like dead I think
@@FmrFox-no6yk He retired and moved to Vancouver, Canada. There has been rumours of his death but he is very much alive.
Its a shame that the only readily available Woo movies are his American works. The prices for the classic quadrilogy jumps up and down in price all the time, and stuff like Bullet in the Head is hard to come by. I know some of Woos films are on TH-cam but I want to own these treasures for myself. I guess it just adds to the mysticism of John Woo. Great video lad.
Hard boiled..lord Jesus amen
Proud to say I own all of these except Bullet in the Head on dvd. Wish they were more widely available on blu-ray 😢
I also love and own Hard Target and Face Off
Found Bullet in the Head on Ebay for an acceptable price 😀
yeah, I love "Bullet...", too. it's by far his best. awesome storyline, that's how you make an epic movie...!
I'd love to see a self-aware John Woo homage movie called "Heroic Bloodshed" where Chow Yun-fat plays a stylized fictional version of himself, forced to become a true action hero ala Nicholas Cage in The Overbearing Weight of Massive Talent.
Lol I’d go see that! A lot of room to play with the persona there, as Chow Yun-Fat is a pretty sensitive guy; all the guns and violence didn’t come super naturally to him
@@WildFlicks "Just do that diving and dodging stuff like you do in your movies!"
Chow: "I have STUNTMEN for that!"
I wish there were more films as emotionally driven and as epic as Bullet in the head.
Bullet in the Head is great (the performances by Leung, Cheung and Waise are epic) but its suuuch a depressing movie. I think I've only managed to watch it completely through three times and I've been watching John Woo since The Killer first came out. It makes me want to crawl in a dark hole, maintain a fetal position and weep silently.
@@zze86 its so bittersweet and melancholic. He lost all his friends but at least he still had wife and son.
the studios didn’t do bullet in the head justice. that movie would have been a masterpiece if the director’s cut exist. Woo said the version that exist now is the one he dislike. the movie originally ran for 50 more minutes. It’s was like a 3 hrs + films. But the studios force woo to cut out those 50 mins footage to lower the runtime because it’s too long. Sadly I don’t think we will ever see the rest of the movie that woo intended. The ending that you seen now wasn’t the original ending for the film. It has a much better one and went on for 50 mins longer. they had multiple ending but the official one we seen now fit the cut so they went with it. could have been so so so much better but they ruin it just like what they did with ABTII when they cut like hour of that movie down and was ruin
These movies are so special. John Woo and Wong Kar-wai are my favorite favorite directors off all time. Hong Kong cinema brought us something that Hollywood never could.
6:52 I finally see where they got Leon's 2nd special costume in Resident Evil 4 from.
I love Hard Boiled, but now I have to see the other 3 films.
I’ve beaten that game about six times, and somehow never made that connection…
I used to order vhs copies of these movies in the 90s at some video store. They cost quite a lot back then...but I loved them
Bullet in The Head was so good. That was the hardest one for me to get.
great video man..and yes..HARD BOILED=BEST ACTION MOVIE EVER!...thanks
Definitely his best film -- but, for me, with the office ending. The car chasing is tonally inconsistent. Shame so many versions end with the car chase and delete so much of the original music. Truly a masterpiece.
I’ve always been torn on this. The office ending is definitely cleaner, and more tonally consistent. But, the ending fight is a great set-piece, even if it is bombastic. I think the conflict between these two men ending in a literal surreal inferno works, and the match-cut dissolves back to their early bike ride during the car chase... who else but John Woo could’ve pulled that off?
"HARD BOILED" was censored in a lot of countries! When I finally found it, I showed it to all my Friends! One of my favorite Movies!!! 😇😇😍😍😍 John Woo is an amazing guy! Glad to have known you, Sir. An Incredible mind for music, action, and story-telling, in general.
Heart and nostalgia strings pulled this is all kinds of awesome
It is absolutly awesome to see that people still talk about John Woo Movies.
Back in the 90. I knew alot of people who hated these movies.
Infinite Ammo, overdramatic, people d*i*e for minutes but are not accually d*y*i*n*g, and so on.
I never understood the hate of some people, i really loved all of this Things in this Movies. It gave them a touch of gaming character, aswell as a total unique Style of Action Genre, that still holds to this day.
Bullet in the Head was one of first Action movies with The Killer i cried to when i was in my youth or better said a Teenager (man, i'am old😅)
Thanks for the Love to this Masterpieces and sorry if my english is a lil bit broken🙂
Much Love from Germany💖
Good memories, thank you so much!
Hard Boiled imprinted itself on my grown-up mind like no other aaction film other than Die Hard at the time. It was many years before another action film would compete with HB. Then I saw The Raid. These are my three top action films. I look forward to seeing The Killer. The emotional content is what makes HB the best of the 3 I love.
All amazing movies, I remember picking up Hard Boiled in some discount movie bin somewhere... maybe blockbuster video or something, and I fell in love with it immediately.
I watched A BETTER TOMORROW and its sequel at your recommend. Lemme tell you, that "Eat the Rice" scene was even more glorious than I could've ever imagined. Chow Yun-Fat is a GOAT if ever there was one.
“This fuckin’ fried rice S T I N K S!”
@@WildFlicks I'm always delighted by the foreigners they scrounge up for these HK films. If memory serves right, they'd literally put up posters in Chungking Mansions and other expat hotspots that read something like "Speak fluent English? Come star in our movie!"
@@WildFlicksEAT THE RICE.
@@WildFlicks”no no no sorry.”
subbed. this was dope.
A Bullet in the Head is also my favorite. It's not perfect but I love it. I actually like how much it's like The Deer Hunter. I love how dark the story gets. Hard Boiled is also probably the best action filmmaking I've ever seen. CGI sucks.
Takes a nod from Chaplin's "City Lights" too, "The Killer."
You have some directing skills man!
Lol, maybe someday I’ll try my hand at a new shoot ‘em up movie with everything I’ve learned since 🙈
@@WildFlicks do it!
My intro to The Killer was the "Only Built for Ciban Links" album. When i was watching the 1st scene i recognized the dialog and flipped out.
In the early 1990s the UC Theater in Berkeley California had a Hong Kong movie festival that went for several years with several new movies every Thursday night and then re-run on Friday. I went to at least a hundred such nights. The Killer stood out as a favorite. I'm here because Woo re-made it but I feel it will lose something in the Americanization and with one of the leads being a woman. Not that a woman can't do the work, but that love affair is going to be so different now.
Have you seen Just Heroes? If so, what did you think
Ah, I’ve seen the ending shootout in my TH-cam browsing, but I have yet to find anywhere to watch the full film!
The Killer was the first film I cried at. Since then . . . I cry at every bloody thing. But that's okay. It's good to feel empathy
I own the HK Rescue copies of The Killer and Hard Boiled. They're as good as I've watched on Blu-ray. Maybe Kino Lorber can get the rights.
For me my 4 favourite movies are A Better Tomorrow,The Killer, Hard Boiled and Face Off
There are good movies, and there are good movies that stick with you as the years pass by. I still remember, very clearly, when I rented the vhs tapes of "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled". Got hooked on right away and the hype and rush and excitment for those movies are still alive in my life.