The Birth of Gun Fu | Video Essay
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Accented Cinema - Episode 69
When we think of Hong Kong cinema, we usually think of Kung Fu, hand to hand combat. However, Hong Kong is also once known for awesome gunfights. From The Matrix, to John Wick, all of these "Gun Fu" movies can trace its lineage back to just one director: John Woo.
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Tony Leung recently spoke about how tough that one take in Hard Boiled was, and how scary it was for the actors and stuntmen. John Woo is a director with no fear!
@@trioxinforlunch Its in the gq interview on yt
A director with no fear of putting actors in scary situations XD
@@SolWake To be fair to him, Woo regularly filmed sequences himself as the cinematographer, so he is often in the middle of the action.
@@SolWake Are You from the Union or what?
@@popularunderground786 No, I'm from the comedy club. Can't you tell?
John woo invented gun-fu,
But to me Chow Yun Fat absolutely owned and mastered the art while looking unbelievably badass in the process.
All john Woo characters have the power to shoot more bullets out of a gun than physically possible 😂😂😂
and doves flying out of nowhere
In stranglehold the video game sequel to hard boiled I think you shoot like over a hundred bullets before reloading lol
indeed mister! Gun Fu is truly a sensation, I can see it in many films and shows here at South East Asia decades already.
oh there was also a game called Hongkong Massacre.
th-cam.com/video/jPghmfdH9z8/w-d-xo.html
Well, that's why it's called Gun-fu, not Gun Fight 🤣
And there's only 3 gun sounds nomatter what gun they used : pistol, shotgun and machine gun 😁
Fun fact: Max Payne games were inspired by John Woo films.
John Woo made a game with his own (and a friends?) studio. It was a direct sequel to Hard Boiled, Stranglehold. Which was inspired by Max Payne for most of it's gameplay.
Hard-Boiled scene with Chow carrying the baby was so iconic that F8 paid homage to it with Jason Statham’s character with the baby in the plane shootout scene at the end.
One thing I'm alwasy slightly annoyed by and feel sad about. When Hollywood remade a scene previously present in Asian cinema (hongkong, India or mainland china), it is called paying homage. Opposit is called copying.
@@wildwolf111 Except it's not? You're just spewing nonsense to fit your anti-hollywood narratives. The terminator reference in Stephen Chow's Love on Delivery for example, no sane people would actually call that copying.
@@impostor8984 It isn't called copying, but it wouldn't be called paying homage either in that instance. We view the Love on Delivery scene more as a parody, which ultimately calls into the theme of what the previous guy was talking about. Paying homage has a highly positive connotation, whereas parodying does not. I think this is the thing that previous guy was trying to explore, the narrative that when we do it it's honouring, but when you do it's cheap imitation. A narrative that can be seen in a lot of areas in the current Western-centric world view.
The movie Shoot Em Up was a homage to this scene.
Shoot Em Up makes an entire movie with that premise. :3
John Woo contributed to Beretta's sales going up in the 90's lol. also his movies made me a beretta fanboy
chow yun fat is such a movie legend.
Very humble as well
Too bad he chose Dragon Ball over Red Cliff, that was really stupid
Chow yin fat will win a academy award one day .
@vsiu
Chow is a drop dead GORGEOUS movie legend. (Even today @ 66y/o)
@@GuruRaga
All actors, even the great ones, have made at least one "raspberry" flick.
As much as I adore Red Cliff, I was shocked to learn it did not win Best Pic @ the HK Film Awards,
which went to Bodyguard + Assassins.
“Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God”
What happens when you give him 3?
@@ChrisDeebo he's Zoro
@@caesarhiro3630 zoro with guns is not a bad idea 😂
@@caesarhiro3630 But what will happen if we give him 4?
@@men_del12 surely he thinks he's Bayonetta.
No John Woo, no John Wick. It's that simple
What's the same about john wick movies.. John wick shoot at close range on enemy
John Woo with the acting of Chow Yun-fat..
What a wonderful combination. I remember when I was a little kid, his films were dominated every CD on the stall of every CD rental store.
Such a sweet childhood memories until I remember how many times I was scolded because watching movies that definitely not for children.
I wonder whats the connection between these two individuals
A joke I heard a long time back:
Q: Why isn't there any blood in Jackie Chan movies?
A: John Woo used it all
#Fact 😂😂
Jackie Chan: No. No. No. That's ketchup!
John Woo: Yes. Yes. Yes. Guns don't kill, only people kill people.
Jet Li: Replaced Chow Yun Fat, please. He suck!
Donnie Yen: That's no fight. Those are props and gimmicks.
Bruce Lee: Throws toothpick/wooden darts. Take that!
Yuen Woo Pin: Why are we doing these funny takes?
Tsui Hark: Use more ropes/wire and cinematography.
Raymond Chow: HK action cinema is definitely better than any Hollywood film I ever seen.
Hollywood: Let's copy and reboot.
Bollywood: Be more like Walt Disney, dancing and singing.
@@drakedraven6961 lmao that was very funny
"A human being is just a cop with a gun. He's not immortal. They've got guns, so do we." is one of my favorite quotes from Hard Boiled, which I watched after you announced the video a couple days ago! I absolutely loved it, Tony Leung is one of my favorite actors from HK and he and Chow Yun Fat had great chemistry. I'd already seen A Better Tomorrow because one of my role models loves the movie (his favorite actor is Yun Fat!) and it was also really enjoyable, though I can definitely notice the evolution now, thanks to your video! Still have to watch The Killer though.
Business is like shitting: smoothness is important.
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman . Give him two and he thinks he's God .
Max Payne even references it:
"What do you mean he's _unstoppable?_ You are better trained, you are better equipped, you outnumber him at least _twenty to one. _*_Do. Your. Job."_*
shouldn;t it be a cop is a just a human being with gun ? did you misquote or was the mistake in the original subitle.. I dont; read them as I dont need to
They say when you shoot you never waste a bullet.
The thing I like about the term Gun Fu is how close it sounds to the original pronunciation of Kung Fu as "Gung Fu"
That is intentional party with words
@@shiroyt4185 you mean play on words
Gong Fu ..
@@TheChenchen* gung fu
I feel like John Woo's Hollywood career did irreparable damage to his reputation. People forget how revolutionary and artful his Hong Kong films were. Hopefully someday he'll make a comeback and win back the appreciation bestowed on imitators like the John Wick movies. Excellent video btw.
Absolutely. To Tsui Hark's too, though he actually made a good movie in Hollywood. Knock Off.
Jackie Chan's Hollywood movies were also a lot worse than his Hong Kong movies.
Some people may remember Rumble in the Bronx and Rush Hour fondly, but there were nowhere near as good as his 'classic' HK films in the 80s and 90s; Project A, Armor of God, Dragons Forever, Wheels on Meals, etc. (no, we don't talk about City Hunter).
The only Hollywood movie from Woo that I kinda liked was face/off, and only for the action sequences, since otherwise the thing was just silly as fuck (although in the right mood the silliness is kinda cool as well).
It feels like Hollywood just wasn't prepared for the whole Woo experience or the kind of mayhem he was known for and therefore he had to direct with one hand tied behind his back. A real pity how that went.
lol John Wick is not an imitation, the action is so much cleaner, sleeker and more elegant compared to Woo's films which are hyper stylized and more visceral with alot more slow mo. There are similarities but it is not a copy.
@@funnyman8713 Of course it's an imitation. The Hong Kong style is about clarity. Not always. Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time is the opposite of clarity. It is an artistic choice. And Ashes of Time isn't an action movie anyway.
The Hong Kong style of filmmaking goes back to Chinese opera.
Of course, nobody does 1980s style John Woo today. Once Upon a Time in China (1991) and Swordsman 2 (1992) were groundbreaking movies. They also look primitive by today's standard. They didn't have CGI back then. They had limited means of fixing things in post production. Woo, Tsui Hark and Ching Siu-tung learned from and improved on those who came before them, like King Hu.
It is so much easier making movies today. That's a problem today. Compare the 1997 Ghost in the Shell anime to the 2017 Hollywood live action remake.
In the anime, the shots (angles, shadows, etc.) are there to tell a story. They have a purpose. In the Hollywood movie, those things are just stylish elements with no function.
That aside, movies are better looking than ever. And it's easier than ever to make them that way.
When shooting Green Snake (1993), Tsui Hark told the cinematographer to use lots of filters. The cinematographer told Tsui, you can't do that. Tsui said, lets do it anyway. The point being that it was new territory.
The Killer, Once Upon a Time in China, Swordsman 2 were things nobody had seen before. They were like Star Wars in 1977. The trilogy that followed the original trilogy may be bad movies (I haven't seen them), but there's no denying that they are better looking movies. I assume that goes for the action sequences as well. But they are no groundbreaking. I believe it is supremely difficult to do groundbreaking today. Now we instead see gradual improvements.
I remember watching "A Better Tomorrow" for the first time and ring shocked at how dramatic the story was. Not many films stick with me so strongly after just one viewing. I've been meaning to watch it again.
Yeah and the main theme is really memorable
@@xxi__wing__ixx1870 it's so so good
One of the best movie of all time.
And then John Woo elevated that core of dramatic story when he did "The Killer".
My man Ah-Jong/Shrimphead...
Hard Boiled will always be my favorite film from John Woo. I even played the "Stranglehold" video game which was also produced by John Woo. That game allowed you to perform some crazy Gun Fu moves from movies like Hard Boiled. It was so much fun.
Stranglehold was crazy underrated, was really the best of it's kind until Max Payne 3.
@@WallKenshiro Level design and story was bad though. Max Payne 2 still hold its throne, becaue Max Payne 3 overly numerous cutscenes weight the game a great deal, eventhough the gameplay is probably the best ever in the genre.
@@Steak818 I didn't like 3 at first because of it's cut scene style and story, but once I started appreciating it's difficulty and began approaching the gameplay more analytically as well as instinctually I was hooked.
9:53 babby is most likely permanently deaf now, in realistic terms lmao D:
Hi guys
I was thinking the same thing lol! Oh whose a deaf baby you's a deaf baby can you say tinnitus?
You missed the ear plugs!
@@Arikayx13
I think honestly, regardless even with "cotton plugs" in the baby's ears....its...a BABY....
I think any degree of muffed loud gun shots, is still going to do considerable harm to its just-developing baby ear drums D:
@Qalidurut even the cotton reduce some minor it's still too much for baby
Ah man, you beat me to this one, haha. I've always loved Woo!
Hey you are here
could do a video in your own style
John Woo and his infinite pistol ammo 🤣🤣🤣 50 shots out of a handgun without reloading 😂😂😂
Oh you mean his baby, the Beretta 92, with 103948284 rounds in a single mag
Especially with dual-wielding, it's like the ammo count gets squared for more firepower lmao
Ammo in gun-fu is like gears in fast and furious, it’s an extension of the wielder’s chi.
It's funny how he turned stylized reloading and switching guns into an art in The Killer, then turned the total opposite into an art in Hard Boiled.
Usually, one can assume a gun was reloaded while the movie was showing something else going on. Not always the case with John Woo.
isnt it how you reload when playing gun game in Arcada, just shoot out of screen and it reload?
The first HK movie exhibiting the characteristics of "Gun Fu" was Terry Tong's New Wave classic: COOLIE KILLER (1982) [殺出西營盤].
John Woo is a great guy too. I had a friend who worked as an errand boy on Faceoff. When Woo found out that he was an aspiring film maker, he to the time out to give him some advice and encouragement.
John woo influenced one of my favourite games of all time F.E.A.R, those games always reminded me of his movies with all the smoke and debris flying everywhere with craters and blood left in the environments. Slo motion to see all the bullets flying and the shockwave of the grenades. Always gives me the same adrenaline rush feeling when I see woos films
Not Max Payne?
Before John Woo, gunfights were like white bread.
And after John Woo, gunfights become gun fu, from white bread to master chef dish of Duck Pâté en Croûte.
No. There was Gun Fu even before him, but the budgets were less extravagant. Terry Tong's COOLIE KILLER (1982) being the prime example.
"Master chef dish"
Bitch, it takes no effort whatsoever to pulp a duck and smear it on some toast.
EDIT: Okay, it takes the effort needed to pulp the duck and smear it on the toast, but beyond that? Get out of me.
I remember watching The Killer as my first HK movie and my brain literally exploded. Then I had to watch Lethal Weapon 2 after that and was like “wait what this is boring as shit!”
@@CoralCopperHead just admit you’re stupid and move on.
You've made a video on Tony Leung, could you now make one on Chow Yun Fatt please? He has such an incredible range.
I think we can consider Desperado (1995) as one of the first movies to replicate the John Woo style of action in America. Though not "Gun-fu" it certainly tries to bridge the American style of action with John Woo's action style. Great essay as always. Please consider making video on John Woo's Red Cliff movie/ movies.
Of course. Robert Rodriguez must've watched John Woo gun action in HK cinema multiple times in order to create his own. Desperado, starting Antonio Banderas. I wanted to say this "how the F Selma Hayak becomes a Latina chick when she's Middle Eastern/European looking???" 🤦♂️
@@drakedraven6961 Selma Hayak is half Lebanese and half Spaniard - born in Mexico,
Robert Rodriguez is a huge fan of John Woo and Hong Kong action cinema in general, he has stated this in various interviews.
Another movie that pays hommage or "imitates" the John Woo style is "Crying Freeman" starring Mark Dacascos. Which is also a very good manga/anime live-action adaption, directed by french director Christophe Gans.
Didn't el mariachi come first?
@@MrALenCar321 It did.
He even lent his style to other directors. Antoine Fuqua's Replacement Killers (1998), starring Chow Yun Fat even, had Woo's fingerprints all over it. Fantastic movie.
I loved that movie bro. I listen to crystal method starting sound track almost every day.
John Woo actually did the choreography for that one.
Others have mentioned it, but the influence of Peckinpah looms large here. He really was the first filmmaker to show pain, blood and viscera in his shootours, even in the popcorn flicks like THE GETAWAY. Penn may have shown some of that with B&C, but Bloody Sam rubbed your face in it.
John Woo's influence stretches so damn far and yet.... not enough people know his name! Thank you for this excellent video! Can't wait for part 2!!
Saw this title and was like "Oh it's gonna be about John Woo!" Totally clicked on it for that reason. Excellent.
Somebody f***ing *gets it*. Most people play verbal musical chairs when it comes to Woo's technique, but this dude totally gets it. Loved this video.
I feel like the final gunfight in Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter is like a great grandpa of this style of action
You have to give some credit to Sam Peckinpah. I may have misspelled that. He was the first American director to show the real gore of a gun fight.
I was going to mention that, but I'm glad you said it earlier. Peckinpah's movies (almost all Westerns) were considered super-violent in the 60s & 70s showing bullets hitting their targets in geysers of blood. "The Wild Bunch" is probably his highest achievement in that genre. He was the godfather to the New Hollywood where directors called the shots and made the movies the way they wanted regardless of the studios.
Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" used Peckinpah's panache for showing gunfight gore with stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, while making a believable assertive woman which hardly occurred in Sam's pictures. SPOILER ALERT: Their demise in a roadside trap, being shot by deputies toting machine guns, is still very graphic. This movie, along with the runaway success of motorcycle road film, "Easy Rider", started the New Hollywood era which lasted for a brief time, but amazing time. Before the Blockbuster Era of "The Godfather", "Jaws", "Star Wars" and "E.T." arrived and studios/producers reasserted their control on movie production again.
@@ronbo11 that graphic scene at the end of Bonnie and Clyde is probably less graphic than the actual occurrence. I can remember being freaked out by pictures of the aftermath of that shootout when I was a kid. I think a lot of people saw those pictures. I'm pretty sure that the makers of that movie did.
Heroic Bloodshed genre is one of my favorites. Those John Woo films I can watch anyway anytime especially the killer. Chow Yun Fat is also one of my favorite actors. He can do comedy action and drama very versatile.
The moment I see pidgeons flying in slow motion I know shots are coming. John Wooism!
I always loved action movies as a little kid in the 80’s and early 90’s. It was Hard Target that introduced me to John Woo, and through some primitive research I found the movie Hard Boiled at my local Blockbuster. It absolutely floored me! I then chased down all his other movies he did with Chow Yun Fat. What a legacy!
I recently told someone about wandering earth; after seeing your video and learning the deeper meaning and story it’s based on, I shared it with someone, and impressed someone in VRchat from China.
Thank you for sharing your love for stories.
Amazing analysis, and the nostalgia these movies bring is the cherry on top
Bullet in the head was the first time I watched Tony Leung.
His scene with Jacky Cheung near the end had me in tears.
That led me to Hard Boiled and more Tony Leung.
Think you mean Bullet in the Head, but yeah... that scene.
@@kuan7039 I did haha. Changed it now.
That's not in HARD BOILED. That scene was from BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990).
@@superlive98 that's..why I changed it...
Where did u watch the film? Was it dub?
John Woo definitely had a vision for cool gun action. I used to do the sideways double gun thing as a kid but later found out that it was awful for aim in real life.
Don't forget Ringo Lam who made great movies in Hongkong.Full Contact is terrific
YEEEEESSSSS I LOVET THIS EPISODE. You don't know how much I've hoped and prayed for you to cover one of my favorite directors of all time.
One thing I love about John Woo movies are that he never forces his heroes to hold their emotions in. It's healthy to see action heroes who aren't afraid to let their emotions flow before heading head-on into the next ballet of death.
"give a guy a gun, and he's superman. Give him two, and he's god"-John woo, script for 'hard boiled'
This might just be your best video yet!
Woo probably goes by the motto, "Overkill is underrated". One of the few to really understand cool for cool's sake.
Your videos just keep getting better and better. I'm so impressed. This was a great video and I'm excited for the rest!!!
"If your kill isn't beautiful it is not gun-fu" I love it!
Those clips brought back good memories! Many thanks for this video essay. Looking forward to the next one.
Another great essay. Thanks for all the hard work in putting it all together. John Woo's filmography is littered with classics!
I needed a video like this, I've admired Woo and his gunfights for years and been looking for ways to emulate them without much money. Having it all laid out like this makes it a lot clearer in my head
Excellent video. Really enjoyed watching this one.
Hey dude, I just wanted to say that your videos are excellent. Really enjoy watching them.
Aw man, the warehouse shoot out in Hard Boiled is probably one of the greatest action sequenzes ever made.
Your analysis and observations are excellent. Ive seen Woo’s movies multiple times but hadn’t consciously recognized the specific things you pointed out.
You mentioned squib explosions instead of just bullet holes, which has always been my favorite, I love when papers are flying up everywhere.
These videos are great..please keep them coming
Great essay!
"The Killer" is one of my favourites! It may not be the best in this context, but for me, it is the best.
Finally this episode is here! * w *
Thank you mister!
Keep it up!
wow every time with subtitles, great work
Gun Fu is one of my favorite things in movies, really happy you decided to cover this!
Love it! Hard Boiled remains one of my favorite movies of all time with how many tropes it established
Amazing essay as usual
I remember in the early 90s a friend of mine sent me a VHS bootleg copy of The Killer. I'd only seen Once A Thief (at the cinema) by this time, but the day I received that tape I was blown away. I watched it back to back 3 times. Mind blown.
Thanks for the presentation.
I'm a huge fan of John Woo. Whenever I watch any movie of him I find something new. Thank you for the video.
his work always inspired me to do my own stories since I was a teen. the action, the story, the soundtrack, hell it even made my way into more hong kong action films. glad to see this vid my man :)
Fantastic video, cant wait for next time, "From Gun-fu to Gunkata"
Man, this is an amazing video essay!
Keep up the good work!
I love this content~
Thank u. It's amazing~
I never knew about this before.
I will waiting for the next content
That was an awesome put together...thanks
This is a masterful piece of editing and writing. Well done.
Happy that this video exists. Seems like a lot of people don't know how big of an influence Hong Kong cinema has been on contemporary Hollywood films (and even older ones).
Another amazing video. Keep 'em coming!
Great video again!!
Amazing work putting this together.
Can i just say how much i love this channel?
I consider "A Bullet to the Head" an underrated John Woo classic
Especially, since Woo didn't direct that movie. He directed BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990).
@@superlive98 doh!
I've been a fan of John Woo and Hong Kong cinema, especially action and martial arts cinema since I was a teenager in the mid 90's where I discovered The Killer, A Better Tomorrow trilogy, Hard Boiled, Bullet in the Head and many many more movies, and I've always loved his style.
I love these movies so much. I remember seeing Hard Boiled in '94 or '95, hanging out with my (older) brother and my friends on the weekends. From there my love for John Woo began.
oh my god, you've made me want to rewatch so many of my favorite movies...
Excellent video!
Thank you for this video! I love the comparison between John Woo and Sergio Leone
These are fantastic. I love seeing this point of view. Well done.
THANK U ACCENTED CINEMA 👍
Thank you for this video. Been looking for an in depth stories and references about gun fu movie for a while now
Great video! This has got to be my favorite genre right now, and thank you for covering this :)
And here's a recommendation: From the creation of this video, you gotta do a whole one on Chow Yuen Fat. Besides not just helping this genre rise for how well he did many gun fu movies but the dude's sheer versatility in roles!
You can see the heavy influence and impact Woo had on Tarantino. Tarantino basically revived hollywood cinema violence in the early 90s with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
Reservoir Dogs is basically an americanized Ringo Lam's City on Fire.
@@jmcg85 Yup. It’s not just hong kong cinema too, Quentin borrows from almost every foreign film he can find, back in a time where most american directors wouldn’t even pay attention to anything outside of Hollywood.
I love that you included Equilibrium in your essay
Best episode so far!
Another great vid. Looking forward to part two
Got me thinking of Kamen Rider, cuz even the finishing moves and attacks are repetitive throughout the show, it always feels satisfying. Now I think it's because of the dynamic moves that convey impact thanks to this video haha.
Great video. Thanks for giving Woo respect he deserves.
I love your videos. Thanks.
Just found the channel. Love it!
*I can't express how much I love your channel. I have learned so much!* :)
Also, friendly reminder about maybe... diving into *Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.* I know, its a drama, but the directing and artistry is honestly amazing sometimes. I think its super underrated. I'd love your thoughts on it ^.^
"So when do we do the reloading scene?"
John Woo: The F is reloading?
another excellent analysis... thanks!!!
Loved this episode as it brought me back to when I really started to get into Hong Kong cinema and these movies were really only available as bootlegs. Even one of my reasons for getting a 360 was to play "Stranglehold", the "sequel" to Hard Boiled.
I'm so happy this channel exists, because this is just fascinating. : )
Amazing video, thank you!
I'm at the 4:11 mark, & this is already easily one of your best videos! Good stuff!
Nice!! I love this!!
Still remember Wu for "Romeo Must Die" and "FaceOff." Two of his earliest Hollywood flicks. When he started putting his own personal fingerprint on Western and US cinema after seeing so many in the West copying his style.
If you want a wild time, check out Hard Target, John Woo’s first US movie.
just FYI, John Woo wasn't involved in Romeo Must Die--he made Broken Arrow, Hard Target, and Face/Off when he first came to the US. Great movies!
@@isaacpriestley Followed by MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 (2000), WINDTALKERS (2002) and PAYCHECK (2003). Not so great movies! Also, the Dolph Lundgren vehicle BLACKJACK (1998) went straight to cable after FACE/OFF.
@@isaacpriestley Who directed and produced Romeo Must Die, then?
@@dubuyajay9964 Seriously? According to Google and IMDB, Romeo Must Die was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and produced by Warren Carr, Dan Cracchiolo, Mitchell Kapner, Ilyse Reutinger, Joel Silver, and Jim Van Wyck.