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John Woo is one of the most fertile and realised legal action movie directors ever to have stepped behind a camera , and he need little in the way of introduction . Western hearing love him principally for his body of work on several major Hollywood hit , likeHard Target , Mission : Impossible IIandFace / Off , but that ’s just scratching the surface of his resumé .
Woo has been ca-ca films since the late sixties , and his drawn-out vocation has crank out some of the safe action movies ever made .
Paycheck (2003) - 6.3
John Woo has made a name for himself in mainstream Hollywood , thanks to the runaway success of films likeFace / OffandMission : Impossible II.He next teamed up withBen AffleckinPaycheck , a fast - natural action film with a very unique and challenging storyline .
Affleck plays Michael Jennings , a vivid setback - engineer who steals technology on behalf of rival corporations before the remembering of his oeuvre is voluntarily erased from his mind . One picky chore seems to go awry , however , leaving Jennings fighting for his life while prove to patch together three yr of his life that he can no longer call back .
The Dragon Tamers (1975) - 6.4
One of John Woo ’s earliest works was this 1975 warriorlike prowess film created for Golden Harvest . It tells the chronicle of a Chinese scholar who travel to Korea in rescript to get wind the ways of Taekwondo , only to run afoul of a ill-famed gang seeking to inflate their numbers by induct the local soldierly humanities schools .
The film is notable for having Jackie Chan on board as production help . It would also process as a good drill unit of ammunition for the variety of kinetic action scenes that Woo would later on perfect and claim as his theme song directorial style .
Once A Thief (1991) - 6.8
John Woo injected a morsel of romance and some good - natured funniness into 1991’sOnce A stealer , a story about three master thieves in pursuit of a prized house painting with a extremely controversial comportment in each of their several pasts . Chow Yun - Fat , again , star in the film as the principal in a Woo picture show , which would continue on toHard Boiledin 1992 .
The film get six accolade nominations for Best Actor , Film , Picture , Editing and Director , making it one of his most critically successful plastic film that was n’t a straight - laced action blood - fest .
Reign Of Assassins (2010) - 6.8
2010’sReign Of Assassinswas really a co - directorial partnership between John Woo and Chao - Bin Su , but it feature all the honorable elements of martial arts cinema , as well as far-famed natural endowment , like Michelle Yeoh . The storey is fix in ancient China and concentre on Zeng Jing , a deadly assassin quest after by her own kind , who are after the mystical remains of a Buddhistic monk .
John Woo do primarily as a guide for director Chao - Bin Su and stay on set much of the time to offer advice . He also jumped into the redaction with the film ’s editor in chief during postal service - production , lending his talents across several key areas .
Last Hurrah For Chivalry (1979) - 7.1
John Woo rounded off the seventies with this martial prowess film that would set the feel for several of his future movies with a like thematic approach . The story revolves around two assassin who harmonize to aid out a local merchandiser who craves revenge against a kung fu maestro .
While giving on action mechanism , Woo interpose a lot of suspense and character development into the film for make a sense of distrust and deception . He commit the film to his wise man , Chang Cheh , a director with more than 90 picture under his belt before his retreat in 1993 .
Face/Off (1997) - 7.3
John Woo hit the big time in 1997 with this radical - popular Hollywood action flick star John Travolta and Nicholas Cage as a copper and malefactor who literally switch identity element after their side are transplant onto one another . Woo ’s potent activity style was already known to audience following his workplace on 1993’sHard Target , starring Jean - Claude Van Damme .
Woo managed to hit all the correct notes inFace / Offwhen it came to bounteous fixed pieces , explosions and frantic , fashionable gunplay . The moving-picture show is a nod to Woo ’s earlier filmHard Boiled , featuring a cops and robbers composition , along with some of the most spectacular action sequences ever put on film .
Red Cliff 1 & 2 (2008 / 2009) - 7.4 / 7.6
Red Cliffwas a two - part story take aim by John Woo that centers on the final days of the Chinese Han Dynasty in 208 A.D. The story focuses on Emperor Han ’s attempt to unify China by declaring state of war on the South and West . These two land formed a shaky bond to fight back against the Emperor .
Woo ’s action experience proved invaluable , specially when it fall to the declamatory set opus and dramatic large - scale battles . This two - part epic poem is masterfully charge and gorgeous to look at , thanks , in declamatory part , to Woo ’s unbelievable aid to trend and item .
Bullet In The Head (1990) - 7.6
Woo was beginning to inch ever - closer to worldwide acclaim by the clip the 1990s had start out , andBullet In The Headwas his first footprint forward , follow the success ofThe Killer , just a year prior . This crime film focus on three friends who flee Hong Kong for Saigon after murdering a gang phallus .
In Saigon , they commence splash around in the deplorable infernal region by escape black market supplies during the Vietnam War . When they are enamor by the Viet Cong , their friendly relationship ( and lives ) become tested to their absolute limits .
The Killer (1989) - 7.8
John Woo team up up with Chow Yun Fat in 1989’sThe Killer , a level about adeadly assassinwho by chance blind an innocent fair sex during a hit and strive to make amends by paying for an cognitive process to fix her sight . In rules of order to do so , he has to take on one more job to forgather the necessary investment company .
Naturally , thing go awry when he ’s double - crossed , leaving him empty - handed . At the same sentence , he ’s also pursued by a local cop who is red-hot on his trail and quick to bring him to justice , before learning what the assassin ’s truthful intentions are .
Hard Boiled (1992) - 7.8
Hard Boiledrepresents the pinnacle of John Woo ’s talent wrap up in one complete package with a gracious little bow on top . It ’s the activeness moving-picture show ’s action film - a triumph of directorial supremacy , incredible activeness scenes and a coolheaded style that would make Jack Nicholson flush .
Woo , once again , team up with Chow Yun Fat as a game cop who mould with an undercover broker to take down a vicious mob foreman . It ’s one of the bloodiest , baddest and most vivid action movies ever film , and no single director has been able to fit its signature style to this day . Definitely a must - find out .
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