Rating the films: John Woo
Submitted by ash_campbell on Fri, 01/02/2004 - 02:42
Tags:
- ****
- The Killer (1989)
- A Better Tomorrow (1986)
- ***
- A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
- Face/Off (1997)
- Hard Boiled (1992)
- **1/2
- Bullet in the Head (1990)
- Once a Thief (1991)
- *1/2
- Broken Arrow (1996)
- Hard Target (1993)
Author Comments:
Woo specializes in hard-hitting action films, and his work in Hong Kong has made him famous. His American work, on the other hand, has been much more spotty, and it will be interesting to see if he can return to his status as a top-notch director. Here’s how his films rate.
I've rated the films from a zero (horrible!) to four (wonderful!) star scale, with the links going to my reviews. As usual, I've only included films I've seen.
I haven't seen Windtalkers or Paycheck, but by most accounts he's in a pretty serious downhill slide. I'd sad to say I'd bet against a return to eminence anytime soon.
Yeah, it seems that he's either lost his ability to say something interesting or he's being clamped down by his producers. Jeff Wells has some interesting things to say about it here, near the bottom and again here, in the letters.
Thanks for the links! Very interesting reading the lambasting, and then the defenses. I'm sure I'll end up seeing Paycheck eventually, so I'll be sure to post a review when that happens.