The Killer is one of those movies you'll always remember first time you watched and how you got to know it. Especially if you lived the vhs rental stores era. Great times. I love the killer, but sometimes I prefer hard boiled.
Faceoff is an absolute classic along with broken arrow... Pure John woo even down to the doves, slow Mo and dual Berretta pistols. Better tomorrow 2 has a few faults but that final shootout is amazing ... Great video and totally agree with your list
Great list. Here’s mine 1. Hard Boiled 2. Bullet in the Head 3. Face Off (the final boat chase might be my favourite chase scene of all time) 4. The Killer 5. A Better Tomorrow 6. Hard Target 7. A Better Tomorrow II 8. Broken Arrow Haven’t seen Once a Thief
Thanks for sharing! I really need to see Face/Off again, it's been absolutely years. Hard to argue with one and two on this list! Absolutely classic. I think I was erring more toward The Killer when I made my list, but now I'm back in camp Hard Boiled. I go back and forth a lot.
Nice ranking. Bullet in the Head is my personal favourite John Woo film. I never felt the action was tonally inconsistent, in fact I think held back in some ways by doing less fanciful editing, no doves and no freeze frames like he done in the killer. The only issue I have with Bullet in the Head is the opening 25 mins setting up the characters, things don’t really get interesting until they arrive in Vietnam. Aside from that it’s Woo’s masterpiece for my money.
Me too. When I was discovering all the John Woo films, it was last one I needed to watch. Checked it out at a Library (cant believe that had it now looking back). Didn't know much about it, gave it a shot. The opening is long and made me think it was going to suck. By the end I was bawling. Such an underappreciated film.
I think I mentioned this in the video, I can't honestly remember because it's been so long since I recorded this one, but the main reason I left that off the list is it I've heard from several people, including some credible sources, that most of that movie was directed by other people, and John Woo just do it may be an action sequence or two.
@@hkcinemasociety he did like 60% of the film, if I had to reasonably guess. But all films use second unit directors so tbh I think it should have been included. Also, yeah, no Heroes Shed No Tears?
@@DJSinisterMetal The version of Heroes Shed No Tears that was released contains a lot of material John Woo didn't direct (he left the project I believe in 1984, when it had a different title, and someone else was brought in to add the sex scenes and comedy sequences). Also, I don't consider that movie classic era Woo since his involvement on it ended in '84 (or maybe '85?) and it's frankly just not as good as what he was doing from '86 - '97. To me, classic Woo starts definitively with the release of A Better Tomorrow.
Like I said in the video it really was splitting hairs for me, and I almost put The Killer at number two. I even did consider a tie for number one but I did a list for a different channel before and people crucified me for doing a tie so I forced myself to make decisions on this one.
That's a great suggestion, I would love to do a Ringo Lam list. I'll have to re-watch most of his movies before I do though, because I haven't seen a lot of them in probably five years at this point. I did watch Wild Search pretty recently but most the classics it's been years. I keep meaning to buy the HK Blu-ray of Full Alert, this is a pretty good reason for it!
john woo top 10 10-Once A Thief 09-Broken Arrow 08-Hard Target 07-Heroes Shed No Tears 06-A Better Tomorrow 05-Bullet to the head 04-A Better Tomorrow 2 03-Face/Off 02-The Killer 01-Hard Boild
ABT2, the section with Dean has a very profound moment though. The hallway scene where Chow is telling Dean that there's only one way out and he must fight. So deep. If you ever had to deal with someone that is going through mental stress and problems helping themselves, it really resonates. I really agree with your rankings though. There is no doubt that Bullet is in the top 2! I might have put Killer at no. 1, but I appreciated highly that Hard Boiled wasn't in the top 3. It's great but lacks the emotion of the other films.
I agree with you ranking and that A Better Tomorrow is the best movie Woo ever made, but I love Bullet in the Head since it completly traumatized me when I saw it in cinema at a festival and that, my friend is a artistic archivement.
The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, Broken Arrow, Hard Target, A Better Tomorrow II, Just Heroes, Face/Off, Heroes Shed No Tears. There you go, all his films from his classic period rated.
My ranking of all but the top three would be the same as yours except I’d swap Once A Thief and Face/Off. I’ve always thought Once A Thief to be a bit underrated. The amazingly epic Bullet In The Head is third. And, for the top two, I can never ever decide between The Killer (one of the finest neo-noirs ever made) and A Better Tomorrow (one of the greatest gangster epics ever made). I guess I’d hafta say they’re tied for first. Thank you for your thoughts on these films.
I've always thought the action scenes feel forced in in Bullet in the Head. The Killer is my favourite. John Woo and Chow Yun Fat are so strong. Woo is best with Fat.
You should definitely do a Van Damme video of some sort.”! Maybe explain how they can be related to the martial arts of Asia with his 3 Hong Kong films.
That's not a bad idea! I could maybe do something about his long-standing interesting in Hong Kong cinema. I remember seeing an interview with John Woo in which he talked about Van Damme visiting him in Hong Kong, I think while they were making Hard Boiled, and maybe Van Damme was doing Double Impact? Woo said Van Damme was in Hong Kong a lot and was very humble and nice and genuine when he met him, but then wasn't as much fun to work with when it came to making Hard Target.
I read or heard in an interview Van Damme likes Hong Kong very much and it is special to him personally. He has said it is like family. He even has a house there.
I should read more about Van Damme's relationship with Hong Kong from his perspective. I have mostly heard about it from other people's perspectives who knew him.
Do you know if in 2020 there exists a decent quality copy of the Workprint cut of Hard Target? I really want to see it because I just found out it exists. I've contacted Jacob at Honk Kong Rescue to see if he knows anything more about it or even if he would consider recreating the cut from better sources, although that sounds like a ton of work.
I keep hearing rumors of its existence but it's always one of those things like "I know someone who say it" or "my friend in film school had a copy we watched" etc. I haven't yet met anyone who verified has a copy and has seen it recently.
@@hkcinemasociety I think I can find it via certain means, I had a torrent the other day for it but it wouldn't complete. I'll message you if I find it. Since writing the comment I've found that this exists - originaltrilogy.com/topic/Hard-Target-Ultimate-Cut-Released/id/15253/page/1 - but I'll still need to find that as well since its not available from the guy who made it anymore according to the comments.
@@Kuranghi oh man, this is essential information. Thanks for sharing the link! I'll have to ask around with those I know are very good at finding these types of things, see if they can unearth this cut. Now I'm super excited about Hard Target.
@Hong Kong Cinema Appreciation Society Glad to be of help mate, loving your channel and passion for HK cinema. Have you seen HKR got their hands on 4K scan of a 35mm print of Bullet in the Head!?!! Someone else owns the print but he paid to have it scanned at 4K. He doesn't talk about it much outside his mailing list so if you want I can forward the emails to you. Just let me know any address or the like.
@@Kuranghi I did see that! We actually helped push some people at him so he could raise the money. I think our followers gave something like $500 - $700. There was a lot of excitement, because I get A TON of questions about whether that movie will ever get a decent blu ray release. Very excited he was able to make that happen.
Makes me want to dig all my John Woo discs out. Based purely on memory, I'd probably rank The Killer at #1 followed by Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled. Still haven't seen Broken Arrow.
If I had made this list a year or two ago, The Killer probably would have been number one for me. Hell, maybe I'll revisit this topic a year from now and it will be The Killer at number one. I can never make up my mind! Broken Arrow isn't a great movie but it's fun.
Im one of the few people that love Mission Impossible 2. I love the motorcycle chase and when tom cruise slides on floor dual wielding berettas. I could go on arguing that the villain isnt a bad villain played by Dougray Scott. There is out there a 3-hour R-Rated cut john woo had but Tom cruise and paramount made him cut it to be shorter and pg-13. Would’ve loved to see the r rated version. Thoughts on this film?
I like the action scenes in that movie and I honestly can't remember the plot that well but I don't remember liking it much. It's been a while since I watched it all the way through. A three-hour version sounds completely nuts. I'm sure the studio would never allow that to come out even if it was PG-13 because it would be fewer showings in a day so they would get less box office. A friend of mine is good friends with the screenwriter for that movie and according to him John Woo though the story was complete nonsense and didn't give a crap about it so he gave the screenwriter a list of action scenes he wanted to shoot and said just make the story work around these. Who knows whether that's true but it's a fun story.
Hong Kong Cinema Appreciation Society Is it really true that Woo didnt care. On the blur ay commentary, he said he liked the love triangle idea rather that it being all about action stunts. #releasethewoocut
@@kungpao2437 So Robert Towne's version of the story - he lives down the street from one of my best friends and she's been friends with him for like 20 years or something like that - Is that John Woo basically gave him a list of actions he wanted to shoot and said write a story around it and didn't seem to be too interested in what the story was. But again who knows if that's actually true, that's just his perception of it. If you know anything about Towne, you know he has a long history of quarreling with directors about scripts. John Woo is obviously very interested in character and story, as we can see from his other movies, but I would argue that Mission Impossible 2 doesn't really have a particularly strong story, so part of me could believe that he wasn't too interested in it. I also know that Tom Cruise is very possessive of the Mission Impossible franchise, so while he's hired a bunch of great directors on those movies, with the exception of Brian DePalma, I don't see a lot of them having a particularly strong hand in the outcome of the story or final cut of the film.
Great list! I've always struggled to rank the John Woo films because of how much each entry has to offer. A Better Tomorrow is my absolute favourite because of its plot, characters and themes, but I would still have to concede that The Killer and Bullet in the Head might be overall better movies while Hardboiled represents the absolute peak of John Woo's action choreography. And then there's Face/off with its pure unadulterated camp which makes it my favourite guilty pleasure movie. Anyways im now subscribed thanks to this vid and looking forward to more!
Thanks for watching and for subbing! I agree, this is a nearly impossible task, especially the top 4, because they're all five star, A+ movies for me. It's like ranking your own kids! If I did this list today, I might honestly put Hard Boiled at number 2, I've been watching it a lot recently.
A Better Tomorrow 1 may have my fave John Woo stories and characters, but Hard Boiled is my favorite John Woo film ever made as well as my favorite action film ever made. John Woo is my favorite action director since I love almost all the movies I have seen from him. I hope Manhunt, and Paycheck aren't crap, but I am certain I'll love his co-directed film Just Heroes, Hands of Death, Last Hurrah for Chivalry, and his epic Red Cliff duology. So far Blackjack is the only one I don't like, but even then it has it's moments. Looking forward to Silent Night from him. I don't want to list Bullet in the head, mission impossible 2, and face off since it has been awhile since I have seen them and my opinion on them I feel isn't as fresh as these. My ranking goes: 1)Hard Boiled(10/10) 2)A Better Tomorrow 1(10/10) 3)A Better Tomorrow 2(10/10) 4)The Killer(10/10) 5)Hard Target(9/10) 6)Broken Arrow(His American outings are genuinely great. Broken Arrow is a classic American action film made by a man who understands American action better than most Americans lol.)(8-9/10) 7)Heroes Shed No Tears(Saw it before the big restoration it had on an old Hong Kong DVD, would love to get the Blu-ray though.)(8-10) 8)Windtalkers(8-10) 9)Once a Thief(Very fun)(7-10) 10)Blackjack(Eh)(4/10)
According to Wikipedia there's a film during this "classic era" period that you didn't discuss called "Heroes Shed No Tears," any reason for that? Love the ranking!
He was a co-director on that and from what I understand he only did a few action scenes to lend his fame to the project because it was done as a fundraiser
@@hkcinemasociety That's what you said in the video with respect to the film Just Heroes...but Heroes Shed No Tears is, apparently, a different film that he wrote and directed. According to Wikipedia it was filmed before A Better Tomorrow, so I guess you could consider it outside of that classic period. Thanks for the reply.
@@patrick4384 oh whoops! Sorry! I'm reading the title wrong. Yeah, so Heroes Shed No Tears is an interesting story. John Woo made that movie in 1984 and it was never properly released at the time. Another director added a bunch of scenes a few laters and it was re-edited and rereleased with John Woo's name on it. There's a really great bonus feature on the 88 Films Blu-ray by Brandon Bentley - he managed to get a Korean VHS copy of John Woo's workprint (basically the edit John Woo was working on when he walked away from the project) and he compares John Woo's version of the film to what was eventually released a few years later, and there are many major differences.
I have a hard time finding Bullet in the head on DVD or Blu ray. What I've found on Amazon is regions that won't play on north American blu ray players and I want that movie in my collection.
I got that movie on eBay maybe five years ago, it's the longest version not counting the original cut that was lost / footage destroyed. It might be a bootleg, I'm honestly not sure. I think I paid $10 or $15 for it. I also have the Hong Kong Legends version, which will not play on US region players, and I believe I have the Hong Kong DVD which I think is region free. But I also think that might be non-anamorphic.
You have your ear to the ground when it comes to upcoming rereleases. You have a network of spies and immense pull in the world of boutique media. 😉 Can you answer something for me? Have you heard of any John Woo box sets being released in the future? Specifically Region A stuff? I need to start adding his stuff to my collection but his output in region A bluray is costly. Thank you for your time. 🍻
From what I've been told, the John Woo stuff is probably not happening any time soon, for a few reasons: there are licensing issues, and the source material is in some cases in terrible shape and there would need to be a serious search for negatives, prints, things of that nature. That said, there is the South Korean blu ray box set of the A Better Tomorrow films, which I believe is region free. The first A Better Tomorrow has been released, from a 4K master, on iTunes and on a Hong Kong blu ray. So there's hope that this stuff will come eventually. Regarding the A Better Tomorrow blu ray set, I know ABT3 is an upscale, I have the Hong Kong blu ray of that film. It doesn't look terrible but it's definitely an upscale. I don't know about the second one. Somewhere in the world there's a HD version of Hard Boiled that's very good, which Hong Kong Rescue used for his source material. I think it might be a Japanese blu ray? I did hear a rumor a few years ago that Criterion was serious about reacquiring rights to The Killer and Hard Boiled, and releasing those on blu ray, but I have no idea whether that's true or will happen. So I guess the short answer is, I'm honestly not sure. I would guess it will happen at some point, given the huge popularity of those films, but I think it will take some serious work and negotiation.
@@hkcinemasociety YES! Responses like this is why this channel is a cut above. Mad informative and full of leads. You just sent me down a very pleasant rabbit hole. Ideally, I would love some John Woo on Criterion as that is my collecting medium of choice. (Along with Arrow/88 Region 1 stuff) but I probably won't hold my breath. This line of questioning stems from a DVD lot of Chow Yun Fat movies I'm interested in. Ideally, I'd like to wait for better transfers/versions of these flicks (Blu-ray,) but not owning any of these movies seems like a glaring omission at best and a damned crime at worst. Maybe I'll just settle for DVD, pop some popcorn and snooze the "highest fidelity or bust" section of my brain.
Nice list. Bullet in the Head is my #1 but the other three in your top four are pretty much in my top four, just in a different order - #2 Killer, #3 Hard Boiled, #4 ABT. Woo's Hard Boiled is what got me into watching and collecting the rest of his filmography released from '86 to 2003. You skipped one though; what are your thoughts on Heroes Shed No Tears '86? Personally I think HSNT is underrated.
Heroes Shed No Tears was made in 1984, which is why I didn't include it here. It was released in '86 after the success of A Better Tomorrow, and a fair amount of it was reshot by another director (basically all the comedy scenes and stuff focusing on the peripheral characters rather than the hero and villain). I enjoy that movie as pure exploitation ridiculousness, but I wish we could get to see an HD version of Woo's workprint. The footage of it included on the 88 Films release is fantastic, it looks like it could have been a genuinely good film had Woo been allowed to finish it as he envisioned it. Bullet in the Head is so epic and monumental, easy to see why people love it so much. My top four changes all the time, honestly. The Killer was #1 for a while, then Hard Boiled. The movie that got me interested in Woo was Face/Off, which I saw when it came out. I had previously seen Broken Arrow but wasn't really aware of who made it. Thanks for watching and commenting! Always happy to meet fellow Woo aficionados.
@@hkcinemasociety Lol its eventual release was why I asked. The only Woo films I don't really care for are Just Heroes (so bad it doesn't even have a R1 DVD release) and Blackjack '98, which in my opinion marked the end of an overall great era for Mr. Woo.
@@cobaltroguex I've heard rumors that he basically had nothing to do with Just Heroes. It was made as a fundraiser for Chang Cheh, I think, who was Woo's mentor, and some people have told me Woo basically added his name to boost the film's box office because he was so famous at the time, but he was barely involved at all. I can't even remeber the last time I saw that movie. I would expect the rights to it are a complete mess given why and how it was made, hence the lack of a DVD release. I bet someone would love to release that just to sell it on John Woo's name, even if it's not a great movie. As for Black Jack, I've honestly never even seen that movie, but I'm interested.
We need 88 Films release these Woo classics, in UK No blu ray releases of Woos Hong Kong films barring Heroes Shed No Tears. We need 88 Films too work there magic & feature stunning artwork from Kung Fu Bob.
Hard Boiled in general doesn't have a lot of great availablity. The best legit release from what I understand is the Japanese Blu-ray. I have maybe five versions of Hard Boiled but none of them are really the ideal.
I like that you put Face Off so high on the list and I might have put it even higher, considering it has Cage in it. Also I wouldnt rank A better tomorrow as high as you did. I much prefer bullet in the head (probably his most political movie with a grandieur I wish more action movies achieve) and the Killer. The Killer is conceptually on the easier side, but the atmosphere and characters are so deep and rich it is fantastic (also the score is really great). Dumbo and mickey still a better love story than twilight :)
What? No "Mission Impossible 2"? That film practically reinvented Tom Cruise as an action star. The first "MI" film did not require him to do much in terms of fighting and crazy stunts. But MI:2 broke the barrier for him and established him as an action star in the mold of Van Damme and Jackie Chan. As for me, I'd prefer to put "Hard Boiled" over "The Killer" in the list, the latter may be more stylish and romantic, but the former has more replay value for me in terms of action. The way the action sequences were shot ensured I would not be bored rewinding each and every scene again and again. "Once a Thief" actually made me think it was a cantonese version of Lupin and I rank it lower than "The Killer". I'd pick "Broken Arrow" over "Face Off" just because this was the first time Travolta played a villain and it worked. And "Better Tomorrow" while a bit dated compared to the others is a far superior film in terms of writing and execution of plot so I would also put it on top of the list. "Bullet in the Head" however I can't comment on, since I'm guilty of never actually finishing watching it. I always easily get distracted while watching it and end up stopping halfway through, I don't know why, maybe it's because of the political theme or maybe because of Jackie Cheung starring in it(since he was basically a pop star, I never could picture him as an action star, it would be like watching Michael Jackson star as Rambo), so I have never really been able to sit down and watch it all the way through even today, even though it was just shown on cable a week ago. It's probably the only John Woo film I haven't watched fully.😊
Yeah it was super hard, I could've basically done a four-way tie. The way I did it with The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorro was I compared them to one another basically, deciding through individual match ups how to do the final ranking. Bullet in the Head is a totally different beast and basically comes down to my appreciation of it as a film and my love of filmmaking.
Bullet in the Head is underrated by many, even by its time. I think it deserves the second place. But I think Hard Boild is also underrated. I would rank top 3: A Better Tomorrow 1&2, Hard Boild, and the Killer.
Such a great movie. I saw a double bill once of Hard Boiled and Face Off and my head was ready to explode afterwards from all the flawless action chaos.
I've thought about doing my favorite Japanese movies, or maybe my favorite jidaigeki or chanbara. I'm not sure i've seen enough yakuza films to make a meaningful list. The explosion of yakuza films happened in the '70s, if I'm not mistaken, which is a pretty big blindspot for me as a decade in japanese cinema.
3 things. 1. Doing something other than HK movie is OK if it is for a once in a while special edition. Ranking video works for me. 2. It is Cherrie Chung and not Anita Mui starring in Once a Thief. 3. I think you miss one of John Woo’s best movie that was produced in 2008 titled Red Cliff. I do Ref Cliff needs to be in your top 9 of John Woo’s classic.
I think Red Cliff is a great movie but I was limiting myself too a span of years not to a number of movies here. I would say the same with someone like Kurosawa - in the same way John Woo's classic years are '86 to '97 but he still made a classic film outside of that period, Kurosawa made Ran 20 years after his classic period ended in 1965.
I just can't get along with Face Off, Nic Cage & John Travolta for me, are just wrong chooses for a Woo flick, it's last for me. Hard Boiled is my favorite Gun Fu flick. I wish Woo got to work with Keanu & Bruce Willis,
I think purely in terms of the filmmaking it's hard to find a better one. And not counting martial arts films in this because I consider them separate apart from the stuff that Jackie Chan did that combined action and martial arts. But I really don't think you can find an action movie that is more well made than Fury Road.
@@hkcinemasociety it's hard for me to see it that way. I understand it's an achievement and deserves merrit, but I always felt among all the mad maxx films that the action is underwhelming.
@@roxastidus I'm speaking specifically about the difficulty and perfection of the craft of filmmaking not so much the entertainment value, which is subjective.
@@hkcinemasociety art is subjective though. I cant speak about it any other way. So as far entertainment value goes what do you consider the best action?
@@roxastidus I agree that individual appreciation of art is subjective but I believe craft elements can be assessed beyond subjective taste. Which in filmmaking to me is the craft aspects of it - the merits of a script, editing, cinematography, choreography, etc. I would disagree that all art is subjective in all aspects and contexts. For instance, I don't really like Kubrick or Nolan, but I would say they are both excellent filmmakers. Just not what I enjoy. Regarding my favorite action movies, that's hard because it's sometimes difficult for me to draw the line between pure action and other genres. For instance, Robocop is one of my favorite movies, but I don't really consider it an action movie. Same with Lethal Weapon, which is definitely a thriller to me. And I love James Bond, but I consider those espionage thrillers, especially since the designation action didn't really exist in the '60s. The same applies to The Killer, City on Fire, A Better Tomorrow, etc. Regarding The Killer, there is a story there, and action built around it. Whereas with Hard-Boiled, there are action set pieces, and a story stitched around that. This probably seems overly analytical, but I get paid to read and assess scripts, and part of the assessment entails breaking down genre and whether or not a script meets the expectactions thereof. So, to pick just a few of my favorites: Terminator 2, Hard Boiled, The Matrix, Police Story, The Protector (Tony Jaa), Fury Road.
You know in the future that Hong Kong cinema won't really exist anymore. It will be simply be just Chinese films. All of Chinese language are shifting towards the mainland and most Chinese films nowadays are based on the mainland.
The Killer is one of those movies you'll always remember first time you watched and how you got to know it. Especially if you lived the vhs rental stores era. Great times.
I love the killer, but sometimes I prefer hard boiled.
Absolutely man! My first time was in VHS.
I remember renting THE KILLER on VHS and it quite literally changed my life.
That movie was as impactful on me as any album or book.
Faceoff is an absolute classic along with broken arrow... Pure John woo even down to the doves, slow Mo and dual Berretta pistols. Better tomorrow 2 has a few faults but that final shootout is amazing ... Great video and totally agree with your list
Thanks for watching! Yeah, Face/Off is a great movie. There's really not a bad film on here, so it was a pretty hard list to do.
@@hkcinemasociety I can imagine so many great films really enjoyed it would love to see a yuen woo ping list
Great list. Here’s mine
1. Hard Boiled
2. Bullet in the Head
3. Face Off (the final boat chase might be my favourite chase scene of all time)
4. The Killer
5. A Better Tomorrow
6. Hard Target
7. A Better Tomorrow II
8. Broken Arrow
Haven’t seen Once a Thief
Thanks for sharing! I really need to see Face/Off again, it's been absolutely years. Hard to argue with one and two on this list! Absolutely classic. I think I was erring more toward The Killer when I made my list, but now I'm back in camp Hard Boiled. I go back and forth a lot.
Nice ranking. Bullet in the Head is my personal favourite John Woo film. I never felt the action was tonally inconsistent, in fact I think held back in some ways by doing less fanciful editing, no doves and no freeze frames like he done in the killer. The only issue I have with Bullet in the Head is the opening 25 mins setting up the characters, things don’t really get interesting until they arrive in Vietnam. Aside from that it’s Woo’s masterpiece for my money.
Bullet in the Head literally blew me away…..
Me too. When I was discovering all the John Woo films, it was last one I needed to watch. Checked it out at a Library (cant believe that had it now looking back). Didn't know much about it, gave it a shot. The opening is long and made me think it was going to suck. By the end I was bawling. Such an underappreciated film.
My list
1. The killer
2. Hard boiled
3. A better tomorrow
4. Bullet to the head
5. Face off
6. A better tomorrow II
Hard boiled is john woos best film
Woo’s action sequences may be over the top, but it is never exhausting...
Excellent choices!!! My top four: The Killer, Hard-Boiled, Bullet in The Head, A Better Tomorrow. Your remaining list, I’m on the same page.
It took me so long to figure out how to rank those top four and honestly they could have gone anyway depending on my feeling at the time.
Once a Thief
A Better Tomorrow is emotional which makes me crying from the inside…..the movie that relieves from my depression….
I just watched windtalkers for the first time. Loved it. So I type in John woo films ranked and clicked on you
I don't think I've seen that movie since it came out, I'll have to revisit it.
I re-watched ‘Just Heroes’. David Chiang, Chen Kwan Tai, Dannie Lee, and Stephen Chow well-performed in it. It had great ‘gun fu’ sequences.
I think I mentioned this in the video, I can't honestly remember because it's been so long since I recorded this one, but the main reason I left that off the list is it I've heard from several people, including some credible sources, that most of that movie was directed by other people, and John Woo just do it may be an action sequence or two.
@@hkcinemasociety he did like 60% of the film, if I had to reasonably guess. But all films use second unit directors so tbh I think it should have been included. Also, yeah, no Heroes Shed No Tears?
@@DJSinisterMetal The version of Heroes Shed No Tears that was released contains a lot of material John Woo didn't direct (he left the project I believe in 1984, when it had a different title, and someone else was brought in to add the sex scenes and comedy sequences). Also, I don't consider that movie classic era Woo since his involvement on it ended in '84 (or maybe '85?) and it's frankly just not as good as what he was doing from '86 - '97. To me, classic Woo starts definitively with the release of A Better Tomorrow.
Cherie Chung stars in Once a Thief, not Anita Mui. I should have done my research first!
Hey, you forgot Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise…..
Excellent list, I would have ranked the top 4 differently but it's also my top 4, A Better tomorrow definitely ranks number 1
Thanks for the list - love that classic HK Woo stuff prob have Killer on top for me!
Like I said in the video it really was splitting hairs for me, and I almost put The Killer at number two. I even did consider a tie for number one but I did a list for a different channel before and people crucified me for doing a tie so I forced myself to make decisions on this one.
@@hkcinemasociety yup yup always hard to narrow things down -- will you be doing a Ringo Lam list anytime soon?
That's a great suggestion, I would love to do a Ringo Lam list. I'll have to re-watch most of his movies before I do though, because I haven't seen a lot of them in probably five years at this point. I did watch Wild Search pretty recently but most the classics it's been years. I keep meaning to buy the HK Blu-ray of Full Alert, this is a pretty good reason for it!
john woo top 10
10-Once A Thief
09-Broken Arrow
08-Hard Target
07-Heroes Shed No Tears
06-A Better Tomorrow
05-Bullet to the head
04-A Better Tomorrow 2
03-Face/Off
02-The Killer
01-Hard Boild
The most toplist movies that John Woo did is HK action class movie is Hard Boiled without a doubt.
You should have just included Red Cliff. But also starting from where you did you also lose Last Hurrah for Chivalry which is awesome
ABT2, the section with Dean has a very profound moment though. The hallway scene where Chow is telling Dean that there's only one way out and he must fight. So deep. If you ever had to deal with someone that is going through mental stress and problems helping themselves, it really resonates.
I really agree with your rankings though. There is no doubt that Bullet is in the top 2! I might have put Killer at no. 1, but I appreciated highly that Hard Boiled wasn't in the top 3. It's great but lacks the emotion of the other films.
Hard Target & Face Off 🔥🔥🔥
I agree with you ranking and that A Better Tomorrow is the best movie Woo ever made, but I love Bullet in the Head since it completly traumatized me when I saw it in cinema at a festival and that, my friend is a artistic archivement.
The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, Broken Arrow, Hard Target, A Better Tomorrow II, Just Heroes, Face/Off, Heroes Shed No Tears. There you go, all his films from his classic period rated.
My ranking of all but the top three would be the same as yours except I’d swap Once A Thief and Face/Off. I’ve always thought Once A Thief to be a bit underrated. The amazingly epic Bullet In The Head is third. And, for the top two, I can never ever decide between The Killer (one of the finest neo-noirs ever made) and A Better Tomorrow (one of the greatest gangster epics ever made). I guess I’d hafta say they’re tied for first.
Thank you for your thoughts on these films.
I've always thought the action scenes feel forced in in Bullet in the Head. The Killer is my favourite. John Woo and Chow Yun Fat are so strong. Woo is best with Fat.
Great ranking man!
A better tomorrow is the best movie 🔥
You should definitely do a Van Damme video of some sort.”! Maybe explain how they can be related to the martial arts of Asia with his 3 Hong Kong films.
That's not a bad idea! I could maybe do something about his long-standing interesting in Hong Kong cinema. I remember seeing an interview with John Woo in which he talked about Van Damme visiting him in Hong Kong, I think while they were making Hard Boiled, and maybe Van Damme was doing Double Impact? Woo said Van Damme was in Hong Kong a lot and was very humble and nice and genuine when he met him, but then wasn't as much fun to work with when it came to making Hard Target.
I read or heard in an interview Van Damme likes Hong Kong very much and it is special to him personally. He has said it is like family. He even has a house there.
I should read more about Van Damme's relationship with Hong Kong from his perspective. I have mostly heard about it from other people's perspectives who knew him.
Great list. There's so many I haven't seen that I should check out.
Gots to. So much shooting.
@@hkcinemasociety I have only seen Face/Off And Hard Target and I liked them so much and I should watch the others now
@@jihadkorbani1389 Great movies! I think you would definitely like the others if you enjoyed those two.
Do you know if in 2020 there exists a decent quality copy of the Workprint cut of Hard Target? I really want to see it because I just found out it exists. I've contacted Jacob at Honk Kong Rescue to see if he knows anything more about it or even if he would consider recreating the cut from better sources, although that sounds like a ton of work.
I keep hearing rumors of its existence but it's always one of those things like "I know someone who say it" or "my friend in film school had a copy we watched" etc. I haven't yet met anyone who verified has a copy and has seen it recently.
@@hkcinemasociety I think I can find it via certain means, I had a torrent the other day for it but it wouldn't complete. I'll message you if I find it. Since writing the comment I've found that this exists - originaltrilogy.com/topic/Hard-Target-Ultimate-Cut-Released/id/15253/page/1 - but I'll still need to find that as well since its not available from the guy who made it anymore according to the comments.
@@Kuranghi oh man, this is essential information. Thanks for sharing the link! I'll have to ask around with those I know are very good at finding these types of things, see if they can unearth this cut. Now I'm super excited about Hard Target.
@Hong Kong Cinema Appreciation Society Glad to be of help mate, loving your channel and passion for HK cinema.
Have you seen HKR got their hands on 4K scan of a 35mm print of Bullet in the Head!?!!
Someone else owns the print but he paid to have it scanned at 4K. He doesn't talk about it much outside his mailing list so if you want I can forward the emails to you. Just let me know any address or the like.
@@Kuranghi I did see that! We actually helped push some people at him so he could raise the money. I think our followers gave something like $500 - $700. There was a lot of excitement, because I get A TON of questions about whether that movie will ever get a decent blu ray release. Very excited he was able to make that happen.
The ending of A Better Tomorrow gets me weepy.
1. The Killer 9/10
2. Hard Boiled 9/10
3. Better Tomorrow 8/10
4. Face Off 8/10
5. Bullet in the Head 7.5/10
I need to watch/rewatch the other ones
Makes me want to dig all my John Woo discs out. Based purely on memory, I'd probably rank The Killer at #1 followed by Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled. Still haven't seen Broken Arrow.
If I had made this list a year or two ago, The Killer probably would have been number one for me. Hell, maybe I'll revisit this topic a year from now and it will be The Killer at number one. I can never make up my mind!
Broken Arrow isn't a great movie but it's fun.
Im one of the few people that love Mission Impossible 2. I love the motorcycle chase and when tom cruise slides on floor dual wielding berettas. I could go on arguing that the villain isnt a bad villain played by Dougray Scott. There is out there a 3-hour R-Rated cut john woo had but Tom cruise and paramount made him cut it to be shorter and pg-13. Would’ve loved to see the r rated version. Thoughts on this film?
I like the action scenes in that movie and I honestly can't remember the plot that well but I don't remember liking it much. It's been a while since I watched it all the way through. A three-hour version sounds completely nuts. I'm sure the studio would never allow that to come out even if it was PG-13 because it would be fewer showings in a day so they would get less box office. A friend of mine is good friends with the screenwriter for that movie and according to him John Woo though the story was complete nonsense and didn't give a crap about it so he gave the screenwriter a list of action scenes he wanted to shoot and said just make the story work around these. Who knows whether that's true but it's a fun story.
Hong Kong Cinema Appreciation Society Is it really true that Woo didnt care. On the blur ay commentary, he said he liked the love triangle idea rather that it being all about action stunts. #releasethewoocut
@@kungpao2437 So Robert Towne's version of the story - he lives down the street from one of my best friends and she's been friends with him for like 20 years or something like that - Is that John Woo basically gave him a list of actions he wanted to shoot and said write a story around it and didn't seem to be too interested in what the story was. But again who knows if that's actually true, that's just his perception of it. If you know anything about Towne, you know he has a long history of quarreling with directors about scripts. John Woo is obviously very interested in character and story, as we can see from his other movies, but I would argue that Mission Impossible 2 doesn't really have a particularly strong story, so part of me could believe that he wasn't too interested in it. I also know that Tom Cruise is very possessive of the Mission Impossible franchise, so while he's hired a bunch of great directors on those movies, with the exception of Brian DePalma, I don't see a lot of them having a particularly strong hand in the outcome of the story or final cut of the film.
Great list! I've always struggled to rank the John Woo films because of how much each entry has to offer. A Better Tomorrow is my absolute favourite because of its plot, characters and themes, but I would still have to concede that The Killer and Bullet in the Head might be overall better movies while Hardboiled represents the absolute peak of John Woo's action choreography. And then there's Face/off with its pure unadulterated camp which makes it my favourite guilty pleasure movie. Anyways im now subscribed thanks to this vid and looking forward to more!
Thanks for watching and for subbing! I agree, this is a nearly impossible task, especially the top 4, because they're all five star, A+ movies for me. It's like ranking your own kids! If I did this list today, I might honestly put Hard Boiled at number 2, I've been watching it a lot recently.
I got into John Woo movies because of an anime called Black Lagoon. I think y'all would dig it
I should check that out for the anime channel I've been doing. Looks pretty rad! Thanks for the recommendation.
Adding it to the list!
Ranking almost the same as mine and I never get tired watching them again
Same here. You can never get tired of Woo. I'm way overdue for a rewatch of The Killer. I was thinking of watching it this weekend.
A Better Tomorrow 1 may have my fave John Woo stories and characters, but Hard Boiled is my favorite John Woo film ever made as well as my favorite action film ever made. John Woo is my favorite action director since I love almost all the movies I have seen from him. I hope Manhunt, and Paycheck aren't crap, but I am certain I'll love his co-directed film Just Heroes, Hands of Death, Last Hurrah for Chivalry, and his epic Red Cliff duology. So far Blackjack is the only one I don't like, but even then it has it's moments. Looking forward to Silent Night from him. I don't want to list Bullet in the head, mission impossible 2, and face off since it has been awhile since I have seen them and my opinion on them I feel isn't as fresh as these.
My ranking goes:
1)Hard Boiled(10/10)
2)A Better Tomorrow 1(10/10)
3)A Better Tomorrow 2(10/10)
4)The Killer(10/10)
5)Hard Target(9/10)
6)Broken Arrow(His American outings are genuinely great. Broken Arrow is a classic American action film made by a man who understands American action better than most Americans lol.)(8-9/10)
7)Heroes Shed No Tears(Saw it before the big restoration it had on an old Hong Kong DVD, would love to get the Blu-ray though.)(8-10)
8)Windtalkers(8-10)
9)Once a Thief(Very fun)(7-10)
10)Blackjack(Eh)(4/10)
According to Wikipedia there's a film during this "classic era" period that you didn't discuss called "Heroes Shed No Tears," any reason for that? Love the ranking!
He was a co-director on that and from what I understand he only did a few action scenes to lend his fame to the project because it was done as a fundraiser
@@hkcinemasociety That's what you said in the video with respect to the film Just Heroes...but Heroes Shed No Tears is, apparently, a different film that he wrote and directed. According to Wikipedia it was filmed before A Better Tomorrow, so I guess you could consider it outside of that classic period. Thanks for the reply.
@@patrick4384 oh whoops! Sorry! I'm reading the title wrong. Yeah, so Heroes Shed No Tears is an interesting story. John Woo made that movie in 1984 and it was never properly released at the time. Another director added a bunch of scenes a few laters and it was re-edited and rereleased with John Woo's name on it.
There's a really great bonus feature on the 88 Films Blu-ray by Brandon Bentley - he managed to get a Korean VHS copy of John Woo's workprint (basically the edit John Woo was working on when he walked away from the project) and he compares John Woo's version of the film to what was eventually released a few years later, and there are many major differences.
@@hkcinemasociety Very interesting! Thanks for the response!
I have a hard time finding Bullet in the head on DVD or Blu ray. What I've found on Amazon is regions that won't play on north American blu ray players and I want that movie in my collection.
I got that movie on eBay maybe five years ago, it's the longest version not counting the original cut that was lost / footage destroyed. It might be a bootleg, I'm honestly not sure. I think I paid $10 or $15 for it. I also have the Hong Kong Legends version, which will not play on US region players, and I believe I have the Hong Kong DVD which I think is region free. But I also think that might be non-anamorphic.
What did you think of Last Hurrah for Chivalry?
Hard Target is my favourite movie from him because Van Damme is so fucking badass
You have your ear to the ground when it comes to upcoming rereleases. You have a network of spies and immense pull in the world of boutique media. 😉 Can you answer something for me?
Have you heard of any John Woo box sets being released in the future? Specifically Region A stuff?
I need to start adding his stuff to my collection but his output in region A bluray is costly.
Thank you for your time. 🍻
From what I've been told, the John Woo stuff is probably not happening any time soon, for a few reasons: there are licensing issues, and the source material is in some cases in terrible shape and there would need to be a serious search for negatives, prints, things of that nature.
That said, there is the South Korean blu ray box set of the A Better Tomorrow films, which I believe is region free. The first A Better Tomorrow has been released, from a 4K master, on iTunes and on a Hong Kong blu ray. So there's hope that this stuff will come eventually.
Regarding the A Better Tomorrow blu ray set, I know ABT3 is an upscale, I have the Hong Kong blu ray of that film. It doesn't look terrible but it's definitely an upscale. I don't know about the second one.
Somewhere in the world there's a HD version of Hard Boiled that's very good, which Hong Kong Rescue used for his source material. I think it might be a Japanese blu ray?
I did hear a rumor a few years ago that Criterion was serious about reacquiring rights to The Killer and Hard Boiled, and releasing those on blu ray, but I have no idea whether that's true or will happen.
So I guess the short answer is, I'm honestly not sure. I would guess it will happen at some point, given the huge popularity of those films, but I think it will take some serious work and negotiation.
@@hkcinemasociety YES! Responses like this is why this channel is a cut above. Mad informative and full of leads. You just sent me down a very pleasant rabbit hole.
Ideally, I would love some John Woo on Criterion as that is my collecting medium of choice. (Along with Arrow/88 Region 1 stuff) but I probably won't hold my breath.
This line of questioning stems from a DVD lot of Chow Yun Fat movies I'm interested in. Ideally, I'd like to wait for better transfers/versions of these flicks (Blu-ray,) but not owning any of these movies seems like a glaring omission at best and a damned crime at worst.
Maybe I'll just settle for DVD, pop some popcorn and snooze the "highest fidelity or bust" section of my brain.
RED CLIFF is extraordinary.
Nice list. Bullet in the Head is my #1 but the other three in your top four are pretty much in my top four, just in a different order - #2 Killer, #3 Hard Boiled, #4 ABT. Woo's Hard Boiled is what got me into watching and collecting the rest of his filmography released from '86 to 2003. You skipped one though; what are your thoughts on Heroes Shed No Tears '86? Personally I think HSNT is underrated.
Heroes Shed No Tears was made in 1984, which is why I didn't include it here. It was released in '86 after the success of A Better Tomorrow, and a fair amount of it was reshot by another director (basically all the comedy scenes and stuff focusing on the peripheral characters rather than the hero and villain). I enjoy that movie as pure exploitation ridiculousness, but I wish we could get to see an HD version of Woo's workprint. The footage of it included on the 88 Films release is fantastic, it looks like it could have been a genuinely good film had Woo been allowed to finish it as he envisioned it.
Bullet in the Head is so epic and monumental, easy to see why people love it so much. My top four changes all the time, honestly. The Killer was #1 for a while, then Hard Boiled. The movie that got me interested in Woo was Face/Off, which I saw when it came out. I had previously seen Broken Arrow but wasn't really aware of who made it.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Always happy to meet fellow Woo aficionados.
@@hkcinemasociety Lol its eventual release was why I asked. The only Woo films I don't really care for are Just Heroes (so bad it doesn't even have a R1 DVD release) and Blackjack '98, which in my opinion marked the end of an overall great era for Mr. Woo.
@@cobaltroguex I've heard rumors that he basically had nothing to do with Just Heroes. It was made as a fundraiser for Chang Cheh, I think, who was Woo's mentor, and some people have told me Woo basically added his name to boost the film's box office because he was so famous at the time, but he was barely involved at all. I can't even remeber the last time I saw that movie. I would expect the rights to it are a complete mess given why and how it was made, hence the lack of a DVD release. I bet someone would love to release that just to sell it on John Woo's name, even if it's not a great movie. As for Black Jack, I've honestly never even seen that movie, but I'm interested.
@@hkcinemasociety Be warned, Blackjack is truly godawful and not in a fun way.
We need 88 Films release these Woo classics, in UK No blu ray releases of Woos Hong Kong films barring Heroes Shed No Tears. We need 88 Films too work there magic & feature stunning artwork from Kung Fu Bob.
I mean that would be the dream! Here's hoping.
Hard Boiled had a Blu ray release in the he UK
@@TequilaToothpick I can only find US blu ray
I've been able to find the Dragon Dynasty release of Hard Boiled on dvd but nothing else so far. Region 1 is so hard to find
Hard Boiled in general doesn't have a lot of great availablity. The best legit release from what I understand is the Japanese Blu-ray. I have maybe five versions of Hard Boiled but none of them are really the ideal.
I like that you put Face Off so high on the list and I might have put it even higher, considering it has Cage in it. Also I wouldnt rank A better tomorrow as high as you did. I much prefer bullet in the head (probably his most political movie with a grandieur I wish more action movies achieve) and the Killer. The Killer is conceptually on the easier side, but the atmosphere and characters are so deep and rich it is fantastic (also the score is really great). Dumbo and mickey still a better love story than twilight :)
Jon Woo thé grand master of actions
I agree with you Hard is JCV’s best movie
It's too bad Van Damme rubbed John Woo the wrong way, they could've made more great action movies together
What? No "Mission Impossible 2"? That film practically reinvented Tom Cruise as an action star. The first "MI" film did not require him to do much in terms of fighting and crazy stunts. But MI:2 broke the barrier for him and established him as an action star in the mold of Van Damme and Jackie Chan. As for me, I'd prefer to put "Hard Boiled" over "The Killer" in the list, the latter may be more stylish and romantic, but the former has more replay value for me in terms of action. The way the action sequences were shot ensured I would not be bored rewinding each and every scene again and again. "Once a Thief" actually made me think it was a cantonese version of Lupin and I rank it lower than "The Killer". I'd pick "Broken Arrow" over "Face Off" just because this was the first time Travolta played a villain and it worked. And "Better Tomorrow" while a bit dated compared to the others is a far superior film in terms of writing and execution of plot so I would also put it on top of the list. "Bullet in the Head" however I can't comment on, since I'm guilty of never actually finishing watching it. I always easily get distracted while watching it and end up stopping halfway through, I don't know why, maybe it's because of the political theme or maybe because of Jackie Cheung starring in it(since he was basically a pop star, I never could picture him as an action star, it would be like watching Michael Jackson star as Rambo), so I have never really been able to sit down and watch it all the way through even today, even though it was just shown on cable a week ago. It's probably the only John Woo film I haven't watched fully.😊
Can you review just heroes anyways please
Someone sent me a copy of that movie recently, I'll have to rewatch it and do a review.
I can imagine it was hard for will to decide the 3 or 4 rankings because they all have a shout to be number 1 on the list.
Yeah it was super hard, I could've basically done a four-way tie. The way I did it with The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorro was I compared them to one another basically, deciding through individual match ups how to do the final ranking. Bullet in the Head is a totally different beast and basically comes down to my appreciation of it as a film and my love of filmmaking.
Where do you watch these films?
On DVD or Blu-ray. I'm sure some of them are streaming or can be rented from services like Amazon Prime.
Bullet in the Head is underrated by many, even by its time. I think it deserves the second place. But I think Hard Boild is also underrated. I would rank top 3: A Better Tomorrow 1&2, Hard Boild, and the Killer.
Absolutely Face off is a classic
Such a great movie. I saw a double bill once of Hard Boiled and Face Off and my head was ready to explode afterwards from all the flawless action chaos.
How about your favorite Yakuza movies
I've thought about doing my favorite Japanese movies, or maybe my favorite jidaigeki or chanbara. I'm not sure i've seen enough yakuza films to make a meaningful list. The explosion of yakuza films happened in the '70s, if I'm not mistaken, which is a pretty big blindspot for me as a decade in japanese cinema.
3 things.
1. Doing something other than HK movie is OK if it is for a once in a while special edition. Ranking video works for me.
2. It is Cherrie Chung and not Anita Mui starring in Once a Thief.
3. I think you miss one of John Woo’s best movie that was produced in 2008 titled Red Cliff. I do Ref Cliff needs to be in your top 9 of John Woo’s classic.
I think Red Cliff is a great movie but I was limiting myself too a span of years not to a number of movies here. I would say the same with someone like Kurosawa - in the same way John Woo's classic years are '86 to '97 but he still made a classic film outside of that period, Kurosawa made Ran 20 years after his classic period ended in 1965.
I just can't get along with Face Off, Nic Cage & John Travolta for me, are just wrong chooses for a Woo flick, it's last for me. Hard Boiled is my favorite Gun Fu flick. I wish Woo got to work with Keanu & Bruce Willis,
you have interesting video instant subscribe
Thank you!
You think fury road is the best action ever filmed??
I think purely in terms of the filmmaking it's hard to find a better one. And not counting martial arts films in this because I consider them separate apart from the stuff that Jackie Chan did that combined action and martial arts. But I really don't think you can find an action movie that is more well made than Fury Road.
@@hkcinemasociety it's hard for me to see it that way. I understand it's an achievement and deserves merrit, but I always felt among all the mad maxx films that the action is underwhelming.
@@roxastidus I'm speaking specifically about the difficulty and perfection of the craft of filmmaking not so much the entertainment value, which is subjective.
@@hkcinemasociety art is subjective though. I cant speak about it any other way. So as far entertainment value goes what do you consider the best action?
@@roxastidus I agree that individual appreciation of art is subjective but I believe craft elements can be assessed beyond subjective taste. Which in filmmaking to me is the craft aspects of it - the merits of a script, editing, cinematography, choreography, etc. I would disagree that all art is subjective in all aspects and contexts. For instance, I don't really like Kubrick or Nolan, but I would say they are both excellent filmmakers. Just not what I enjoy.
Regarding my favorite action movies, that's hard because it's sometimes difficult for me to draw the line between pure action and other genres. For instance, Robocop is one of my favorite movies, but I don't really consider it an action movie. Same with Lethal Weapon, which is definitely a thriller to me. And I love James Bond, but I consider those espionage thrillers, especially since the designation action didn't really exist in the '60s. The same applies to The Killer, City on Fire, A Better Tomorrow, etc. Regarding The Killer, there is a story there, and action built around it. Whereas with Hard-Boiled, there are action set pieces, and a story stitched around that. This probably seems overly analytical, but I get paid to read and assess scripts, and part of the assessment entails breaking down genre and whether or not a script meets the expectactions thereof.
So, to pick just a few of my favorites: Terminator 2, Hard Boiled, The Matrix, Police Story, The Protector (Tony Jaa), Fury Road.
You know in the future that Hong Kong cinema won't really exist anymore. It will be simply be just Chinese films. All of Chinese language are shifting towards the mainland and most Chinese films nowadays are based on the mainland.