Reasons to Watch - Bullet in the Head (1990) 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- My most over-looked John Woo movie and possibly his most epic film of the 90's.
When three close friends escape from Hong Kong to war-time Saigon to start a criminal's life, they all go through a harrowing experience which totally shatters their lives and their friendship forever.
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Twitter:@KStormdog
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I have collected all John woo films for over i think 25 years..and this is..no doubt ..his masterpiece..everytime I watch it..and so on ..on blu ray or dvd ..it s getting better..It is his best movie..and makes even my top 3 out of every movie.
Damn, this guy's taste in music goes hard.
Leung Chiu Wai’s most underrated performance as Ben
well written, well produced, well edited. magnifique
Probably my biggest film review project yet, so thank you.
can't imagine how long it took dude, nice stuff!
Just watched this movie and was so blown away I felt the need to look up a video like this.
Watched a movie after and was completely underwhelmed.
I wish I could have seen the uncut version, nevertheless it's still an excellent film.
the more of it you can get, the better
Thank you for this great review of a forgotten classic. I appreciate the historical perspective to contextualize the work, along with syncing up the visuals and adding the poster images. Just a small note, the title is Bullet IN the Head, instead of TO, which you repeatedly used in the video.
I know. I didn't notice my screw up until after the voiceover process, I tried to correct this by zooming in on the proper title when I said it wrong. It has become one of my favorite Woo films, and I continue to learn more about it with my reading and research. If I reference it in future with new (to my channel) information, I will be sure to correct my mistake.
Thank you so much for your input!
TIL stormdog’s icon is from a scene in “a better tomorrow”, and what “a better tomorrow” is lol
had a lasting impact on me
It's an excellent film. I'd highly recommend his earlier works - Hand of Death & Last Hurrah For Chivalry - they've very different to Bullet In The Head on a surface level but thematically you can see how they tread similar ground. I'd also advise you to look at HK films of the 70's, people are quick to dismiss Kung Fu/Swordplay movies due to their low production values but many of the Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/Independent films of that era have a far greater deal of merit than they're given credit for. Chang Cheh was Woo's mentor and if you watch his late 60's to mid 70's Shaw Brothers offerings you can see how he influenced Woo on a thematic level (note that Woo often worked as Assistant Director for the aforementioned individual during this time). Chang Cheh, Peckinpah & Melville were Woo's main influences. If there's one thing that frustrates me when people appraise Woo's ability (when he was at his peak) it's how they simply dismiss him as a pure action director, it's one of the few times I find myself agreeing with Tarantino (who openly castigated a number of critics for making such remarks). I also know that studio executives insisted that Sam Raimi oversee Woo during the production of Hard Target, Raimi has claimed on multiple occasions that he thought the execs were incredibly short-sighted for suggesting such and how he considered Woo to be a far superior filmmaker. Sadly Hard Target was the beginning of the end for Woo, once he headed Stateside he seemed to completely lose his touch, a real shame. For me, HK cinema died in the mid 90's, there's been the odd highlight here and there but it was never the same after 94 IMO.
A side note about Luke, that particular character was supposed to be a representation of Woo's Christian faith (hence the name). Luke's facial scarring (sustained during the film) is seen as an atonement for his sins (it's been years since I've watched the film but I'm pretty sure there's a line which states something to the effect of "Outwardly scarred, inwardly cleansed" ) Also I have to say, isn't Simon Yam like the Michael Caine of Hong Kong? He's starred in tons of films including some Jaws 4 level crap, has phoned performances in on several occasions (as has Caine) but when he's on form, there's few better. I very briefly met Yam too, really nice guy, we chatted for a couple of minutes. I managed to call him Hong Kong's Michael Caine, he was very flattered lol.
I have to ask, have you watched Woo's least known film, Just Heroes (1989)? I still have my old Made In Hong Kong VHS in storage but sadly no VHS player, it was an interesting watch, I believe it was a benefit film for Chang Cheh and has a start studded cast.
Wow, spot on. Yeah, Woo was originally a comedy director. I've watched about 30 of the classic Shaw Bros, it's hard to keep track there's so many in the catalog. I really like the Caine-Yam comparison. I have not seen Just Heroes (I think I have a copy somewhere), as I love anything Woo directed. It's crazy on both sides East and West how much the studios tried to mess with his films. I prefer him over Hark, honestly. I've been tracking down books about the industry then with interviews of all the players, always trying to learn more. I probably learned a lot of what you said after I already wrote the script for this one, sadly.
Side note: why aren't you making videos?? Are you on Twitter? I'd love to continue to hear your insight.
@@StormdogK Cool man, thanks for the compliment. I've got a few scripts in the pipeline for videos, if I'm being brutally honest, one of my motivating factors is to promote "good info". In the past five or so years, I've seen a lot of fair weather HK cinema fans "pop-up" thanks to the resurgence of physical releases. Now, we all start somewhere, I'd never criticise people who are genuinely learning about the sub-genre; though I see a lot of people making assertions that are flagrantly untrue (claims that can quickly be disproven with a Google search) and it makes my eye twitch lmao.
I remember when these films were still relatively obscure (in the mid-late 90's) and reliable info was pretty damn hard to come by; these days there's less of an excuse. I'm essentially a 2nd gen fan as the HK cinema "cult" really kicked off over here (England) in the later 80's/early 90's.
@@Grandmastergav86 I discovered these films in college and am always trying to watch more titles/learn more. Most of them I have watched digitally but I've got a shelf growing now. What kind of assertations? Regarding the films itself or new releases of the films?
john woo also (produced? executive produced?) "warriors of the rainbow: seediq bale" which was pretty good also. i loved john woo's classic, "last hurrah for chivalry."
are you serious about Seediq Bale?? That's incredible, that movie (watch the 2 part deal not the trimmed down single movie) is an incredible piece of art that is heartbreaking and thrilling in turns. So awesome to talk to another fan of those movies! Thank you for that comment that really makes my day!
@@StormdogK yes. seediq bale surprised me too, after seeing john woo's name attached to that beautiful project. :)
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