| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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| Acting: |
N/A |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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The Hong Kong Melodrama
by Neil (movies profile)
Feb 8, 2009
This movie will make you cringe, then it will break your heart.
There are no grey areas in this movie. Those who honor the events and emotions of the past are the heros. Those who choose to forget about it and get greedy are the villains. This is a movie about unashamed love among brothers that is daring in its emotions and its statement.
Sure the acting is over the top, but how else would you make a movie about childhood versus moral ambiguity? The scene where you see Ti Lung and Leslie Chung fighting like boys and laughing is sure to make any first-time viewers cringe and scream homophobia. The viewer has to buy the premise first before going with the flow. This probably will happen though, since the first action scene is so good. Then there will be no complaints.
The visuals are quite impressive. It is based on the idea of how to film a wuxia film. The transition of the style from the dynasty setting to the modern one is seamless because for John Woo it is about using the wuxia style to heighten the environment, not to draw attention to itself. Plus the two gunfights explode with visual energy and is shocking the way the films of Chang Cheh(Woo's mentor) is shocking...the blood, the body language, and the emotion simply spiral out of control in those scenes and the effect is shattering.
This is my favorite John Woo film as of now(I have not finished watching Bullet in the Head, but based on what I saw, I see Bullet as Woo's best because it is the most daringly idealistic). It has about the most raw acting and directing in the John Woo canon. I like it the most also because it has action only when necessary, so the audience can see something truly beautiful open up.
So for me, Bullet in the Head is the best and most daring from Woo, A Better Tomorrow is my favorite, I have not finished watching The Killer, and Hard-Boiled is the funniest, most politically incorrect but also the most exhilarating movie Woo has ever made. Woo's most polished, epic, and confident movie is probably the two-part Red Cliff which probably is his most fascinating and something his mentor Chang Cheh might be proud of if he was alive today to see how much Woo has matured. |
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