Hollywood finally let John Woo make a John Woo Film. This is both a good and a bad thing. The force of his talent is truly amazing to watch when allowed free reign, but the excess does eventually reach absurd levels. Thus, his previous two American films were something of a trade off - not as exciting as his Hong Kong work, but not as silly, either. Although both HARD TARGET and BROKEN ARROW showed signs of the talent that gave us HARD BOILED and THE KILLER, they were relatively restrained and depersonalized efforts that bore less resemblance to his hard-hitting Hong Kong flicks than did the work of some of his imitators (DESPERADO, ASSASSINS). Now, Woo comes out with both barrels blasting: all the stylistic excess is there, and the script even echoes the themes of his earlier work. Continue Reading »

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