This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.
Ying hung boon sik (A Better Tomorrow)
I'm kind of fascinated by John Woo. I haven't even seen many of his movies, but I feel like I have a strong impressions. It seems like he was a master of action when he was working in the Hong Kong film industry. But then he started working in Hollywood, bringing all of his same techniques over in ways that just seem all the more silly and don't fit.
Movies like Paycheck seem like he saw the story as just surroundings for his action sequences. When the action sequences had absolutely no relevance to the actual story which could have been interested if the director would have seemed to know what was going on or was invested.
And then there is the fact that at the climax of nearly every single one of his movies there are shots of doves flying off. It's an interesting calling card, and the fact that he seems compelled to use it no matter what is fascinating to me. Even when it doesn't even fit and has gone beyond being melodramatic and ridiculous.
What does this have to do with A Better Tomorrow? Well not that much since this seems to be the first movie that really catapulted his career into a new level of notoriety. I may not be entirely correct about this, but that was my impression. Anyways this movie doesn't even have any doves in it. But it does have a lot of action, and guns, and melodrama. I've also seen The Killer which also has a lot of action, and guns, and melodrama, and doves too.
I find these Hong Kong movies amusing. But I have to ask myself. Is what Woo is doing in Hollywood any different than what he was doing in Hong Kong? Did the action and melodrama fit any more in the Hong Kong movies than the American movies? It's hard to say because I don't know Chinese culture that well and it's almost more fun to assume that things that seem absurd to me when watching a foreign film may just be part of the way of life for other people.
Either way, I will admit his gun battles are pretty damn enthralling.
Rating: 8/10