John Woo: Difference between revisions

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== Woo's Hong Kong movies (with focus on [[Heroic Bloodshed]]) are, in no particular order: ==

* ''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'' - A classic story of brothers on opposite sides of the law. The younger brother Sung Tse Kit, the cop, was played by [[Leslie Cheung]], and the older brother Sung Tse Ho, the Triad gangster, was played by Ti Lung. This is the movie that kick-started the [[Heroic Bloodshed]] genre in earnest, and it would also provide [[Chow Yun ~~Fat~~]]'s first major starring role as Mark Gor, an angry young gunslinger whose bond with Ho [[Blood Brothers|borders on brotherhood itself]]. The movie's most memorable scene is Mark Gor's one-man vengeance spree at the restaurant that features John Woo's first use of [[Guns Akimbo]], a trope that would later come to define the genre in general. It was also the movie that prompted the formation of Hong Kong's [[Media Classifications|rating system]] for movies due to its violence, and would later receive the rating of Category IIb (equivalent to the R rating).

* ''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'' - A classic story of brothers on opposite sides of the law. The younger brother Sung Tse Kit, the cop, was played by [[Leslie Cheung]], and the older brother Sung Tse Ho, the Triad gangster, was played by Ti Lung. This is the movie that kick-started the [[Heroic Bloodshed]] genre in earnest, and it would also provide [[Chow Yun-fat]]'s first major starring role as Mark Gor, an angry young gunslinger whose bond with Ho [[Blood Brothers|borders on brotherhood itself]]. The movie's most memorable scene is Mark Gor's one-man vengeance spree at the restaurant that features John Woo's first use of [[Guns Akimbo]], a trope that would later come to define the genre in general. It was also the movie that prompted the formation of Hong Kong's [[Media Classifications|rating system]] for movies due to its violence, and would later receive the rating of Category IIb (equivalent to the R rating).

* ''Heroes Shed No Tears'' - John Woo's very first gunplay movie, made before ''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'', but released after that movie became a hit in Hong Kong. Starring Eddy Ko Hung, Lam Ching Ying, Lai Chan Shang and Kuo Sheng, this movie is a low budget [[Vietnam War]] movie reminiscent of ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' which marks the beginnings of the gunplay styles that would soon become John Woo's trademark. Woo would later improve upon the themes of this movie in his Vietnam epic ''Bullet in the Head''.

* ''A Better Tomorrow II'' - Chow Yun-Fat returns as the [[Backup Twin|twin brother of Mark Gor]], who teams up with the two brothers from the first movie in order to avenge the daughter of a friend played by Dean Shek. It's not as good storyline-wise as the first movie, but the final scene, which has Chow Yun-Fat, Ti Lung and Dean Shek [[Storming the Castle|storming a mansion packed with bad guys]] to [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|avenge LeslieCheung]] and take down the main bad guy once and for all, more than makes up for it. This movie would also be the first to introduce the John Woo version of the [[Mexican Standoff]], though its true iconic use would come later.