I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a fast paced action flick with witty dialog, see my ability to quote from most James Bond films and while sober and my tendency to quote Tarantino when drunk. But the master for me has always been the legendary John Woo.
Despite some ill advised dalliances with Hollywood in the form of Mission Impossible II and Windtalkers and the steaming bag of poop known as Paycheck, Woo’s always been able to pull it of when it counts, and he’s done it again with Red Cliff.
Unlike many contemporaries, Woo never bit hard for the historical epic, instead giving Quentin Tarantino something to aim for with cop movies like Hard Boiled, The Killer and A Better Tomorrow.
Here he adapts the events at the end of China’s Han Dynasty and the Battle of the Red Cliffs, making a razor sharp action film that could show the war movie market in L.A a thing or two about what to do with ten thousand cast members.
Chinese film legend Tony Leung stars and it’s one of the best things he’s done since Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love. Kar Wai’s presence is also felt in the inclusion of veteran actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, who made his first serious impact in ChungKing Express.
The coolest thing to come though is the rumor of an a return to his partnership with Chow Yun Fat. Having spent enough hours playing Stranglehold, the Woo inspired game for Xbox; it’s a pleasure to know he may well be adapting a version for the screen that will be much less painful on the finger.