After years in the wilderness, director John Woo has returned to shooting training, and while his purpose is rarely the same as before, it’s worth remembering that, on screen at least, aim has never been the problem. the look, the frown, running, jumping, somersaulting, sliding and staring. In Woo’s world, guns kill people, but gunshots kill the public.
Last year’s silent “Silent Night” saw the Hong Kong legend looking to make himself heard by the American public, but it didn’t go as planned. Now he’s returning to one of his iconic epics, 1989’s “The Killer,” with a narration about the Paris level (co-written by the Oscar-winning “L. A. Confidential”, Brian Helgeland), a foreign cast that includes French superstar Omar Sy and a live show. Watching it at home probably doesn’t update the experience of watching Woo’s iconic action lollapaloozas in a theater. But if you watched this summer’s Paris Games on Peacock, you could say that this is just another decisive circle: in shooting, what else?– for an esteemed cinematographic Olympian. It is a silver medal worthy of the name.
By the way, it’s not Sy who plays the role of Chow Yun-fat. It’s Nathalie Emmanuel, former star of “Game of Thrones,” a gender shift that may no longer seem new but is helping us reimagine what’s at stake. . Emmanuel has a laid-back charm that doesn’t betray the cruelty of the role. Dubbed the queen of the dead in the Parisian underworld (and the homebody who loves crossword puzzles and her guppy puppy), Zee, Emmanuel’s British transplant, delivers hard blows. – the “they deserve it” type – for his mentor Finn (Sam Worthington with an Irish accent), who works for a fearsome gangster (Eric Cantona).
But at a concert to eliminate a gang of bad guys in a nightclub, a young American singer (Diana Silvers) is blinded. Feeling remorseful, Zee leaves her alive, then her bosses reprimand him not to end her too.
When she goes to the hospital in disguise to finish the job, she thinks twice and gives herself to save the singer. But this puts Zee in the crosshairs of a committed cop (the charismatic Sy) who investigates a missing drug shipment and believes there’s more to tell. He looks like a safe killer with a protective look and an open-air law enforcement officer, the rules that look for the fact, locate a friendly and not unusual terrain, which in Woo’s characteristic visual signage means weapons fired face-to-face but shooting at everyone. other. se aimed at ending the genuine threat. (This is supposed to be a hearing loss of mutual trust that will later be forgiven. )
The old-school Woo hides. There are pigeons. The music is not great at all. And remembering that we wouldn’t have franchises as memorable as “John Wick” or “The Transporter” without Woo’s mayhem is what provides sweet nostalgia to this inferior but fun remake.
On the negative side of the balance sheet there are two understandable responses to fashionable cinema: the monotony of virtual cinematography and the artificiality of CGI bloodshed, neither of which can compare to the epic firecracker paintings of past films and what genuine celluloid can do for the general public. Audience. A slow-motion drama of madness.
But on the plus side, Woo hasn’t lost any of his love for the practical bravery of elaborate and ridiculous stunts, nor his knack for camera movements and editing that complement the choreography. Possibly he would have toned down some of his maximum sentimentality. and tragic impulses, but it definitely leans toward the climax of the fight in a deconsecrated church, which is magnificently banana, but also, in a funny way, a non-public persona about the intimacy that makes action cinema so good it should create.
Is it advisable that, 35 years later, after being numbed by the kinetics of artificial superheroes, Woo’s exaggerated logo is now more grounded?Decide for yourself, when you see a master, not so much to try to outdo a veteran, but to earn a modestly catchy encore. If we’re honest, I hope he leaves “Hard-Boiled” alone.
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