Hard Boiled (1992)

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After the disappointing Once a Thief, the famous Hong Kong action director-actor duo got back on track The Killer style with this movie. High octane action movie with bullets flying everywhere and style to accompany it.

Forget counting rounds without having to reload, forget the death count and just enjoy the ride. Hard Boiled most certainly is quite the ride, despite some hiccups where director John Woo proves he could learn a thing or two from the magnificent Infernal Affairs when it comes to playing cops off undercover.

I don't think it reaches The Killer's level of stylish enjoyment either, but Hard Boiled is still one of those John Woo-Hong Kong movies that made most Hollywood action crap look childish in comparison.

Once a Thief (1991)

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From the Hong Kong action-duo John Woo and Yun-Fat Chow that gave us so much excellence, like The Killer, they have taken a lighter tone here. This one isn't as stylish as Woo at his best, not as funny as it hope to be seen and more of a wasted potential than anything else.

The setting and idea is great, but Woo never manage to untie the knot. The main trio has so much potential for a great memorable story, but the balance is off and the much loved action sequences we usually get with this gents never blow us away enough to forget it.

Worth a watch, but unlike others from this magnificent actor-director duo its rather forgettable compared to others at the end of the day.

The Killer (1989)

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John Woo's The Killer is a Hong Kong movie among those taking Hong Kong to the world. Yun-Fat Chow stars as a disillusioned assassin, and he's been in a lot of John Woo's movies. In fact they were the duo behind the first Hong Kong movie I ever watched, Hard Boiled (1992).

The Killer was an earlier work, but not the first they cooperated in. To me they are one of the great duos of directors-actors. No-one popularized Hong Kong movies like John Woo, but he's lost some of his excellence in his Hollywood productions.

The Killer is made with a lot of heart. An innocent girl is blinded during an assassination by our leading killer, and he feels guilty and connects with her. You can feel the bond between the injured girl and the assassin, as well as between the assassin and the police inspector trying to catch him. There's a lot of subtle and not so subtle interactions going on.

The action sequences doesn't ever try to come off as realistic, but they are in good old fashioned Hong Kong style trying to entertain. I sure was entertained by this movie, and as it's been many years since I last watched Hard Boiled I think it's about time I check it out again as well.

The Killer is among the very best, if not the best, the genre has to offer.