Let The Bullets Fly

Title: Let The Bullets Fly

Director: Jiang Wen

Released: 2010

Staring:Chow Yun-Fat, Jiang Wen, Ge You

Plot: Set in 1920’s China were bandit chief “Pocky” Zhang Mazi (Wen) has set his sights on Goose Town, were he plans to assume the identity of the governor in order to pilfer the town’s finances, with the help of small time imposter Ma Bangde (You). Zhang upon arriving at the town soon however finds himself in conflict with local mobster Master Huang (Yun Fat) who lives in a nearby fortified citadel, as the two are soon set on course for a showdown for the control of Goose Town.

Review: In last couple of years we have seen a something of a resurrection of that most wonderful of genres the “Eastern Western”. A genre which recently has gained new additions via Japan (Sukiyaki Western Django) and Korea (The Good, The Bad and The Weird) and even Hollywood have thrown their hat into the ring with “The Warriors Way” and now finally China has entered the fray with this film, as they too attempt to give the world their take on this much overlooked genre whose history can be traced back to the early 1960’s were the Niikatsu studio specialised in films of this type with Japanese cowboys riding the hills and plains of Hokkaido, aswell as films like Eiichi Kudo’s “The Fort of Death” which memorably borrowed the opening scene of the classic spaghetti western “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.

Despite being released back in 2010 in its homeland China, were it was the highest grossing film ever until it was beaten recently by “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” and for some has taken until now to finally see a UK release aswell as a limited US release. Still finally this madcap and darkly comedic western can be seen here and ultimately I was left wondering if it was really worth the wait? Well certainly it is a mixed bag of surprises that director Jiang Wen has given us here as he aims for one part black comedy and one part sheer spectacle with over the top action sequences, blazing shoot outs, lush cinematography and some humorous use of CGI which includes a train barrel rolling off the tracks during the opening heist sequence. However due to this mixed bag the film ends up feeling very uneven throughout, as comedic scenes of Huang arguing with his double sitting alongside disembowelling and hosepipe arterial sprays of blood and left me wondering what sort of film Wen was trying to make here, especially when it spends so much of the film tightrope walking between dark comedy and a crime thriller, while the translation has also meant that a lot of the humour has been lost in translation and only adding further confusion to things. Still it is clear that Wen is not looking to take things too seriously and would I can only guess seem to be aiming for a hybrid of Stephen Chow via The Coen Brothers.

One of the main strengths here through is with it’s leads with Jiang Wen pulling triple duty as both the films director, writer and the lead and thankfully to the sacrifice of neither, as he brings an air of gravitas to his on screen presence and is truly believable as the bandit leader, with his moral change non the less believable as he changes his original mission to fight against Wang. Chow Yun Fat is truly back on form here after his recent less than stellar performances in his Hollywood productions, reminds us once again why he is such a Hong Kong screen legend, while the fanboys will no doubt be more than happy to see him back on dual pistol welding form again. Here he is questionably just as good playing the bad guy, as he brings his usual charm and smile while carrying out some less than savoury actions throughout the film as he battles to maintain control of Goose Town. Finally but no less of note is Ge You whose conman, frequently is at the centre of some of the best rapid fire dialogue and while largely used for comedic effect, has no trouble holding his own alongside the better known cast members.

The action scenes are all skilfully shot with a mixture of rapid gunplay shootouts and outrageous trick shooting, with the film broken up with several of these sequences, which ensure that the action never gets too dull, despite being hampered by an overly generous runtime which could have certainly done with some trimming, for as fun as the film is, it still feels way to bloated in it’s current state, while more confusingly despite building up to a huge climatic showdown, Wen instead chooses to end the film with more of a whimper than the much hinted at bang, as the film essentially fizzles out on its conclusion, while it’s title may to some be slightly misleading with it’s sporadic moments of action and no doubt disappointing those expecting a film in a more heroic gunplay style, which despite having some fancy gun work is anything but that kind of movie.

While perhaps not as good as the aforementioned “Sukiyaki Western Django” and The Good, The Bad and The Weird”, it still has a sense of fun and certainly is another noteworthy entry for the genre, with the films native success hopefully meaning further additions to the genre may be forthcoming which as an establish fan of the “Eastern Western” I can’t say that it would be a bad thing, though personally I would start with either of those two titles before trying this one, especially as it is far from the best example of the genre.

H Is For Hard Boiled

Title: Hard Boiled
Director: John Woo
Released: 1992
Staring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok, Anthony Wong,

Plot: Tequila (Yun-Fat) is a detective who it would seem plays solely by his own rules, whom after loosing his partner during a raid on a teahouse is forced to team up with an undercover agent (Leung), when he uncovers a war between two major gun smugglers.




Review: The story goes that after having spent the majority of his career glamorising criminals, John Woo got tired of being criticised and set out to make a film which glamorised the police instead, which I think it’s pretty safe to say he was more than a little successful with this film, which not only glamorises the crime fighting actions of the Police, but also gives us, without question one of the coolest cops to ever grace the screen, even if Tequila’s personal brand of justice is anything close to traditional police procedure.

It might be true that in recent years John Woo, might have seemed to have lost his way especially after suffering several career missteps with some less than brilliant films, he made in the Hollywood studio system, before his storming returning to form with “Red Cliff” (2008) marking his return to the same Hong Kong studio system he made his career with. while this film for myself personally marking the water mark of the early Hong Kong years, which provided his ticket to Hollywood, who at the time were keen to replicate the style and success (read cash in) of the Hong Kong action films, which was unsuprising seeing how it was Woo, who had originally lead the charge with “The Killer” (1989) and now took full advantage of the opportunity especially with Hong Kong audiences changing and audiences craving comedies rather than the bullet ballets that he and directors like Ringo Lam were crafting.
Still for myself this film is the true high water mark of Woo’s career, as not only does it contain all of his trademarks, but pretty much hits the ground running as he opens with some light jazz followed by a shootout in a tea house, all with in the space of the opening ten minuites, setting a brief pace that Woo never once chooses to let up, a the bullets fly and locations are reduced to rubble and all with barely a reload in sight.

The action scenes are were Woo truly comes into his own, for not only does the trailer not even cover half of the action scenes, but he also doubles the length of the average action sequence, while also ensuring that he is not just repeating the same scenes of carnage, but rather trying to top what he has shown the audience already, while still finding the time to include his trademarks such as the Mexican Stand off and Tequila’s dual pistols, which thanks to Woo is now an image frequently associated with Chow Yun-Fat, despite the fact it was only in the movies he made with Woo that he uses such a move. The hospital shootout finale alone is a stunning thirty plus minutes of non stop action, despite being a questionable in terms of tastefulness having been carried across from the original script, which had centred around a plot involving poisoned baby formula which Woo disliked, changing the script to resolve around a gun running operation instead, which was certainly for the best while no doubt giving Woo further excuse to have another shoot out, even turning a tea house into a key smuggling location, which is busted open during the opening raid by Tequila’s team.

Chow Yun-Fat is clearly on the top of his game here, with Woo once again proving to be one of the few directors, who know how to truly utilise his charisma and ability as an action hero, something which it could be argued that perhaps only Ringo Lam came close to replicating, which has over the years lead less education movies goers to question his appeal as an actor, though you’d need only watch this film, to know why he has such a cult like following, for he takes the character of Tequila and ensures that it’s impossible to image the role being played by anyone else and while Woo would struggle to replicate these sorts of characters with other actors in his later films, here the potent combination of this actor / director combo has never been better, with Yun-Fat effortlessly spouting cool one liners, while brandishing his trademark dual pistols, as he takes on the countless triad masses. On the flipside undercover cop Alan, carries severe guilt over every life he is forced to take in the line of his work, living a solitary existence on his boat, surrounded by paper cranes, each of which representing a taken life.

Meanwhile Anthony Wong is on top villain duties as the triad leader Johnny Wong, who is not only ruthless but lacks even a shred of remorse for any of his actions, while ironically running his gun smuggling operation from a hospital basement, which also provides the setting for the spectacular finale, were Woo it would seem not content from having already provided three standout action sequences earlier, somehow manages to top all of them again, while perhaps pushing the boundaries of taste with his choice of location, which provides of the truly memorable moments of the film, in which Tequila is attempting to escape the hospital with a baby, only for the baby to put out the flames on his leg with it’s stream of urine, leading to perhaps one of the greatest lines in Hong Kong cinema ever “Hey Kid, Your piss put out my flames”.

“Hard Boiled” is not a subtle film, but then who really wants a subtle action film? Still whatever John Woo does with his career, he will always be able to rest easy that he crafted not only one of the best action films ever, bet set a pretty high bench mark for the films which followed and one that is yet to truly be beaten, even by the master himself who would go on to make other great films and a few aforementioned duffs, but then I doubt even Woo would find it hard to top this one, with the closest being Woo's Xbox 360 launch title "Stranglehold" which played like a sequel, though despite the rumbling from the rumour mill, it looks like we might have to wait that bit longer, before Tequila hits our screens again, so in the meantime why not just remind yourself why Woo is the legend he is.