John Woo, Hollywood's hottest action film director, the man behind the scenes of Face/Off, Broken Arrow, The Killer, and the upcoming sequel to Mission Impossible, has made a remarkable transition from his Hong Kong roots to his current American success.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Heard's credibility is extremely shaky.,
By
This review is from: Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo (Paperback)
Be suspicious of any biography that cites fewer than 20 resources!The quickie layout and flaky fonts used in the printing should clue you in: This was not a carefully, painstakingly researched work. Laughably, it didn't even catch on to the biggest wave of Woo awareness, which was probably in the mid-'90s when Quentin Tarantino was also at his peak and Woo was coming out with Broken Arrow. Context aside, the contents of this book bear up poorly to close scrutiny. Heard dedicated less than half the book to Woo's 20-year career and personal life prior to 1986's A Better Tomorrow. Granted, that film was Woo's defining work and his commercial breakthrough, but his struggles in the productive but repressive Hong Kong film industry would have been valuable insight into his character and his working habits. Instead, Heard goes into reviewer mode and goes film by film (in the case of Woo's pre-1986 works, he skips certain ones) and basically says whether each is good or bad, successful or not. But we get no details on production, whom Woo worked with (who was Director of Photography? Screenwriter? Producer?), scheduling, any problems with the productions, and -- most grievously -- we don't get any idea on how these early productions affected Woo as a filmmaker. Seemingly at a loss when looking for validation for this elusive, highly distinctive filmmaker whose history few in the U.S. public know, Heard is relegated to making a Quentin Tarantino reference when trying to prove that Woo's work is valuable. Even when undergoing the obvious task of citing Woo trademarks that have seeped into U.S. films, Heard neglects such extremely Woo-derivative films such as Robert Rodriguez' Desperado, Walter Hill's Last Man Standing, and the Hughes brothers' Dead Presidents. Tarantino seems to be the only filmmaker Heard ever thinks of referring to, and his description of Woo's U.S. work experiences are scanty to the point of being laughable. What happened to Woo in his private life in the U.S.? No information. Whom did he yell at, fight with, come in contact with while in the "New World"? The book tells nothing. Instead of valuable on-set experiences or interviews with key personnel (eg. Terence Chang/Christopher Godsick; Oliver Wood, DP for Face/Off; Chuck Pfarrer and Graham Yost, writers for Hard Target and Broken Arrow, respectively; Peter Levy, DP for Broken Arrow and a host of others), Heard goes into the most cliched Woo trivia such as who his "weapons expert" is and what gun he used on Face/Off. Not very useful, in general, as to what kind of *filmmaker* Woo really is. As for his personal life...nothing whatsoever. Though biographies on artists should focus on their work, bios like J. Randy Taraborelli's Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness and Stephen Davis' Led Zeppelin biography The Hammer of the Gods have proven that, in biographies, the art and the person behind it can't be separated if a true representation is sought. I had made up a list of omissions, errors, ethnical mistakes (eg. names -- "Chow Yun-fat"'s family name is "Chow", but Heard refers to him as "Yun-fat", a common mistake) and general ineptitudes that Heard included in his book. The list has gone missing, unfortunately, because I bought the book over half a year ago and never got to review it until now. Rest assured, if you try to use this book as a factual resource, you will run into more pitfalls than you can count. This book would have received no stars at all if I hadn't taken into account that this is so far the only biography that a 30-year film veteran has received here. So get it if you're interested in HK film and Woo...but don't expect much from it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great set-up for Mission: Impossible-2,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo (Paperback)
This is a great book to read to set you up for watching the new Mission: Impossible sequel. The book gives context and a sense of film history in better understanding the life of John Woo and how he has developed his film directing career. I cannot think of another film director from outside of the United States that has achieved the kind of commercial success in terms of box office that Woo has accomplished.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Heard rewrote articles from the web,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo (Paperback)
I looked forward to this book, as I'm a huge fan of Woo's films. When I received my copy, and thumbed through it, I felt let down. Almost every quote Heard used (99% of them) were taken from articles I-- and diehard Woo fans-- have already seen on the web. Heard really didn't offer any new information whatsoever. He didn't even include any photos, and his "coverage" of Woo's life prior to 1986's A Better Tomorrow film is almost non-existent. Heard slapped together newspaper articles and called it a "book." A better book on John Woo needs to be written, by a credible source who actually spoke with the individuals they write about.
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