This is a new addition to the blog, the spotlight on...section will take a look at certain aspects of cult and genre cinema and the contributions they make to the entertainment industry and to the fans who pretty much make cult cinema...cult.
This first ever Spotlight on post focuses on a sub-genre of action cinema, the themes and influences of the stylized gun battles of Heroic Bloodshed.......
When looking at action cinema, a lot of genre geeks will attribute the slo-mo style of gun battles to John Woo, the Hong Kong director who reinvented the action movie with A Better Tomorrow in 1986, but if we're really going back to the source of the Bullet Ballet we should look to the 1969 western The Wild Bunch, a film that for it's time was overtly graphic in it's depiction of the shoot out, from it's opening bank robbery to it's final, near 20 minute, gun battle. Director Sam Peckinpah used the technique of slow motion to show in more graphic detail, the bullet hits, but this technique would be used by many future directors of action films.
The Sub Genre of action cinema known as heroic Bloodshed, so called because of it's use of dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour and redemption was first shown to full effect in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, a film about a reforming gangster, his criminal best friend and his policeman brother. The film was a big hit due to it's themes and it's almost balletic action sequences. John Woo would go onto invest more in this style of film making with A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer and Hard Boiled.
The Killer and Hard Boiled took the idea of 'Gun Fu', the balletic style of gun play and capitalized on it on a grander scale. The Killer's Finale being a stand out and also the single take hospital shoot-out in Hard Boiled, both scenes contain overly violent action and all stem from the protagonist of both scenes, Chow Yun Fat. John Woo shoots Yun Fat in an imposing way. Two hand guns, usually Barretta's, diving through the air and firing at multiple targets, Chow Yun Fat became a sensation that was unfortunately not transferred to the U.S for his American debut, The Replacement Killers. But it wasn't just John Woo who was making Heroic Bloodshed Films, Ringo Lam was taking the themes and placing them in a more realistic combat setting such as in his film City On Fire, a film about an undercover police officer (Chow Yun Fat) who infiltrates a gang of jewellery thieves, was a massive influence of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Johnny To was also making heroic bloodshed films, his feature action début which he co-directed was called The Big Heat, but even though to has become synonymous for his action and crime thrillers, To seems to rely more on prolonged dramatic scenes that all out action. John Woo's producing partner Tsui Hark also took a stab at directing a Heroic bloodshed film when he stepped in for A Better Tomorrow III. Asian Cinema took the style of action created by Peckinpah and used it to such a degree that it reshaped modern action cinema.
Western Films started to take the style of Gun Fu and integrate it into their movie. Although not considered a western film to utilize this style of Gun play, Die Hard has very obvious stylistic shots that could have been ripped straight from a Woo Film. The scene in Die Hard in which Bruce Willis's John McClain takes out a room of terrorists while hiding under a boardroom table could easily have had Chow Yun Fat under the table instead, but it wasn't untill 1994's Desperado that we truly saw the asian influences in western cinema. Desperado's frenetic and ballet gun battles are very highly influenced by Hong Kong cinema due to it's balletic gun choreography and slo-mo diving. Another film which uses the style of Gun Fu is The Matrix, a film that is heavily influenced by Asian cinema due to it's rediculous shootouts and kung fu, plus it has a lot of asian mysticism within it's script.
The Matrix aslo introduced us to bullet time, a special and visual effect that takes the idea of slow mo to the next level. it was also responsible for the speeding bullet effect, where someone fires and we follow the bullet as it speeds through the air and penatrates it's target, but this is not all that new, a smiliar technique known as the bullet cam was used in Ringo Lam's 1992 action fest Full Contact.
With the west using more and more Asian action influences, it was inevitable that John Woo would travel to Hollywood and upon landing started work on his U.S debut, the Jean Claude Van Damme, Most Dangerous Game remake, Hard Target. The film was a success but Woo came under fire from producers who wanted less gunplay and more martial arts. This however didn't stop Woo who went onto make Broken Arrow, an action film about stolen nuclear war heads, again this was a success and allowed Woo to make his U.S movie masterpiece, the heroic bloodshed epic Face/Off, this time around, Woo showcased his skills as the number one action director because Face/Off had gun fu by the tuck load from the opening airport gun battle to the church shoot out finale, Face/Off was never topped by Woo in the U.S, he tried with Mission Impossible 2 and Paycheck but neither reached the hieghts set by Face/off.
Woo returned to Hong Kong but his influences stayed in America. Almost every action film these days owe John Woo a debt as they all contain influences and some minor reference to Woo's movies and his stylistic action direction. The most obvious homage to Woo is the 2007 bullet buffet, Shoot 'em Up, a film that uses incredibly high octane two gun action to propell the film along.
As for gun fu, Kurt Wimmer's 2002 film Equilibrium took the idea of gun fu and litterally turned it into a martial art and called 'Gun Kata'. So the asian influence of western cinema is so prominant in todays films that you do seem to wonder why more modern asian films only get very limited promotion.
But say what you want, John Woo did re-invent the action genre for a new generation, a violent almost balletic form of action that has been referenced and imitated countless times.
This first ever Spotlight on post focuses on a sub-genre of action cinema, the themes and influences of the stylized gun battles of Heroic Bloodshed.......
When looking at action cinema, a lot of genre geeks will attribute the slo-mo style of gun battles to John Woo, the Hong Kong director who reinvented the action movie with A Better Tomorrow in 1986, but if we're really going back to the source of the Bullet Ballet we should look to the 1969 western The Wild Bunch, a film that for it's time was overtly graphic in it's depiction of the shoot out, from it's opening bank robbery to it's final, near 20 minute, gun battle. Director Sam Peckinpah used the technique of slow motion to show in more graphic detail, the bullet hits, but this technique would be used by many future directors of action films.The Sub Genre of action cinema known as heroic Bloodshed, so called because of it's use of dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour and redemption was first shown to full effect in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, a film about a reforming gangster, his criminal best friend and his policeman brother. The film was a big hit due to it's themes and it's almost balletic action sequences. John Woo would go onto invest more in this style of film making with A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer and Hard Boiled.
The Killer and Hard Boiled took the idea of 'Gun Fu', the balletic style of gun play and capitalized on it on a grander scale. The Killer's Finale being a stand out and also the single take hospital shoot-out in Hard Boiled, both scenes contain overly violent action and all stem from the protagonist of both scenes, Chow Yun Fat. John Woo shoots Yun Fat in an imposing way. Two hand guns, usually Barretta's, diving through the air and firing at multiple targets, Chow Yun Fat became a sensation that was unfortunately not transferred to the U.S for his American debut, The Replacement Killers. But it wasn't just John Woo who was making Heroic Bloodshed Films, Ringo Lam was taking the themes and placing them in a more realistic combat setting such as in his film City On Fire, a film about an undercover police officer (Chow Yun Fat) who infiltrates a gang of jewellery thieves, was a massive influence of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Johnny To was also making heroic bloodshed films, his feature action début which he co-directed was called The Big Heat, but even though to has become synonymous for his action and crime thrillers, To seems to rely more on prolonged dramatic scenes that all out action. John Woo's producing partner Tsui Hark also took a stab at directing a Heroic bloodshed film when he stepped in for A Better Tomorrow III. Asian Cinema took the style of action created by Peckinpah and used it to such a degree that it reshaped modern action cinema.Western Films started to take the style of Gun Fu and integrate it into their movie. Although not considered a western film to utilize this style of Gun play, Die Hard has very obvious stylistic shots that could have been ripped straight from a Woo Film. The scene in Die Hard in which Bruce Willis's John McClain takes out a room of terrorists while hiding under a boardroom table could easily have had Chow Yun Fat under the table instead, but it wasn't untill 1994's Desperado that we truly saw the asian influences in western cinema. Desperado's frenetic and ballet gun battles are very highly influenced by Hong Kong cinema due to it's balletic gun choreography and slo-mo diving. Another film which uses the style of Gun Fu is The Matrix, a film that is heavily influenced by Asian cinema due to it's rediculous shootouts and kung fu, plus it has a lot of asian mysticism within it's script.
With the west using more and more Asian action influences, it was inevitable that John Woo would travel to Hollywood and upon landing started work on his U.S debut, the Jean Claude Van Damme, Most Dangerous Game remake, Hard Target. The film was a success but Woo came under fire from producers who wanted less gunplay and more martial arts. This however didn't stop Woo who went onto make Broken Arrow, an action film about stolen nuclear war heads, again this was a success and allowed Woo to make his U.S movie masterpiece, the heroic bloodshed epic Face/Off, this time around, Woo showcased his skills as the number one action director because Face/Off had gun fu by the tuck load from the opening airport gun battle to the church shoot out finale, Face/Off was never topped by Woo in the U.S, he tried with Mission Impossible 2 and Paycheck but neither reached the hieghts set by Face/off.Woo returned to Hong Kong but his influences stayed in America. Almost every action film these days owe John Woo a debt as they all contain influences and some minor reference to Woo's movies and his stylistic action direction. The most obvious homage to Woo is the 2007 bullet buffet, Shoot 'em Up, a film that uses incredibly high octane two gun action to propell the film along.
As for gun fu, Kurt Wimmer's 2002 film Equilibrium took the idea of gun fu and litterally turned it into a martial art and called 'Gun Kata'. So the asian influence of western cinema is so prominant in todays films that you do seem to wonder why more modern asian films only get very limited promotion.
But say what you want, John Woo did re-invent the action genre for a new generation, a violent almost balletic form of action that has been referenced and imitated countless times.
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