Woo still continued to struggle, although finally directing his first film in '74, Woo was unsatisfied with the outcome of most of his projects. Woo wasn't able to express himself fully with overbearing producers breathing down his neck.
In 1984, Woo left behind the slap-stick comedies and samuri swordplay flms and went in an entirely new direction: "Heroic Bloodshed."
This new film: "Ying Xiong Wei Lei"-Hero's Shed No Tears-was the begining of a new Woo. Frenzied action, an excess of bloodletting, stylish shootouts, and male bonding. The film was deemed "too depressing" by test audiences and remained unreleased untill late 1986.
1986 was the year Woo Teamed up with Tsui Hark.
Hark produced Woo's next film Yung Huang Boon Sik-A Better Tomorrow. This would be Woo's breakthrough film. A huge success the world over, making both John Woo and the film's star, Chow Yun Fat, household names. A breathtaking film, in which violent shootouts are choreographed like ballet (Woo was once a dance instructor), and an engrossing screenplay always keeps the viewer interested.
All of these factors paved the way for the even more incredible Die Xue Shuarig Xiong aka: The Killer. Although admittedly borrowing from his favorite directors Sam Peckipah and Enzo G. Castellari,no one films action the way John Woo Does. The Killer is a film about a hitman, who while doing a job in a night club, accidently blinds a singer with the flash from his muzzle. He is grief stricken with the thought that he harmed an innocent person, and decides to pull one last hit in order to pay for the woman's cornea transplant. Things don't go down quite that easy, as the person paying for the hit wants no witnesses, including the hitman. What unfolds is an hour and a half of the most incredible shootouts ever captured on celluliod. These scenes aren't just bloody, they are operatic, beautiful, awe-inspiring. While watching this film, there where several occassions when I felt chills. Words really cannot do justice to this amazing peice of work, by far Woo's finest.
His next film, Lashou Shentan aka: Hard Boiled, is another exellent work. out doing The Killer, in terms of wild nonstop action, but lacking most of the emotional punch. Some stand out scenes include an over the top shootout in a factory with Chow Yun Fat mowing down HUNDREDS of Triad gangsters, and the climatic (and long) shootout in a hospital, where Chow, with a baby cradled in his arms shoots more gangsters, captured in wonderful slow motion.
The coupled success of The Killer and Hard Boiled lead to Woo getting a contract in America. Woo had long dreamed of working in the states, so he of course jumped on the chance. His first American feature Hard Target, was cut by some 20 minutes after test audience rejected some of the more violent scenes. The film starred Jean-Claude Van Damm, and despite a terrible script and unfeasilble story line, Woo directs with incredible flair. The camera is in constant motion, tracking, zooming, lots of cool slow motion, freeze frames, etc. It is sadly also the last decent film Woo would make. Stuck in a contract, Woo next churned out Lame star vehicles such as Broken Arrow, Face/Off and the worst yet Mission Impossible 2. These last film almost seem like cartoonish rehashes of earlier Woo films; the violence watered down, and the dramatics pushed to the poin of ridiculousness. One can only hope that Woo will someday return to the glory of "The Killer."