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a connoisseur of cult movies.

at the end of last year, action film master john woo just returned to hollywood with "silent night". unexpectedly, not long ago, he remade his classic "the killer》。

the speed of the film production is so fast that it is hard to believe that this is the working pace of the 77-year-old director. however, john woo's filming speed has caught up, but the quality seems to have gone.

the reputation of the new version of "a better tomorrow" is similar to that of "silent night", with an imdb score of 5.7 and a rotten tomatoes freshness of 56%, which does not even reach the passing line.

some people mocked, while others defended. the former believed that remaking their previous works was a sign of a sharp decline in creativity; the latter said that it was enough to be happy to see director wu continue to make films.

however, what most movie fans care about most is perhaps, putting aside the sentimentality, is the new version of "a better tomorrow" still worth watching?

the most significant difference between the new version of "a better tomorrow" and the old version is that the "two heroes" have become "male and female".

in the old version from 1989, the killer xiao zhuang, played by chow yun-fat, and the policeman li ying, played by danny lee, became acquainted with each other because of an assassination case, and went from being at loggerheads to becoming close friends.

in the new version, xiaozhuang becomes the female killer zee, played by nathalie emmanuel, who made stunning appearances in "game of thrones" and "fast and furious".

the character of li ying was transformed into french policeman sai, played by black actor omar sy.

what has changed is not only the character settings, but also the plot framework and direction.

the core of the old version of "a better tomorrow" is placed on xiaozhuang, and the whole movie is woven together by his two assassinations.

during the first assassination attempt, he accidentally injured the female singer jenny, causing her to go blind. xiaozhuang felt guilty and wanted to make up for it, which left him with a weakness.

during the second assassination attempt, his whereabouts were exposed and he was nearly arrested by li ying. xiaozhuang was hunted down by the gangsters and his life was in danger.

during this process, li ying caught a glimpse of xiaozhuang's kindness and compassion, and therefore looked at him differently and felt a sense of sympathy for him.

it can be said that although jenny, played by sally yeh, has a love scene with xiaozhuang, she is more like a tool, acting as a matchmaker between xiaozhuang and li ying, allowing the two to go from hostility to understanding each other.

but the new version is different. the main event of the film is a drug dispute.

the french gangster godfather and the middle eastern prince colluded with each other to traffic in heroin. as a result, the gangster godfather's right-hand man finn robbed the gangsters and later sent the female killer zei to wipe out the roots to prevent future troubles.

while zei was killing people in a bloody massacre, the female singer jenny was innocently shot and, like the old version, was blinded.

afterwards, finn repeatedly ordered zei to assassinate jenny, but zei pretended to obey his orders and repeatedly protected jenny, trying to rescue her from the quagmire and get her out of danger.

when investigating a drug case, policeman sai confronted zee twice and gradually formed a tacit understanding with him. especially when sai was accused of taking bribes, he chose to fight to the death and work with zee to uncover finn's conspiracy.

it is not difficult to see that although the new version continues the "two heroes" model, it also depicts the plight of the two protagonists in their respective camps - one is being hunted and the other is being isolated.

but the temperament and key plot of the whole movie are very different.

for example, the blind singer jenny, in the old version, she only played a role in advancing the plot, but in the new version, she is not innocent and has become an important witness in a drug dispute case.

coupled with finn's setting of being a white-cutting black-cutting person and sai's partner's reversal behavior, the plot of the film is too scattered, and the interaction between the two "male and female" protagonists becomes dispensable.

in fact, the new version of "hard boiled" may be the movie that john woo most wants to make.

you know, in the 1960s and 1970s, john woo was madly in love with french culture. he wore a leather coat and sunglasses all day long. because of this style, he got the nickname "french fly".

not only that, he is also fond of the french gangster film director melville, especially the latter's "le samouraine", which is regarded as a benchmark by john woo.a better tomorrowthe role of mark played by chow yun-fat in "the legend of the condor heroes" is imitating the style of alain delon.

therefore, being able to shoot a genuine "french gangster film" in paris, france has naturally been john woo's long-cherished wish since he started his film career.

shortly after the film's heroine zee appeared, she was wearing a shiny black leather jacket, a bowler hat tilted on her head, and strolling briskly in the rainy night of paris. isn't this john woo's special tribute to melville?

but then again, zei took off his coat, danced seductively, pulled out a samurai sword from his back, and waved it coolly under the neon lights, killing everyone. this can also be seen as john woo's remake of the popular "thejohn wick》series of responses.

in addition, the climax of the film, the intensive gun battle scenes, and the camera movements full of wu's violent aesthetic style can satisfy the interests of gun film enthusiasts and john woo's diehard fans.

furthermore, this is still an action movie with the john woo label all over it from beginning to end.

but if you think about it carefully, you will lose interest in the new version, especially when compared with the old version, it will be very disappointing.

the reason is that the gunfight scenes and male friendship in the old version support each other and are highly unified; while the explosive scenes and plot segments in the new version are severely disconnected and difficult to reconcile.

specifically, the reason why xiaozhuang and li ying shared life and death in the end was due to their adherence to the bottom line of human nature.

after accidentally injuring jenny, he felt extremely guilty and vowed to heal her eyes; or even though he knew his partner had betrayed him, he did not kill him. xiaozhuang's series of psychological motivations showed his natural aversion to selfishness and snobbery.

similarly, when li ying shot the murderer to death in public on the bus, or when he let xiaozhuang go when he could obviously arrest him, it also showed his disdain for the cold dogma.

xiaozhuang cherishes the old-school underworld, while li ying pursues idealized justice. the two seem different, but in fact they reach the same goal.

on the contrary, the gang that xiaozhuang belongs to cannot tolerate this conservative outsider; the police station where li ying works rejects this overly emotional detective.

therefore, every time xiaozhuang and li ying pointed their guns at each other, and every time they cooperated to kill the enemy, it became a catalyst for their friendship.

bullets become language, and gunfire releases emotions. the action scene itself is the ultimate romantic waltz between men, and the aesthetics of violence is the passionate exchange between men.

in the new version, violence has lost its effect. there is no male friendship between zei and sai, but more of a temporary community of interests.

they were all cruelly exiled and ruthlessly backstabbed by their respective camps. in order to save the situation, the police and criminals had to work together.

however, the relationship between zee and jenny is a typical female mutual assistance, that is, "girl helps girl". zee, who once had a miserable fate, saw jenny, a fallen girl, in danger, and she felt sympathy for her.

therefore, the emotional core of the new version becomes zei jumping back and forth between two relationships.

on the one hand, she flirted with sai, trying to build an inexplicable "gunfire" friendship; on the other hand, she spent her time on jenny and was tortured by the latter's innocence and guilt.

to put it bluntly, the out-of-focus emotional relationship cannot establish a deep connection with the seemingly intense gunfight scenes, which makes the latter become a drama that simply satisfies sensory stimulation and can only make people watch for fun.

it’s not surprising that the new version of “a better tomorrow” received poor reviews.

in the past two years, john woo's return to hollywood is more like an experimental exploration after hitting rock bottom.

"silent night" is an independent film with almost no dialogue. it tells a story similar to the "john wick" series through the revenge journey of a new killer.

and this time, "hard boiled" reveals john woo's interest in re-telling classic films of the past using the currently popular narrative of a strong female lead.

whether it is old wine in new bottles or new wine in old bottles, this way of exploration is inherently risky.

after all, john woo is over 70 years old and his energy is not as good as before. more importantly, it has been more than 20 years since his peak.

it’s not like john woo has never experienced failure. in his decades-long film career, he has even hit low points many times.

this action film director who came out of chang cheh's studio initially won with comedy. in the late 1970s, john woo worked for golden harvest and directed several hit films.

the box office of comedy films such as "money fever", "the legend of the condor heroes" and "money makes trouble" often occupy the top three positions in the annual rankings.

what john woo did was nothing more than combining "hsu-style comedy" with action farce, mixing in some vulgar jokes, and putting them together into a lively and delicious fast food.

however, after 1983, with the rise of "the comedian" and "two tigers》’s box office was dismal one after another, and john woo was once synonymous with “outdated”.

it was not until his old friend tsui hark helped direct the blockbuster "a better tomorrow" in 1986 that john woo ushered in the second spring of his career.

the subsequent "across the world", "a better tomorrow" and "hard boiled, have become classics of action movies.

in the early 1990s, john woo ventured into hollywood and suffered another setback. he was not used to the local climate during the filming process, so he could not fully exert his skills in "the last target".

fortunately, three years later,broken arrow, which made him famous, especially his collaboration with john travolta, which was a perfect match. in 1997, the two collaborated again in "face changingafter "the last airbender", john woo has completely established himself in hollywood.

especially the huge success of "mission impossible 2" made john woo the most successful hong kong film director developing in hollywood.

but after the disastrous failure of windtalkers in 2002, john woo hit rock bottom for the third time. this time, it was the mainland film industry that pulled him out of the trough.

in 2008, the 600 million war epic "red cliff" made john woo once again the most watched director in the chinese film industry.

however, after the film was released, the total box office of the two parts was less than 600 million yuan, and the word of mouth was far below expectations, so john woo's box office appeal has declined a lot.

then, the failure of the two "the crossing" films and "hunt》 received terrible reviews, causing john woo to frequently suffer box office failures in the mainland film market.

he has been in the spotlight several times and has fallen to the bottom several times; he has won the lifetime achievement award at the venice film festival and has also remade his previous works in the era of streaming media.

some may ask, what is left of john woo? can he create another masterpiece?

given the current situation, this is certainly unrealistic.

but at the age of seventy, he can still continue to explore the breadth of action movies and try to make movies that are different from the past. this is also a moving gesture.

john woo may be out of date, but his fans will always hope that he can direct movies.