Author: Connor Boone (---.attbi.com)
Date: 04-01-2004 16:32
A Better Tomorrow: Check this one out. Not only did it make John Woo and Chow Yun Fat famous, but it also created, singlehanded, the heroic bloodshed subgenre that gave us the best of the gun opera films.
A Better Tomorrow 2: The last 20 minutes are so over the top, so crazy, that an RPG would be the perfect place to replicate it. 3 men vs. 100, and they win? Even when one is reduced to using a samurai sword? Also a great example of how to weave several main characters into a single gun opera. Too bad that it's not a great film overall...
Heat: Not a perfect fit with the genre, but worthy of emulation nonetheless. Both sides are utterly professional, and very competent.
The Untouchables: A classic of the Prohibition era. Gangsters and G-men battle in classic gun-opera style.
Time and Tide: Directed by Tsui Hark, it's the very defintion of hyper-kinetic. It doesn't slow down for an instant.
Reservoir Dogs: Yes, Tarantino ripped off HK cinema with this one, but he infused it with his own style to make an interesting film.
La Femme Nikita: She's on death row, and offered a choice by the government: Work for us as an assassin, or meet your sentence.
The Big Hit: HK bullet ballet meets broad American humor, resulting in a fun movie.
Cowboy Bebop: "Ballad of Fallen Angels" and "The Real Folk Blues" give the best pieces of animated gun opera ever.
Other Woo Films: Face/Off and Hard-Boiled come immediately to mind.
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