The killer or hard boiled

this is something I have debated for a long time. I can’t decide whether the killer or hard boiled are the best john woo film since they are obviousely superior, but I do enjoy bullet in the head and a better tomarrow.

That is a HARD question.

they are both amazing on some many different levels, but I would say The Killer.

Both are great but I would say “The Killer” is a little better because it has the better story

If its a choice between the two, easily Killer. But I always preferred A Better Tomorrow to either of these.

For me it’s The Killer, it has a certain zing to it over Hard Boiled. I guess you can say it’s more dramatic and the interaction between Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee is just great as opposed to Chow and Tony, which is also good. I felt Hard Boiled got really over the top in the end, I mean a hospital, but hell doesn’t stop me from liking it. But I do agree with Crap Monster, I prefer A Better Tomorrow over both of them.

hard boiled has the most diving through windows and rooms than possibly any film ever.

Both.

both are great, but if you put a gun to my head (srsly), I’d pick “Hard Boiled”. “Killer” is more poetic, and I can appreciate that, but you need at least one completely over the top, mega gun play action film in your life, and “Hard Boiled” just gets the job done better in this respect. From a cinematic perspective, I think the “Killer” is better, but I have a tendency to measure John Woo films by how many bullets are fired, and how cool the action scenes are, rather than how good they are as films. Though no matter what standard you use, both films are very close.

‘Killer’ for its story. ‘Hard Boiled’ for its action.

AHMIN LEE you took the words right out of my mouth.

Agreed. Killer has a better story. And good action sequences. Yet Hard Boiled as better action sequences and a pretty decent story. So it really depends on what you are in the mood for. Good yet tragic anti hero story, The Killer. An old fashion hard core action hero with a pretty decent story, Hard Boiled.

Both are vastly overrated.

Die Hard

ANY DAY OF THE WEEK

The Killer. First John Woo film i watched, was blown away… had me crying at the end as well (heroic bloodshed, love that stuff).

“Hard-boiled” was action overkill. The film numbed itself. “The Killer” is a much more well-blended film.

Sadly, I agree with Jason that both have become vastly overrated. That being said, Hard-Boiled stands the test of time considerably better as an action flick. And honestly, The Killer loses so much of its flair after you experience Melville’s sublime direction in Le Samourai that it’s hard not to nudge it down a bit.

I also re-watched A Better Tomorrow a month or so ago, and it is nowhere near as good as I remember it. I would contest that his best overall film may be the much neglected Bullet in the Head (with the non-Hollywood ending).

“Both are vastly overrated.”

maybe, but both of these are much, MUCH better than ANYTHING made by John Woo in the United States…

and i mean it.

That goes without saying. Woo hasn’t made a good film SINCE “Hard-boiled” and “The Killer.”

While I do think Mission: Impossible II is misunderstood and underrated, the only American film of his that should be in discussion for his best work is Face/Off, which was genuinely entertaining and novel at once.

“and novel at once”

i can definitely agree with the notion of Face/Off being his “best” work in U.S. soil nevertheless, he has ripped a lot of material from his previous work e.g. the shootout and pigeons flying in a chapel similar in vein to the Killer sequence.

Agreed that Face/Off has many sequences influenced by his own (and others’) past works. To be specific, I found the way he dealt with the face-changing to be of interest. The idea isn’t new, but as far as I know, it never got the shootout treatment before.