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Heroes Shed No Tears

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:46 pm
by Rich
Man, what a great slam bang action drama from John Woo. I mean I love the days of The Killer, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2 and Bullet In The Head but I never discovered this gem until recently and I also learn its his first attempt at a more shoot'em up style he becomes famous for as he mostly did martial arts flicks before this. Like all of Woo's films the heroes kill a lot of bad guys before biting the dust and they can never miss a shot but at the same time the action is nonstop even if the plot has more finely placed holes than cheese cloth! I can spot a lot of homages here including Lone Wolf And Cub (the relationship between the head mercenary and his son) along with Apocalypse Now with the crazy American stoner holding up in the house with his brothel of girls.

The movie oozes with crazy shoot'em up violence and graphic bullet hits along with some other splashy gore. It also has a great dramatic feeling to it when it comes to the Mercenary only known as "the china man" and his relationship with his son and his wife. Its like an asian dirty dozen or kelly's heroes but much bloodier. Like in all John Woo's films the heroes are larger than life and the bad guys are just plain mean wankers. If you like Woo then you have to check this out, you won't be sorry, I loved it. I've read some mixed reviews about it but fuck'em, its a gem in my books, it had me on the edge of my seat throughout.