In my mind, both CYF and JW reached their zenith with their 1992 movie, “Hard Boiled” (La Shou Shen Tan). That movie still gets me giddy everytime I watch it, especially the opening dimsum parlour scene and the middle bit in the warehouse. Like a favourite amusement park ride, you knew what you were in for and yet you still get excited about it.


CYF followed that up with a few good movies: “American Shaolin” (Hua Qi Shao Lin) and “Peace Hotel” (He Ping Fan Dian) and then went on to test the waters in the USA. Shortly after “Hard Boiled”, so did JW.

Their first American ventures were ok but not entirely memorable. CYF’s “Replacement Killers” was only good for *one* scene: the opening sequence in the nightclub. And JW’s first US movie was with Van Damme in “Hard Target” which served as a good introduction for ppl who’ve never seen his movies but was a yawn for Asian viewers.

JW improved things somewhat with his second outing in the US, “Broken Arrow”. This movie had John Travolta flicking his cigarettes in slo-mo and him saying “Ain’t it cool?” Now that was sweeeet.

But recently, their efforts had been mediocre. “The Bulletproof Monk” had the audacity to tease us with a shot of CYF holding two guns and then have him throw them away! And “The Paycheck”, well … how come Uma Thurman looked so much better with guns and martial arts in the “Kill Bill” movies – both directed by Quentin Tarantino, a director who would be JW’s disciple in the traditional sense?

To date, both their best US efforts – “The Corruptor” for CYF; “Face/Off” for JW, does not even begin to match “Hard Boiled”. My big question to you both, Mr. Chow and Mr. Woo is this: “Why haven’t you worked together since ‘Hard Boiled’?” Mr. Woo, I know that you’d produced “The Replacement Killers” and “The Bulletproof Monk” for Mr. Chow, but they don’t count.


Just one more collaboration as director and actor, that’s all I ask. I need a fix real bad.