Waaaaay back in the early 1990’s I, along with many other movie geeks, discovered the works of director John Woo.  Most specifically for me were two movie he made starring ultra-cool Chow Yun-Fat: 1989’s The Killer and 1992’s Hard Boiled.  The later film, according to Mr. Woo himself and if memory serves, was intended to be not just a great action film but a calling card to Hollywood that Mr. Woo was not only a top-tier action director, but that he was willing and able to make the leap to American films.

This bravura sequence from Hard Boiled, shot mostly in one take (if you look hard, there is one clear break), is one of the film’s highlights:

Hollywood, needless to say, took notice.

The very next year, in 1993, Mr. Woo’s first American film, Hard Target, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, was released.  The movie was, to me, a disappointment.  It was a good Jean-Claude Van Damme film, perhaps his best, but considering what Mr. Woo released the previous years, it felt like a step down.  (NOTE: Mr. Woo’s original version of the film was cut for theatrical release.  You can read more about what was changed/taken out of that version here)

It would be three years and not until 1996 that Mr. Woo’s next Hollywood film was released and that was the John Travolta and Christian Slater action-fest Broken Arrow.

I recall seeing that film back when it was released and found it a far better film than Hard Target yet was still disappointed because I expected so much more from the man behind the camera.

Mr. Woo would go on to make a handful of other films for Hollywood, including Face/Off, Mission: Impossible II, Windtalkers, and Paycheck, before heading back to more familiar ground -and Hong Kong- to continue his career.

Now, looking back at Mr. Woo’s Hollywood years, one can’t help but feel this once very exciting director’s career stalled or, sadly, took a big step backwards during this time period.  Today, Mission Impossible II is looked at as one of the lesser MI films.  Paycheck, to  many (including me) was an outright terrible film and one of the reasons Ben Affleck’s career nosedived after a promising beginning.

So while I harbored good feelings toward Mr. Woo’s earlier works, there was little doubt I felt either ambivalent or bad feelings regarding his Hollywood career.

Today, that’s very far in the past and when I found Broken Arrow playing on cable yesterday, I decided after all these years to give it another try.

Wouldn’t you know it, I found the film far more enjoyable than I remembered?

I think part of the reason is those old heightened expectations I had of Mr. Woo’s then-nascent Hollywood career were long gone and I watched Broken Arrow with far fewer -indeed, no- expectations, and the movie benefited tremendously without them.

The movie concerns Vic Deakins (John Travolta, looking very young, spry, and more than a little out of his freaking mind) hijacking two nuclear missiles from a bomber he and his co-pilot, Riley Hale (Christian Slater), were transporting.  As it turns out, Deakins was acting alone and intended to kill Riley during the hijacking.

Riley, however, survives and the movie becomes a cat-and-mouse chase between Deakins and his band of very bad-guys versus Riley and his eventual companion, Park Cop Terry Charmichael (Samantha Mathis), as they try to thwart Deakins and the very deadly missiles he intends to use to extort big money from the U.S. Government.

Broken Arrow, viewed today, is a surprisingly old-fashioned (I DO NOT say that as a slight!) good-guy versus bad-guy feature.  The bad-guys are really bad and the good guys are clean-cut and very good.  The bad guys will play dirty and snarl and curse while the good guys will take what’s given and not back down…even if the odds are against them.  The action sequences, while not quite as good as Mr. Woo’s greatest Hong Kong hits, are nonetheless exciting and entertaining and deliver the thrills.

After the film was done I couldn’t help but feel I’d been too harsh on Mr. Woo way back then and most certainly regarding this film.  I also wondered if maybe it was time to give at least some of his other Hollywood features a second chance.

I’m looking at you, Hard Target and Face/Off.

Broken Arrow is recommended…and further reviews of Mr. Woo’s works may be coming!

I present the movie’s trailer below but caution those who haven’t seen the film yet that they may want to before seeing this trailer.  It gives away an awful lot of plot!