Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo

by Christopher Heard

Ten Thousand The Cinematic Journey of John Woo opens on the early life of the now legendary director in the violent slums of Hong Kong. It follows him to his first jobs in cinema - apprenticeships with Hong Kong-based Cathay Studios and later with Shaw Brothers, where he made The Young Dragons, the kung-fu movie that launched his career as a director. In time Woo became one of Hong Kong's leading filmmakers, directing Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow, Parts I and II. In 1992, his film The Killer - which Quentin Tarantino called "the coolest movie ever made" - was declared a masterpiece, at the time overtaking Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon as the most successful Hong Kong film ever made.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

Reviews

[Alessandro Brioschi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable, although a bit dated (this book is from the early noughties, Woo's last film at that point was "Windtalkers") and superficial.

[Dean Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great telling of Woo’s journey from HK to the peak of Hollywood with Face/Off.

Written by a fanboy for fanboys.