John Woo's Hollywood Films, Ranked (Including Silent Night)
John Woo is one of the best to ever do it. And by "it" I mean "make some of the greatest action movies you'll ever see." Woo pioneered the gun-fu subgenre of Hong Kong films and his work became internationally recognized in the process. It was only a matter of time before America, and Hollywood came calling. Sure enough, Woo finally made his way to Hollywood in the 1990s. Now, after some time away, he's back in the Hollywood groove with "Silent Night," a dialogue-free action pic about a silent man seeking bloody revenge. With the release of "Silent Night" now here, you may be wondering: how do Woo's Hollywood films stack up? Which is the best? Which is the worst? Well, you've come to the right place. So grab two guns, unleash the doves, and get ready to read our official ranking of John Woo's Hollywood films, including "Silent Night."
7. Paycheck
I think we can all agree that Ben Affleck's career is in a good place right now, but there was a period there where it felt like he was appearing in a ton of dreck. That includes "Paycheck," the 2003 sci-fi thriller John Woo helmed with middling results. You would think that Woo's involvement would elevate what's going on here, but sadly, the filmmaker is never able to inject much life into the proceedings (not that he doesn't try). The convoluted plot has Affleck playing a "reverse engineer" who gets hired to crack secrets. Whenever he's done with a job, his memory is erased. As you might guess, this whole "memory erasing" thing backfires in a big way after Affleck's character's most recent gig, which involves a secret device involved in some vague way with the government. I've seen this film twice (once when it came out and again recently to give it a second chance) and honestly, it's so forgettable that it feels like my memory was erased like Affleck's character. Not even the usually welcomed presence of Uma Thurman is enough to help this one out. The film was such a disappointment that Woo basically left Hollywood for 20 years.
6. Windtalkers
John Woo's "Windtalkers" deserves some points for trying to tell a different type of World War II story — specifically, the true story of Navajo code talkers who were employed to send coded messages during the war. But the end result is rather lackluster. Nicolas Cage, in one of his more forgettable performances, is a US Marine corporal tasked with protecting two Navajo code talkers (Adam Beach and Roger Willie). The two Navajo men endure racism from the white soldiers, and Cage's character is even given orders to kill them should there be risk they fall into enemy hands, all in the name of protecting the code. This sounds like the makings of a great war movie, but the code talkers feel like supporting players in their own story, and while Woo stages some strong action beats, the full picture is rather dull.
5. Silent Night
I wish I could sit here and tell you that John Woo's Hollywood comeback was a triumphant return, but his latest flick "Silent Night" is just okay at best. It's not bad, it's just kind of forgettable — and that's something a John Woo Christmas action movie should not be. The premise: Joel Kinnaman is a man who loses his voice after gang members kill his son and shoot him in the throat on Christmas Eve. After sinking into depression, Kinnaman's character decides to get revenge — which means he has to get ready. This makes "Silent Night" feel like a feature-length training montage, where Kinnaman pumps himself up and trains to become a killer, all without the aid of dialogue. This sounds cool, right? Sadly, "Silent Night" is one of Woo's lesser efforts. There's some sporadically fine action here, but there's no spark. And the Christmas setting feels like a weird afterthought, which is unfortunate. It's nice to have a new John Woo movie, but I think we can all agree that he can do better.
4. Broken Arrow
Does anyone remember "Broken Arrow"? They should, because John Woo's 1996 flick is a hell of a lot of fun. John Travolta gets to ham it up big time as a United States Air Force pilot gone rogue. Travolta's baddie steals not one but two nuclear weapons, and it's up to his former buddy Christian Slater to stop him. Featuring a killer guitar-heavy score from Hans Zimmer (which was sampled for the "Scream" franchise!), "Broken Arrow" is very, very stupid and very, very entertaining. I won't sit here and tell you it's some forgotten classic, but I can't remember the last time I heard anyone talk about this bad boy, and it feels like the perfect silly action movie ready for rediscovery. It's currently streaming on Paramount+, which is a streaming service I'm told some people have. Go watch it today, and marvel at Travolta going absolutely wild.
3. Mission: Impossible 2
"Mission: Impossible 2" is often derided as the worst "Mission: Impossible" movie, but I'm here to tell you it's better than its reputation suggests. The secret to the film's success is John Woo, who pulls out all the stops to make a '90s action extravaganza. The plot borrows heavily from Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious," and you know what? That's fine. While the "Mission" franchise would grow into something bigger and better, Woo's entry is a slow-motion shotgun blast of a movie. Not only does it open with Tom Cruise free-soloing on a cliff for no reason other than the fact that it looks cool, but it also features some gloriously over-the-top action. At one point, Cruise's Ethan Hunt and the film's villain ride at each other on motorcycles. Then they both jump off the motorcycles and collide against each other in mid-air. Not long after that, Ethan lightly kicks a gun lying at his feet, causing the weapon to fly directly up into the air in front of him so he can catch it. The physics of this move don't make sense, and they don't have to — because it looks really, really cool. And if there's one thing John Woo knows, it's how to make stuff look cool.
2. Hard Target
"Hard Target" is the film that brought Woo to Hollywood, and it was an arrival chock full of problems. For one thing, the filmmaker had to cut down some of the violence to score an R rating over an NC-17. For another, star Jean-Claude Van Damme was reportedly unhappy that the film's villain, played with delicious menace by Lance Henriksen, was getting so much screentime. Van Damme's solution was to cut the film to his liking. But even despite these issues, "Hard Target" kind of rules. The plot has Henriksen leading a team of creeps who hunt humans for sport. Van Damme's character is a drifter who just happens to be really good at kicking people's asses, and he teams up with the daughter of one of the hunting victims to get to the bottom of it all. The end result: Van Damme stands and balances on a motorcycle seat while the bike is moving, Van Damme punches a snake, Van Damme sports an amazing mullet, and Wilford Brimley shows up and gets an incredibly badass moment where he rides a horse away from an explosion. Welcome to Hollywood, John Woo.
1. Face/Off
As if there could be any other choice for number one. I won't claim that "Face/Off" is John Woo's best film, but it's definitely one of the best — a symphony of silliness dressed up in a glossy '90s package. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, at the height of their respective careers, star as mortal enemies who end up switching faces and lives. This enables Travolta to do an amazing Nic Cage impression for most of the movie, while Cage does a fine job channeling Travolta. And the premise enables Woo to go friggin' wild, staging big, crazy action set pieces. Guns blaze, lots of things explode, doves fly, and boats launch into the air with almost no regard for gravity. I would sell my soul for Woo to make a movie this fun and this entertaining again. Alas, I don't think Hollywood has any interest in movies like this these days, and we're all the worse off because of it.