TIFF Review: John Woo’s Manhunt

A highly successful Chinese lawyer for a major Japanese pharmaceutical company is framed for murder and becomes a fugitive.

 After handling many of the dark secrets of a Japanese pharmaceutical company as their lawyer, Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu) plans to begin a new career; however, his soon-to-be-former employer decides to frame him for a murder.  The protagonist is pursued by corrupt police officers, a brilliant police captain, and hired assassins leading to a massive brawl in a high tech laboratory.

It is great to see John Woo return to the action-thriller genre as his signature slow-motion bullets and balletic fights are in full display of his remake of the original released in 1976.  The dialogue is consistently cheesy and there are even moments when the cast speak English so one has to believe that John Woo is having some fun parodying the types of movies that made him famous.  The performances are serviceable but it is all of the crazy stunts and gunplay that are the real stars of the show.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.