'The return of the maestro," proclaims the publicity for "Manhunt," the splashy new offering from John Woo. After his two-part "Titanic" wannabe, "The Crossing," sank at the box office, the 71-year-old director has gone back to his roots in "bullet ballet" action schlock.
But what could have been an opportunity to show the kids how it's done, like George Miller managed with "Mad Max: Fury Road," proves to be a bit of an embarrassment. It's got the white doves, gratuitous slo-mo and operatic gunplay that fans of Woo's earlier films would expect, but the whole thing is as slackly executed as an "Expendables" movie.
"Manhunt" is a remake of the 1976 Ken Takakura vehicle ("Kimi yo Funnu no Kawa o Watare" in Japanese), which became a massive hit in China on account of being one of the first foreign flicks released after the Cultural Revolution. Viewers familiar with the original may struggle to spot much resemblance, though Woo's version does at least have the virtue of being 40 minutes shorter.