Between the Bullets

Originally a Hong Kong-based director, John Woo is now considered one of the ten most successful directors working in American films, receiving world-wide attention for his highly stylized violence in films such as The Killer (1989), Hard-Boiled (1992), Face/Off (1997), and Mission Impossible 2 (2000). While Woo is widely regarded as a master action director, scant attention has been paid to the manner in which Woo's films reflect the director's religious and ethical concerns. Through an examination of representative films from the director's Hong Kong and American periods, Michael Bliss demonstrates that Woo should be regarded as a predominantly religious director, in whose films action is the vehicle by virtue of which a concern with spirituality is dramatized. Contains a chapter on Chinese opera tradition as relates to Woo's films, an exclusive interview with John Woo, and a complete filmography.

Michael Bliss teaches English and Film at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His previous books include Dreams Within a Dream: The Films of Peter Weir; What Goes Around Comes Around: The Films of Jonathan Demme (co-authored with Christina Banks); The Word Made Flesh: Catholicism and Conflict in the Films of Martin Scorsese (Scarecrow Press, 1995); and Justified Lives: Morality and Narrative in the Films of Sam Peckinpah.