John Woo

Melodrama at gunpoint. Woo's action is built on obligation between men — the debt, the oath, the enemy who deserves better — and the gunfights are staged as emotional arguments rather than tactical problems. Sentiment and carnage are given equal seriousness.

Signature

• Slow motion and doves; unembarrassed operatic excess.
• Two-handed shooting, standoffs held at point-blank while people talk.
• Cop and criminal mirrored until the distinction stops mattering.
• Loyalty as the highest value, betrayal as the only real sin.