On the most obvious level, the connection with Hard Boiled is clear - this is, in theory, a sequel to that movie. It's John 'Hard Boiled' Woo, not John 'Paycheck' Woo.

Or rather, John Woo Presents Stranglehold - and having played through three of the game's huge, sprawling stages, we've got good news. In one eye-popping still-frame lies the reason people still care about John Woo even after he traded in Chow Yun Fat and Tony Leung for Jean Claude van Damme and Ben Affleck. Its action sequences, framed in slow motion and filled with two handed gunplay, influenced a whole generation of action directors and choreographers - few of whom ever quite managed to capture Woo's perfect blend of visceral, gritty imagery with effortless style.Īnd its iconic image Chow Yun Fat's protagonist, Tequila, dressed in a riot police uniform, bruised and bloodied, with a shotgun in one hand and a baby held in the other arm. Hard Boiled, the eminently silly and stunningly stylish story of a tough renegade cop determined to bring down a criminal gang and its clearly insane boss, is the absolute epitome of Hong Kong cinema cool. There has been an 'ah, but.' in every conversation about John Woo since he swapped Hong Kong for the lure of Hollywood in the early nineties. We have no doubt that the legendary director probably still commands a healthy sheaf of greenbacks for turning up behind the clapperboard - but seriously, Paycheck? Windtalkers? Mission Impossible II? Hardly the kind of cinematic output that commands reverence.

It has, with all due respect, been a crap decade for John Woo.

Stranglehold pc controller support