Stranglehold review

Sept 4, 2007

Here’s cool: slow motion diving through the air, pistol in each hand, taking out all 15 baddies in the room. There’s no denying this. Now do it sliding down a banister, riding belly-first on a trolley, or gliding along the back of a museum dinosaur.

No one can call into question the inherent coolness of John Woo’s gun-toting action style - although perhaps they might want to ponder on the overall quality of his later films (cough-Broken Arrow-cough). Stranglehold is a sequel of sorts to his 1992 Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled, with Woo there to direct the cutscenes to match his familiar policy of action before story, and to ensure the game has a suitable body count.

So things stay true to Woo’s early “Heroic Bloodshed” genre of filmmaking. Insane amounts of bullet-based slaughter are combined with a dumb sentimental story, in which the ex-wife and daughter of Inspector Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat) are kidnapped by crime lords intent on taking over Hong Kong. Pesky crime lords. With this excuse in place, Tequila is ready to disobey orders and kill absolutely every human being he encounters, from Hong Kong to Chicago, ideally in slow-motion. Or indeed, in “Tequila Time,” as it is so imaginatively called. And if you’re thinking about the oh-so-shooty Max Payne right now, you’re on the right wavelength.

Pretty much all jumpy movement is mapped to a single button, whether it’s diving forward over obstacles, leaping backward onto your ass, jumping onto a railing, or sliding down a banister. The bullet time kicks in if there’s anyone in your gunsight to shoot at, everything turning a sepia-brown, bullet traces gliding past your head.