Update: John Woo’s next film will be a remake of his own actioner The Killer, this time led by none other than Lupita Nyong’o in the assassin role originated by Chow Yun-fat, Deadline reports. Scripted by Eran Creevy, the Universal Pictures production will begin later this year in France and Germany. See the original story below.
While the summer will no doubt be met with disappointments in the action genre, the season will kick off with a new film from a master in the field, John Woo. Although it won’t be available on the big screen, his new thriller Manhunt will arrive worldwide on Netflix at the end of this week, and the company is finally now starting to promote it with the first trailer. Coming from the Hard Boiled and Face/Off director, it finds a lawyer teaming up with a detective after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit.
One of our favorites from last year’s TIFF, C.J. Prince said in his review, “Something must have happened to John Woo in the last decade or so. It’s been well over a decade since his last full-blown, modern-day action film, having made the historical epics Red Cliff and The Crossing after leaving Hollywood, and Manhunt — his return to the genre that launched his career — feels like a new kind of John Woo. Now in his 70s, Woo has become fully self-aware, and in doing so seems to have challenged himself to create the most John Woo movie ever made. With Manhunt, he has indeed made the most John Woo movie possible, while also making a film that could just be described as “the most.” It’s a deliriously entertaining thrill ride from start to end, and sure to go down as one of the most enjoyable films of 2017.”
See the trailer below for the film starring Zhang Hanyu, Masaharu Fukuyama, and Qi Wei.
Manhunt hits Netflix on May 4.