BeyondHardBoiled What do you get when you put a Thai Drug cartel, Tribal Warriors, the Vietnam People's Army, Chinese mercenaries and a small child in a John Woo film? An absolute mess.I am a Woo fan myself, so I was curious to see his first "true" film as he calls it. It was a bit hard to find, which is not surprising after seeing it. It should have been completely forgotten.It's bad. There is little to no plot, and all it really serves itself as is an action film. This was made before Woo was established as the master of Heroic Bloodshed, so his style was no where near perfected, meaning the action scenes in this film are lackluster. The whole thing is basically worthless then.This was released after the success of Woo's "A Better Tomorrow", which is actually pretty decent. I'm not sure why he thought to put this out after that, it only degrades his image. He thankfully then came out with "The Killer" which made up for it.Avoid this film, even if you're a Woo fan.

MikeA Ludicrously violent war movie, notable only for being director John Woo's first foray into gung-ho gunplay that's since become his forte. Every plot twist is improbable or just plain ridiculous, every character a hackneyed stereotype or just there for cannon fodder, and every line of poorly subbed dialogue unintentionally funny. In other words, I thought it was great.Definitely worth taking a look at if you're in the mood for some truly mindless violence, or if you're a Woo completist.

DJ Inferno The 1980s were the decade when the Americans produced lots of patriotic action films like "Rambo 1-3" or "The Delta Force"-series, for example. Now, John Woo´s version of a mercenary-movie is quite different: of course, there are lots of heavy gunfights and giant explosions, however without being too one-dimensional as the US-movies are! The fast-paced plot is improved by well-developed characters, typical Asian humor and allusions to father and son, friendship and honour without being too pathetic in any way! Maybe not John Woo´s best, but still an action movie far above average!!

Azzy This movie is notable as being John Woo's first gun-fight movie. It is an extremely brutal and nihilistic war movie, at times more gut wrenching than BULLET IN THE HEAD. The movie centers around a small group of mercenaries who are sent to capture a drug lord in the golden triangle. The body count is massive and the action is unrelenting. Although it lacks the finesse of the director's later movies it has some brilliant scenes such as a swamp fist-fight against the manhunters, a torture scene straight out of a H.P. Lovecraft image, a hilarious gambling scene, and a sniper shot in the eye through the scope. This scene was imitated later for SNIPER and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but is done best here. I would recommend this movie to all John Woo fans, especially those who liked BULLET IN THE HEAD, and Copolla's APOCALYPSE NOW.