Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/war-john-woos-the-killer-and-why-masala-cinema-can-be-taken-as-seriously-as-any-other-genre-7476851.html
War is turning out to be a huge hit. Given the stars – Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff – and the popcorn-friendly genre, it’s probably not that unexpected a phenomenon. But this also happens to be a very well-written film (the screenplay is by Siddharth Anand, the director, and Shridhar Raghavan) – and that’s unusual for this genre. By well-written, I mean there are emotional underpinnings at every step. It’s not just about a mega-villain threatening to destroy the world, like in the earlier Bond adventures, starring Sean Connery and Roger Moore. War is a little more like the ones with Daniel Craig. Something more personal is at stake. If you want to watch it as just a “fun” movie, it delivers. But if you want to read it as a film about a patriot (Khalid, played by Tiger Shroff) trying to atone for the sins of his father, who betrayed the nation, then there’s that, too.
But for the purposes of this column about foreign cinema, let me steer the conversation to the scene where we discover that Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), the man who killed Khalid’s traitorous father, is now his boss. Their first meeting, unsurprisingly, does not go well. But what made me perk up was the bit where Kabir tells Khalid how he killed his father. “First, I shot him in the right eye, and then, in the left eye.” (Okay, maybe it was the other way around, but you get the point.) This is the fate that befalls the protagonist of John Woo’s The Killer (1989), one of the seminal action classics of Hong Kong cinema. (Fun fact: That film was produced by Tsui Hark, director of the Once Upon a Time in China and Detective Dee series.)
Continued at the link above.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
MANK
October 11, 2019
The Killer was remade in Hindi with Sunil Shetty and Akshay Kumar as Hum Hain bemisaal. His A Better Tommorow was remade as Aatish by who else but Sanjay Gupta and was produced by G.P.Sippy. From that the connection between Woo and Masala is obvious. Better Tommorow is alarmingly similar to Sholay and Deewaar. The conflict between brothers and the lifelong friendship between two criminals.
Of all John Woo films, Hard Boiled is my favorite , closely followed by Bullet in the Head, which is undoubtedly his masterpiece. It’s terrible that Woo had lost his mojo now. I yearn for those balletic action scenes from his Films.
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Rad Mahalikudi
October 11, 2019
@MANK: So happy you mentioned “Hard Boiled”. That is one of my favorite action movie. In US, it was marketed as Die Hard x 5 times.
Bullet in the head is gripping and with Once a Thief he gave a lighthearted fun / action movie.
Like BR said, it is fun linking these great well made masala movies. Directors paying a homage or giving a nod.
Once upon a time in the West –> –> Sholay –> A better tomorrow part 1 & 2
Once upon a time in America –> A better tomorrow part 1 & 2
Deer Hunter –> Bullet in the head (can’t call them as masala movies though). These two movies are challenging watch
Notorious –> Mission Impossible 2
The Killer –> I never saw other versions
I have to call out the following one since I feel Singitham is not getting his fair due ;-)) If only he had the budget and the casting.
Chinna Vathiyar –> Face/Off.
John Woo made me like Van Damme in Hard Target!!
I guess it is John Woo who made the Mexican stand-off so famous. Is he the first one or he took it from an earlier movie?
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An Jo
October 15, 2019
This is highly recommended: John Woo back in form with not just with pop-corn but spicy nacho-mix as well on NETFLIX…
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Ravi K
October 15, 2019
Rad Mahalikudi wrote: “I guess it is John Woo who made the Mexican stand-off so famous. Is he the first one or he took it from an earlier movie?”
Sergio Leone made it famous in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
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rmahalik
October 16, 2019
@Ravi K: yes, GBU didn’t come to my mind. It was a 3 way standoff too. Trigger for close-up standoff. Thanks, now we can make one more masala connection 😀
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Ravi K
October 22, 2019
Of the Woo films I’ve seen, “Bullet in the Head” could be ported over to India the most easily. I could see it as a Vetrimaaran-Dhanush epic about friendship with the backdrop of poverty, crime, and war.
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