Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo

By Christopher Heard

This book opens on the early life of the now legendary director in the violent slums of Hong-Kong. It follows him to his first jobs in cinema -- apprenticeships with Hong Kong-based Cathay Studios and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158065021X
• ISBN13: 9781580650212
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Lone Eagle Publishing Company
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A quality book

For weeks I have heard about this book from friends, publications, as well as the internet. Being a John Woo fan, I planned to purchase the title from the first time I heard it was coming out. So when I recently saw it sitting on a shelf of a book store, I immediately purchased it. It was read and completed within a few hours. Not because the book is very short, but because it was so interesting to read for me. For John Woo fans, this is a book that definately should be looked into. From the monent I started chapter one I did not want to put the book down. To see how my favorite director came to be the man he is was very interesting, and though I had already known much of the information contained in the book from previous visits to the internet, I did not mind reading about them again. I, like the author of the book, started my admiration of John Woo after first viewing a Better Tomorrow movie (the first film, in my case). I was browsing a store, looking for an action film to watch for the evening when I saw the Better Tomorrow DVD, sitting there, with Chow Yun Fat smiling on the cover. I bought it, went home, and watched it. Within that week I had the Better Tommorrow trilogy all on DVD, as well as a half dozen other films by John Woo and/or Tsui Hark. That is how I became a fan. So when I started this John Woo book, and learned that the author became a fan in a similiar fashion, I think it made the book a little more enjoyable to read and relate to. For those who are more of the "casual fan" or John Woo, who have simply viewed a few of his movies and don't know much about him, this is a good book to begin learning. The writing is clear, easy to read, and really seems to be written by a real big John Woo fan. Though I would have appreciated some pictures and the asian names included in the filmography section, this book is good enough such that you won't care about those details as you read through the chapters discussing the times of one of the greatest action directors ever.

A great set-up for Mission: Impossible-2

This is a great book to read to set you up for watching the new Mission: Impossible sequel. The book gives context and a sense of film history in better understanding the life of John Woo and how he has developed his film directing career. I cannot think of another film director from outside of the United States that has achieved the kind of commercial success in terms of box office that Woo has accomplished.