John Woo was once known as the master of action cinema. His knack for beautifully crafted and stylized violence made him an international sensation with hits like The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled before making the leap to Hollywood with Hard Target. His impact on the genre is undeniable, but following the critically panned, Ben Affleck-starring Paycheck the filmmaker went back to his Hong Kong roots and left the world of Hollywood behind him for two decades.

He returned to American audiences last year with the dialogue-free, Christmas-themed Silent Night — a film that I personally loved but that faced a rocky reception from most — and again in 2024 with The Killer, a remake of his ’89 classic. It’s always an interesting choice when a filmmaker remakes one of their own movies. Yasujiro Ozu remade his film A Story of Floating Weeds, and the second attempt is arguably the superior film; however,...