Manhunt (2017) User Reviews

Disappointing return to form from John Woo

[Wizard-8 · 4/10 · 19 December 2018]

When I learned that legendary action director John Woo was out with a new film that promised to be in the same style as classics like "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled", I was pretty pumped. But my feelings at the end of my viewing of the movie were much less subdued. To be fair, not all of the downfall of the movie can be put on Woo's shoulders. When characters in speak in English, they seem to be badly dubbed with awkward sounding dialogue that doesn't sound natural at all. Even worse is the script. The story has more than its share of incoherent plot turns, and many linking scenes seem to be missing (though Woo might be to blame for that last one.) Also, there are some plot turns and developments that are... well... just pretty stupid. If the characters had been a lot smarter, the conflict would have ended a lot quicker.

As for Woo's contributions to the movie, he doesn't manage to be able to do much. To be fair, he keeps the movie moving at a pretty fast pace, enough that you might not notice some of the poor scripting. But when it comes to action sequences, the action is just not up to the action in his past efforts. The farmhouse shoot-out and the climatic action sequence have their moments, but even those two moments don't really hold a candle to what Woo did in the past. The other action sequences, while not really bad, seem pretty routine for the most part.

In the end, the movie is kind of a disappointment. Those who are really into Asian action movies may get some enjoyment out of it, but I think even they will see its many weaknesses, and see why it was released directly to Netflix.

Not a return to Woo's glory days

[neilcjenkins · 5/10 · 2 April 2020]

5/10 You probably know Director John Woo from the Cage/Travolta crazy classic Face/Off.

But I know him from his trilogy of awesome Hong Kong movies The Killer, Hardboiled and Bullet To The Head.

I was hoping that this was a return to form. Sadly it's not. Weak action, bizarre story all over the place and dreadful editing.

A lukewarm and predictable manhunt at best...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 7 June 2018]

This Japanese and Chinese collaboration of a John Woo directed movie turned out to be one of the least interesting of John Woo's career. And here I am only thinking about his work in Asian cinema.

The story portrayed in this movie was straightforward, but it was so straightforward that it offered no surprises, no twists, no nothing. So you just basically sit back in the seat and strap yourself in for the ride. Except you need not worry about the straps, because the ride here was plain and downright boring.

The action sequences were adequate, although hardly outstanding in comparison to many other Asian movies.

It was gutwretching to listen to the dialogue performed in English, because it was abysmally poorly delivered.

This movie came and went without leaving any lasting impression. Heck, it hardly even left a dent.

I love Asian movies, but this movie is not one that I ever plan to return to watch a second time.

A deliriously stupid return to the action-crime thriller genre for John Woo

[nick_white_5 · 3/10 · 14 September 2017]

There was fair reason to be excited for "Manhunt". It was John Woo's return to the modern crime action film, his signature style, after more than a decade away from it. On top of that, it was his first film of this style made in Asia since 1992's "Hard Boiled," in many ways the apex of his powers. However, while "Manhunt" checks a lot of boxes on what one would want from a classic John Woo shoot 'em up; a story of a cop and criminal and their relationship with one another, slow motion gunfights, doves, et cetera, in can't help but feel like its only artificially copying the key tropes of Woo's classic films without having the soul embodying it that made his other films action classics.

While no one goes into a Woo film expecting a smart, nuanced story, it is fair to expect that its stupidity is at least kept in check. In his best films, "The Killer," "A Better Tomorrow," and, "Hard Boiled," he briefly indulges in moments of excess and melodrama that are reined in by well written characters and stories that deal with universal themes, such as the conflict between faith and the needs of reality, or the issues with loving one's family in spite of their sometimes heinous actions. Then there are Woo films that use melodrama and stupidity to their advantage, such as, "Face/Off," that are aware of their own ridiculousness and ham it up for maximum effect, aware that it is all they are good for. But "Manhunt" occupies an awkward place that fits successfully into neither area. It's a film with no brain on its shoulders that still seems to take itself too seriously. It's a deadly combination that bring down the film more than anything, although there are still some elements of classic Woo that make it in.

One farmhouse gunfight sequence in the middle of the film is as close as anything Woo has done since "Hard Boiled" to capturing his classic style, with expertly choreographed fighting, excellent use of editing and slow-motion, and inventive use of the space and setting briefly create a classic John Woo bullet-ballet of yore. However, the rest of the action in the film doesn't hold up quite as well. The film's opening scene sets expectations high with its slick, tight camera movement, but unfortunately the rest of the film is plagued with overly tight, shaky camera work that makes the action hard to appreciate. It's a shame, since it was Woo's slick, clean quality to his action that always made him stand above other directors making similar work.

The film also isn't helped by Woo's apparent sudden obsession with digital filmmaking technology. There is nary a shot nor cut in the film that isn't altered by some effect, whether simple cuts are created into crossfades for seemingly no reason, shots are sped up and slowed down at random, creating a jagged, jittery mess, and different coloured filters and visual distortions warping our perception. It appears as if Woo went through every single setting in After Effects just to try everything out, and it is almost never necessary for telling the story efficiently, and often works against it. The story itself is a predictable conspiracy thriller about a pharmaceutical corporation using its products for brainwashing purposes crossed with a classic mistaken identity thriller, but the film's constant need to cut away to other scenes and flashbacks and awkwardly transition in and out of scenes with no sense of pacing or rhythm means that the plot becomes overly complicated when it really never needs to be.

Hanyu Zhang and Stephy Qi both hold their own with fairly naturalistic performances that compliment the more gritty aspects of the story, but Masaharu Fukuyama plays Detective Yamura like a cartoon character, leading for an awkward tension between the scenes he shares with Zhang where their styles never quite match up. It doesn't help either that the film floats between being spoken in Cantonese, Japanese, and English, with none of the actors seeming to have a firm grasp of all of them, leading to some poorly fitting and unconvincing ADR all throughout the film that looks like a bad Kung-Fu dub, except they are being dubbed with the same language they are speaking.

All in all, "Manhunt" really just highlights the sad reality that maybe John Woo doesn't have that special ability that he used to have that made his classic films the classics they are. My only hope is from this experience he can realize that and start focusing on trying to make something new and challenging him that will better suit where he is at now in his career instead of trying and failing to recapture his glory days.

Watch it for good action scenes

[aligalaxy · 6/10 · 4 May 2021]

If you are watching it for good story and acting, you will be disappointed. But the action scenes are good and keep you entertained. Also, the movie was shoot in Japan and it looked beautiful. Decent movie and watchable. 6 stars from me.

Even the pigeons were bored

[mauricioperilla · 3/10 · 10 May 2018]

I'm not a 100% sure John Woo fully directed this mess. Everyone was hoping for a return of the action master, instead we get a slow, boring and ridiculous movie that is all over the place. It takes plots lines from The Fugitive, Hard Target, and Max Payne! He'd been planing a wave runner chase since Hard Target, we finally get it, and it's a dud. Looks like a movie that was filmed for the Hallmark channel.

A plotless action piece

[bettycjung · 29 May 2018]

5/27/18. Plenty of action, but I have read that this movie had to be re-cut for the China audience. If you enjoy lots of action that could be somewhat plotless at times, then this one's for you.

Excellent cinematography, good choreography, OK story, amateur acting, disappointing directing and cheesy screenplay

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 17 February 2018]

What stood out for me in this film was the excellent cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka, and the main reason I scored this film as high as I did.

Next plus was the good choreography for the action scenes, especially the last 20 mins of the film.

The story itself (although we've seen it before) wasn't bad, but wasn't written well into a screenplay. Although the pace wasn't slow, the 106 min length felt longer with the long dragged out scenes and cheesy prolonged slow-mo parts. This film needed to be edited down to a max 80 mins.

Most of the subtitles didn't make any sense, but I'm guessing some 3rd party translator messed those up, so I wont consider that in my rating, but it did make the sub-par acting from most of the cast look very amateurish, as I didn't get to fully immerse myself in each character.

Then there's John Woo's directing, which at times felt like it was his early amateur work, and at other times felt like some grade 8 drama student put it together. He failed to direct his actors properly, as some performed certain scenes so badly, the director should have called a re-shoot. Clearly not his best work in the directing, writing and editing departments.

Throughout the entire film, I had already decided to give this film a 4 or 5/10, but the last 20 mins of fast paced action, plot twists and good choreography redeemed the score to a slightly better 6/10. Had the writing been tighter with less 'cheese', it could have been a 7 or 8/10

Disappointing

[BunniiButt · 4/10 · 5 May 2018]

I don't know why they decided having people who are obviously not English speakers speaking English. Also the movie is set in Japan with Chinese characters there was no need for anyone to speak English. They should have been speaking Japanese or Mandarin.

Underrated John woo film

[josiahferret · 7/10 · 6 September 2019]

I found this to be a very well paced and exciting film with some great chase sequences and of course John woo's signature gunplay. Well not a very original plot (guy gets accused and flees the law and in the process also finds the true perpetrator *cough "The Fugitive"), but unlike most ripoffs of the Fugitive the action surrounding the plot of this movie is still very impressive. Another gripe I do have with this film is that they have a lot of English lines for Chinese actors who clearly don't speak English at least not very well. This makes a lot of the lines feel really clunky and unnatural. Overall very entertaining, and while not perfect I think it's technical merits do warrant a slightly higher score than most people are giving it

Not to see

[Wordwhisperer · 1/10 · 4 April 2021]

Dissapointing acting, bad script. A waste of time.

Directed by John Woo - this is everything you need to know

[emodit · 8/10 · 16 June 2019]

John Woo is an action director with a trademark style of going over the top with literally everything. If someone is kicked in the guts he will fly backwards at least 10 meters falling through a window or wall but he will still shoot 2 people and punch a third one while in mid-air, pigeons fly everywhere and everything blows up. It has nothing to do with the latest western trend of being sick and twisted though, the gore is stylized but not stomach turning, there are no perverted sexual scenes and not everyone are insane sadistic psychopaths whose only joy in life is torture and rape.

In short, Woo's style is the classic 90's action movie turned up to eleven. If you like that you will enjoy this movie, if not then don't waste your time.

Old school John Woo? Not quite! But enough for me to have enjoyed it fully!

[chrichtonsworld · 7/10 · 20 February 2018]

When I received the news that John Woo was going to direct a modern action thriller I must admit I did get excited a little. But I composed myself since it's been a while and there was a slight possibility he has outgrown the genre. However after just having watched Manhunt I can safely say that John Woo still hasn't lost his touch.

But before you jump with joy Manhunt is nowhere near any of his older titles. Perhaps on par with his American ones although one could argue that it's slightly better than those since for one thing it doesn't take itself too seriously. In fact it almost seems like John Woo is mocking or parodying himself. For almost an hour Manhunt plays out like a comedy. Zhang Hanyu as Du Qiu and Masaharu Fukuyama as Yamura play each other's adversaries who become friends. Their interactions are downright hilarious since none of these characters behave like they normally do in action thrillers not even in John Woo's own films. Manhunt also presents us with a mystery that barely is one and certainly lacks the gravity you would expect in a serious film. Woo skips very crucial scenes leading to the actual manhunt which made the film seem amateurish and clumsy. Then I realized that he did it on purpose. And I must admit that definitely was an element that made Manhunt a lot of fun. I mean the story itself was hardly compelling or surprising.

In the second hour though things get a little more serious and you get served some real good action in two big action sequences. For the first time ever in a John Woo film two female assassins are featured who play an important role in these action sequences. One of these assassins is named Dawn who is played by Angeles Woo, yes, the daughter of John Woo. I have never seen her before but she clearly was having fun and Woo has made sure she shines. In the final part though things do tend to go completely over the top. Up until this moment the film had been fairly realistic and plausible. Then a science fiction element slips in and things get too crazy for words. In a fun and exciting way. But still I can imagine that especially the people hoping to see a serious action thriller might feel duped.

I was bracing myself for the worst but overall I can't complain. Even when John Woo probably was mocking himself he has shown he can make good action films. Question is does he still have the desire to make them? For my sake I really hope so. He should make at least one more with Chow Yun-Fat. In any case I fully enjoyed this one and I can recommend it if you are a John Woo fan.

Normal action flick

[kumar_delish · 5/10 · 2 April 2018]

Just a action movie. pin up the murder to a innocent man then cops chasing and helping him find out he is innocent long gun fights,chasing scenes,female assassin, unworthy pharma company, same old story

PUT THE GUNS DOWN ALREADY...!

[masonfisk · 1/10 · 30 July 2018]

John Woo's return to urban action is not a good one. Joining the pantheon inhabited by Terence Malick, Woo has officially devolved into parody. Two fisted gunfights, check, pigeons flying around in slo-mo for no reason, check & extreme emotions bordering on Kabuki masks, check again. There were at least 5 different story lines going on & the shame of it is Woo would never make something so bad in his heyday. I wouldn't count him out but a restructuring may be in order.

So funny, we couldn't stop watching !

[maguiebolle · 11 December 2022]

This movie is very well filmed, the light is beautiful and characters are very well put in it. Action scenes are John style and very well filmed .. The greatest surprise what the funny dialogues.. I couldn't stop laughing all along the movie! It is so obvious, so predictable that It became hilarious 😂. Watch it with this funny angle and you won't be disappointed! The main character, the cop, won't give a smile during the 1h45 except at the very last and final scene when it pause on his face with a ... .. smile 😁.. so predictable, so funny, so cheesy. This movie is available on Amazon prime go watch it.

hilarious English voices

[stroomking · 6/10 · 19 May 2018]

Just watch it for the hilarious English voices! In the movie the main characters are constantly switching from Japanese and Chinese. But.. when they don't understand each other they start taking in English and that is so badly done that is super funny.

OK for Movie Night when there is nothing else on Netflix...

[moorek · 2/10 · 11 May 2018]

It is a fun movie to watch although you'll fast forward through some spots. But don't expect any logic, proper timing, common sense or plot. Best Part: Any scene with Angeles Woo in it. She might not be the best person for her role but you'll like this unexpected female assassin. Of all the characters, she is the only one that I think I would watch a movie just because she was in it.

PLOT. On the surface a lawyer is framed for a murder. But there are loosely connected subplots of two female assassins (which actually is one of the better parts of the movie) with ties to the company; a weak son about to become President of the company; a woman seeking resolution of her fiancée's death from three years before; a bad cop, who's not very good, paired with a good cop who is amazingly good and a semi-Sherlock Holmes/Jackie Chan blend (although we almost never see bad/good cops together); the creation of an illegal super soldier type drug. A good movie could piece some of these together. This movie doesn't.

IRRATIONAL. As the good cop very early shows, the lawyer is not the right suspect. No Motive. No murder weapon (tie). Not left handed. Why kill in his own apartment and call the cops? Yet even after very public attempts to kill him, leaving others dead, he's still treated as a suspect by most.

He's a lawyer and they try to put him in that role. When given a gun, he says he can't shot someone so is told to shot them in the leg. Yet this guy can outfight a trained police officer, drives like a professional driver and once given that gun, starts killing people with his first shot.

When the drug company, who has been trying to kill the lawyer throughout the movie, finally catch him then what do they do? Even with dozens of human guinea pigs in cells, they decide to experiment on him and give him the super soldier drug which makes him super strong and irrational. Not only that but the guy who did the original actual murder, who more than anyone should have this person dead, is the one who gives him the injection. This fits perfectly with the Austin Powers move quote:

Dr. Evil: Begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism. Dr. Evil: Close the tank! Scott Evil: Wait, aren't you even going to watch them? They could get away! Dr. Evil: No no no, I'm going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, I'm just gonna assume it all went to plan. What?

During the gunfight at the house, some stray shots help open a hidden compartment with evidence and a letter from the long dead fiancée explaining why he did what he did. You'd think he'd have explained this to her after his suicide. But no - he hides it in a spot that might never have been uncovered if it were not for the gunfight.

Important to the plot is a photo of the chemical formula on his hand. Would it not have been more simple to write the formula down instead of taking a B&W picture of your hand and then printing that off.

When the good cop comes into the drug company and implies he has the formula the company has been searching for for three years - they do the logical thing. But him into a fight with the drugged up super soldier lawyer.

And what formula is so complicated that it can be written in one line on the palm of your hand yet a large lab with dozens of researchers can't figure it out for more than three years?

PIECES MISSING. I like it when a movie purposely leaves you wondering of something. In this case you can't help but feel the pieces are missing due to poor writing, editing or direction. No resolution to who the cleaning lady is that the lawyer had never seen before. How does good cop know about bad cop's addiction? How do they know what the chemical composition of his drugs are? Yet it isn't reported. Common on bad TV but the speed of processing evidence is amazing with fingerprints and blood analysis done the next day. Was the horse shot? (That's just me wanting to know.) Why did the cop keep a vial of the drug and then say "we'll be busy"? How does the murdered woman know the access to the apartment? What did woman with dead fiancée and lawyer talk about until 1 am? Why did the female assistant have the badge for the good cop at the end - how did his superior know what was going on?

COINCIDENCES. If you like deus ex machina in your movies, and most don't, then this is the movie for you. The female assassin who is hired to kill the lawyer is the same one he met in a bar at the start of the movie (another interesting part of the movie). That assassin has strong connections to the drug company the lawyer works for. A woman seeking him out after blaming him for the death of her fiancée three years ago - instead falls in love with him, has lots of property and staff, has hunting weapons, is good with fighting etc. She agrees to meet with him the next day so they pick... a subway station which fortunately is great as it allows him to get away from those immediately chasing him. He seeks shelter in a homeless community and happens to pick the one the drug company uses for human guinea pigs.

Often when you watch an action movie that is a confusing mess, and there are many of them, the action distracts you from this until the movie is finished. Sadly in this movie - that doesn't happen. Every time there is another disconnected piece (injected drug, cop popping pills, good cop still in remorse over his girlfriend/wife's death, amazing rural property with horses, parade with the President of the drug company) you are jolted from the flow and wonder what is going on? A good movie would have connected this all - this didn't.

Entertaining but not a true John Woo movies

[phanthinga · 6/10 · 1 March 2018]

Manhunt directed by John Woo one of the few people that know to make an epic action movie is a huge let down in every aspect cause it a terrible movie with a nonsense storyline,cringe worthy acting from talented actors that try too hard to speak English but for some reason despite all the awfulness from the movie it still a lot of fun if you view it at something John Woo would made back in his Hollywood day.I'm still a fan of him but I really think he need to be more careful in the future cause there will be no one pat him on the back next time

Ultimate garbage

[skywalker_2003 · 1/10 · 26 January 2020]

If you loved John Woo for his past movies, please avoid watching that garbage.this is not an action movie,this is a tragic parody from a guy who made Hard boiled and Hard target once upon a time. bad story, very bad action and finally everything about that movies is wrong badly. i can not imagine how he did that foolish stuff..i hope he was kidding with people when he was making manhunt.

Woo's not first, hopefully also not last

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 14 July 2018]

No I do understand if some people are underwhelmed to say the least. Especially fans of Woo's earlier work. Character development does not seem up there and also the acting in English is not really working in its favor. But you do have all the things Woo you may wish for. The action is up there, so while I might have wished for more coherence and more character at times or all over the movie, at least that part is really good.

We also get the Pigeons (a nod to the fans) and also a guy saying "For a better tomorrow" - yes also a title of a John Woo movie. So if you don't feel pandered (and I don't think that was the intention, more like playing all the hits and pleasing the fans), you will have fun here. Don't dismiss it because of the classics you may remember fondly (and rightfully so). Watch this for what it is - light entertainment

Disjointed

[jppanp · 2/10 · 23 July 2019]

The story and characters were jarringly disjointed in this film, so much so it felt like I was watching a high school film production written and acted by several disparate students. Some good acting does little to rescue the abominable acting found scattered throughout.

Love Woo

[edwardcaffronklein · 8/10 · 5 June 2018]

Stylized action from a master. Mindless fun. It's not great art, just great fun.

Woo Fix

[michaelawix · 7/10 · 23 December 2018]

If you're a fan, you'll like it. Most of the acting really sucked, and I wish the visual feel remained the same through the movie. It seemed liked they ran out of money towards the end of the second act and you could literally see the movie transform into a cheap TV show standard production. Apart from that, 7-stars because it's John Woo action start to finish and you can't beat that!

Without beautiful ladies I will give it one star🤣

[kaungchithein · 4/10 · 7 May 2020]

The only thing good about this movie is seeing three beautiful actresses. The cinematography is not bad