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.

Is John Woo slipping into senility? You might be forgiven for thinking so based on the first half of MANHUNT, his new Hong Kong thriller set and filmed in Japan. The story is a familiar one, about a lawyer working for a corrupt pharmaceutical company who finds himself framed for murder and hunted by a dedicated cop. The first half of this picture suffers from some very bad and vapid direction by Woo, who accompanies potentially exciting moments with cheesy saxophone music and really fumbles the ball. The film has a bright, vibrant, CGI, fake feel to it which makes it hard to take seriously, although the cast members strive to invest you in their roles. At least the pace is fast to take your mind off the problems. At times this feels like a 'greatest hits' album, full of references to Woo's past: TONS of white doves, motorbike gangs, shoot-outs, Mexican stand-offs, endless pursuit, saxophone music, chases by car and on water. The good news is that things get good with an excellent motorbike attack on a rural farmhouse, which is the highlight here, and stay relatively entertaining to the climax.

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