Johnnie To, Assignment Due 9/16

1. Write a brief response to A Hero Never Dies.

I liked this film more than I liked the Mission, it felt like it had more depth of character and plot, where I identified with the characters more and got more involved within the plot. I enjoyed most seeing what happens to the heroes after the climactic blazing gun battle, which took place much earlier than in most action films, perhaps to show the aftermath. Showing what happens to these badasses once they are emasculated physically and mentally evokes a very visceral and sympathetic feeling for the viewer, one that has them rooting for Jack and Martin to get their vengeance while also feeling bad for them, especially Martin. This duality of emotions is not characteristic of action genre films, but A Hero Never Dies is a welcome anomaly that forces the viewer to think deeper than gun fights, car chases and professional killing machines.

Stephen Teo, Director in Action
Chapter 1: Introduction

2. What are some of the broad characteristics of the jianghu? What genres are associated with this concept?
It refers to a world in which gangsters, hired killers, police detectives, etc. operate according to a fixed group of codes and rituals, and the action is based on these codes and rituals. Genres associated with jianghu are action, western, gangster movies, etc.

3. What are some of the key elements of the so-called “infrastructure of violence” associated with both traditional Westerns as well as “urban Westerns”?

In urban Westerns, the infrastructure includes modern technology such as cars, lifts, elevators, cell phones, the internet, TV, and of course, guns. In the traditional Western, guns are equally as important. As is said in the book, the two most successful American movies, the gangster and the Western, all incorporate men with guns. To incorporates both within his movies.

5. What are some of the key characteristics of “Kowloon Noir” and what is meant by the term “Destiny-machine.”?
It is another way to describe the "dark side of masculine values, it is To's paradoxical take on fate in the action film, where the men bond in a fatalistic fashion and the women stick out like sore thumbs." A destiny machine refers to larger, impersonal and often sinister systems bearing down on the characters.

Chapter 4: Directed by Johnnie To

7. In the discussion of A Hero Never Dies, what is the distinction between “mechanical fatalism” and “heroic fatalism”?

Mechanical fatalism is described as a mechanical wheel of fate, worked out in a series of events flowing one from the other, that eventually catches up with the hero no matter what he does, an unstoppable fate machine if you will. Heroic fatalism in the is determined by the human actions, such as treachery and betrayal, loyalty and faithfulness, and so on.

8. In The Mission, what are some of the strategies and techniques To uses to make the gunplay “as aesthetically abstract as possible”?

By incorporating Kurosawa's methods of "Movement within stillness," which he achieves naturally through music, sound effects and montage. He also cuts off the outside world once action begins, enclosing the protagonists in an inner world in which no one from the outside can enter.