Different decades, different genres and different nationalities but the same a-ha moment. This is what binds James Cameron and John Woo together as directors. James Cameron, known for his phenomenal special effects work on films such as Titanic and Avatar, solidified himself as a director with The Terminator. John Woo, of Mission:Impossible II and Face/Off fame, directed his last film in his native Hong Kong, Hard Boiled before moving to Hollywood. Cameron, known as the “special effects guy” was hurting after directing the disastrous box-office bomb, Piranha II:The Spawning and was looking to make his name in Hollywood. Woo, a relatively successful director in Hong Kong, emigrated to the US in 1993, a year after Hard Boiled was released. Woo struggled in the US and felt restricted by his contract with Universal Studios as he wasn’t able to add his signature stylized imagery and highly chaotic action sequences.

The Terminator is a science-fiction film with Arnold Schwazenneger in the lead role. He plays a cyborg that has been sent back to 1984 from the future. He is a machine that exhibits human tissue and hair. His mission is to kill Sarah Connor. There is an apocalypse in the future against the machines and a freedom fighter, John Connor is leading the revolution. Sarah Connor is his mother of John and The Terminator is sent to destroy her in order to prevent John ever being conceived therefore having no opportunity to lead the revolution. Kyle Reese, a former soldier and freedom fighter is also sent back to protect Sarah and kill The Terminator. Cue several action fight scenes whereby the Terminator survives several shootings, two explosions and ultimately is crushed to death. In the onslaught, Kyle throws down his life in order to save Sarah Connor who goes on to give birth to her son, John.

In contrast, Hard Boiled is a police thriller/action film where Chow Yun-Fat plays police officer “Tequila”. In a dramatic opening scene, his partner is killed during extreme gunfire at a Chinese Teahouse. Tequila discovers it was the work of gang syndicate, Triad. He shoots dead the gangster who ambushed them and is subsequently removed from the case by his Superintendent. Tequila then takes matters into his own hands and uncovers a sinister mobster called Maddog, an undercover agent named Allan, who runs with the Triad gang and a secret weapons stash hidden within the depths of a hospital morgue. Tequila teams up with Allan and several bloody action scenes later (including a maternity ward evacuation), Maddog’s weapons syndicate is uncovered and the entire hospital is blown up. Allan is captured by Maddog and held at gunpoint where they face off with Tequila and an army of police outside the flaming remains of the hospital. Maddog humiliates Tequila which gives Allan incentive to use the pistol to shoot himself giving Tequila time to shoot dead Maddog.

The movies were made almost a decade apart. The Terminator, being the earlier movie was released in 1984, at a time where the sci-fi genre was exploding, particularly films depicting time travel and cyborgs such as Back To The Future and Robocop. Schwarzenegger portrays a cyborg which is half man, half machine. He received criticism for his wooden acting and thick Austrian accent. Considering Arnie is playing a cyborg that is devoid of emotion of feeling and has limited dialogue, I think he portrayed this perfectly. It is believed Scwarzenegger was paid $75,000 for his role and had approximately 700 words of dialogue, which means he was paid $107 per word! Hard Boiled seemed to adopt the phrase, “actions speak louder than words”. There seemed to be a heavy reliance on facial expressions, limited dialogue and lots of blood shed and gun action. 

The Terminator was released the same year Ronald Reagan was re-elected as President. An article in the LA Times compared the film to the President. Reagan campaigned to lower taxes, reduce the size of the government and beat the bad guys. He was a wholesome guy who had morals and core beliefs, very similar to the character of Kyle Reese. In contrast, Hard Boiled was released a decade later where the economy was in a financial downturn and a recession was in full force. This could explain why the film’s budget was only $4.1 million and took a meagre $19.8 million in Hong Kong. Despite the lack of success at the box office, Hard Boiled was critically acclaimed and received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94%. Top critic, Jonathan Rosenblum, described the film as “choreographically stunning like most of Woo’s work, before he headed west.” The combination of martial arts, gun-fire and survival showcases Woo’s talents as a director. He directed supercharged, adrenaline induced action scenes, the hospital shootout scene is often referred to as one of the greatest. Woo uses a combination of slow-motion, explosions galore and plenty of gun play to direct one of the most ambitious action sequences of all time. 

Both films are billed as being some of the greatest in their genre of all time. While The Terminator launched the career of James Cameron and solidified that of Arnold Schwarzennegger, the box office hit has spawned multiple sequels and even a TV series since its release 35 years ago. Arnie is still featured in most of the films but has since turned good guy cyborg and teamed up with Sarah Connor to continue their fight against the machines. Terminator films are still being released as recently as this week. The winning formula of cyborg comes back from the future, tries to kill people, girl toughens up and saves the day has clearly withstood the test of time. Hard Boiled was not as commercially successful but earns its place in the top action films of all time thanks to Woo’s incredible expertise, directorial flare and elaborate action scenes that blend gunplay with martial arts. This has been described as “gun-fu”. Woo went on to direct several successful films and is an award-winning and talented expert in his field.  Despite critics claiming The Terminator plot was silly and Arnie’s acting described as wooden; Hard Boiled was a box office failure but  choreographed some of the greatest action scenes the film industry has seen. Everyone should watch a James Cameron and John Woo movie!