John Woo SBS (
Ng Yu-Sum; born 1 May 1946) is a
Hong Kong film director, writer, and producer. He is considered a major influence on the action genre, known for his highly chaotic action sequences,
Mexican standoffs, and frequent use of
slow motion. Woo has directed several notable
Hong Kong action films, among them,
A Better Tomorrow (1986),
The Killer (1989),
Hard Boiled (1992), and
Red Cliff (2008/2009). His
Hollywood films include the action films
Hard Target (1993) and
Broken Arrow (1996), the sci-fi action thriller
Face/Off (1997) and the action spy film (2000). He also created the comic series
Seven Brothers, published by
Virgin Comics. Woo cites his three favorite films as
David Lean's
Lawrence of Arabia,
Akira Kurosawa's
Seven Samurai and
Jean-Pierre Melville's
Le Samouraï.