John Woo is a respected director of Hong Kong action movies, who has now turned to Hollywood mainstream. His debut US movie, 'Hard Target', failed to maintain all of his usual style.<br /><br />This is Woo's second US movie, and is an improvement on 'Hard Target'. For a start, there's all of Woo's trademark action - slow-motion gunplay, double-gun action, dazzling stunts and massive explosions. There's also the underlying meanings of piece hidden under the rising bodycount.<br /><br />There's also some talent on show. Playing the enigmatic and truly psychotic bad guy is rising A-list star John Travolta, and he steals the film from co-star Christian Slater. <br /><br />However, the improvement in the acting department only masks the unoriginal plot (stolen nuclear warhead... You can probably guess the rest) and the lack of character development. Travolta's character is probably the only one with any emotion.<br /><br />All in all, Woo is getting the hang of his Hollywood ventures, and his action has and always will be maintained to a high level. All that needs to be sorted out are the characters.