MANHUNT (2018) ** ½

John Woo returns to his action roots with the occasionally exhilarating, but mostly uneven Manhunt.  Some Woo fans will bemoan the fact that it’s more of a thriller than his action fests of the past.  (It definitely hews closer to The Fugitive than The Killer.)  Still, there are enough shootouts, chase scenes (one involving a jet ski), slow motion, freeze frames, and random shots of doves flying about to keep his die-hard fans satisfied.

Du Qiu (Hanyu Zhang) is a lawyer for a big-time pharmaceutical company.  When he is framed for murder, he is forced to go on the run.  Yamura (Masaharu Fukuyama) is the hot shot detective who believes he’s innocent, but is still obliged to bring him in.  Things get complicated when a pair of lady assassins (Stephy Qi and Ji-won Ha) join the fray. 

The opening is a lot of fun and involves a wonderful bit of misdirection that leads up to an impressive shootout.  I also liked the fact that being a cinephile is enough to not only bond two complete strangers but also prevent them from killing one another later in the film.  However, after the exciting set-up, the bright spots become fewer and fewer.

Most of this is overly familiar, but Woo is able to make it work most of the time.  His penchant for macho tough guy bromances helps propel the movie along even though the plot is spinning its wheels.  It’s only in the third act when it completely goes off the rails when it takes a detour into sci-fi territory.  Even though none of this comes close to matching the films from his heyday, Manhunt remains a solid exercise in action filmmaking from one of the old masters.