John Woo’s Stranglehold is a Prequel, not Sequel

Who wasn’t jazzed about the idea of John Woo and Chow Yun Fat going back to their Hong Kong roots, two-fisted gunplay in tow with “Stranglehold”, a sequel to their last Hong Kong film together, “Hard Boiled”? The movie was supposed to be based on the game “Stranglehold”, which was a sequel to “Hard Boiled”. Except according to those who would know, the movie will actually be a prequel of sorts, and not a sequel.

Twitchfilm got the news from Terrence Chang himself, John Woo’s long-time partner in crime, who has produced all of Woo’s movies and is in charge of his production company (so what I’m saying is, the guy would know):

We are now developing a movie of STRANGLEHOLD, and just signed the writers Fabrizio & Passmore. It will be a hardcore action film set in both Hong Kong and Chicago. We will keep some of the action set pieces of the game, but the story is different. It is a total reinvention, with a much younger Tequila. In other words, it is not a sequel to HARD-BOILED.

So there you have it. “Stranglehold” will be a prequel to “Hard Boiled”, and feature the same character, but a younger version. Which means no Chow Yun Fat in the role. Oh well. There’s always Chow Yun Fat in, er, “Dragonball”.

Below: “So I says to this guy, I says — What? Ah, man, he’s behind me, isn’t he?”