Famed Hong Kong director John Woo has been awarded the "Samurai Award" on Monday at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Woo, known by Western audiences for his string of action films including "Face/Off" and "Mission Impossible II," was presented the award for his "continuous achievements in creating groundbreaking films," according to Yahoo! News.
"John Woo's contribution in creating cutting-edge films has inspired many people in and outside of Hong Kong," said Sally Wong, an economic and trade representative of Hong Kong in Tokyo.
Woo said he was "very surprised" to be offered the honor.
"I never through I would receive this award, even though I have made a lot of films but it hardly qualifies as making a special contribution. I'm just a hard-working filmmaker. I'm very thankful to receive this award and also very surprised," John said in an interview with the Chinese news portal CRI News.
Aside from Woo, "The Twilight Samurai" director Yoji Yamada was also named as recipient of the award for this year.
Woo's career began in Hong Kong in the 1960s with a series of comedy and martial arts films, but it was not until the mid-'80s that he started to gain critical acclaim through the box-office hit "A Better Tomorrow." His signature style of dynamic action sequences and slow motion gun fights have captivated audiences across the globe and helped define the golden era of Hong Kong cinema in the '90s.
Looking back, Woo said there have been so many important moments and films that defined his career.
"My films like 'A Better Tomorrow,' 'The Killer,' 'Hard Boiled' and 'Bullet in the Head' . . . These films not only make records, they also popularized films in that genre," he said, noting that these films also took him to the international stage.
"I was invited to head to Hollywood to make movies. That's the first twenty years of my career," Woo added.