Hard-Boiled: Golden Princess Films/ Milestone Pictures Rating: USA: R/ UK: 18/ Germany: 18/ Australia: R
Give a guy a gun and he’s superman—give him two and he’s god—Philip Chan, Hard-Boiled
If you’ve never seen a Hong Kong action film before, then allow me to tell you that you’re missing out. While few countries can compete with Hollywood in terms of opulent filmmaking, the guys working in Hong Kong are a notable exception who’ve taken the cops and robbers subgenre and elevated it to an artform—thoroughly outdoing American filmmakers in the process. And while the Hong Kong scene has produced its fair share of legendary directors (including Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam) none are more famous than John Woo (The Killer, Bullet in the Head, A Better Tomorrow).
Woo would emigrate to the USA in the early 90s, but not before giving Hong Kong a poignant, powerful farewell in the form of his 1992 film Hard-Boiled—a film that stands as one of the greatest action movies ever made.
The advent of the "death for honor" cops and robbers films ("hero" films in Hong Kong) can be traced directly back to Woo’s 1986 film A Better Tomorrow. Prior to that film, the Hong Kong scene was dominated by adventure stories set in another era, filled with swordplay and wire-fu, or in the endless stream of Kung-Fu flicks filmmakers churned out to audiences’ delight. Based on the success of A Better Tomorrow, that all changed and countless other imitative films came out, most disappointing and overly melodramatic, but with a few gems mixed in as well (most notable is Woo’s The Killer)
As the 90s wore on, and the imminent return of Chinese rule loomed just on the horizon, the ‘hero films’ took a turn for the darker. The films developed a more nihilistic worldview and a hard edge approach that made for interesting viewing—Ringo Lam’s Full Contact is a fine example of this, as is the film we’re about to discuss, Hard-Boiled.
Hard-Boiled is the story of maverick cop Tequila Yuen (played brilliantly by action god Chow Yun-Fat: The Replacement Killers, The Killer, Full Contact). When Tequila’s partner Lionheart is killed in a shootout with gun smugglers, Tequila vows to avenge his death and bring the gunrunners down. To complicate things, Tony (Tony Leung: Chungking Express, Bullet in the Head) is an undercover cop in the employ of Triad boss Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong: Full Contact, The Untold Story, The Ebola Syndrome)—a cop in so deep that only Tequila’s superiors know his true identity. Eventually, the two join forces in an attempt to stop Wong, who’s taken an entire hospital hostage—leaving a trail of bullet casings and bodies in their wake.
On the surface, Hard-Boiled looks like just about any other action film. Its plot and buddy theme motif are standard in the genre and its main characters—the hard-boiled cop and the undercover hitman are little more than archetypes. What makes Hard-Boiled rise above so many of its cliché-laden brethren are the performances and Woo’s heartfelt and stylish direction.
Chow Yun-Fat shines as Tequila—a cop willing to pursue justice no matter what the cost. Based loosely on Dirty Harry Callahan, Tequila is more three-dimensional than his American inspiration—showing a more vulnerable and compassionate side as witnessed through his love for fellow detective Teresa (Teresa Mo). Chow has an amazing screen presence and a Cary Grant-like charisma that makes him incredible to watch even in the most mundane films. It’s easy to see why most of the planet regards this guy as the greatest film action star ever—Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Van Damme couldn’t begin to approach Chow Yun-Fat in pure acting ability. Even more impressive is his performance in the film’s elaborate setpieces. Chow is an action fan’s actor, whether he’s diving across tables, running through a gauntlet of explosives, or sliding down a stair bannister, a gun in each hand, mowing down the bad guys—all while chewing on a toothpick—the man exudes cool.
Of course, Chow’s not the only impressive thespian here. Tony Leung does a fine job playing the tormented cop/hitman who’s no longer sure which side of the law he dwells on. There’s a cold, clinically detached nature to Leung’s performance—one that fits quite well with the character he’s portraying. Perhaps even more telling is that the audience feels for him throughout…even though he mows down eight or so of his former triad friends in cold blood.
Anthony Wong brings some real depth to what is perhaps the skimpiest role in the film. Wong’s one of the world’s most underrated actors—a chameleon who can take any role and make it his own. He’s sufficiently evil here, especially when he shows his true colors during the film’s climax.
Still, good performances aside, Hard-Boiled ultimately succeeds because of Woo’s direction. Long noted for the power of his action sequences (which are often referred to as "bullet ballet"), Woo demonstrates that he’s equally adept at shooting the quiet scenes. For all of Hard-Boiled’s bombast and pyrotechnics, it’s just as powerful during the film’s quieter moments—whether it’s Tequila and Tony’s meeting on the boat, or the scenes in the jazz club with Woo himself as the barman, the non-action sequences bringing as much to the film as the elaborate setpieces.
Of course, the action scenes are what draw people to Woo’s work, and Hard-Boiled showcases some of his finest stuff to date. This is perhaps the most violent film ever made (with over 250 deaths during its roughly two-hour running time) yet the onscreen carnage is so beautiful that you rarely notice. Woo has an eye for the subtleties of violence. From the film’s opening sequence in a teahouse, where birds titter nervously, more attuned to the crackling tension in the air than their human counterparts, all the way through to the hospital finale (perhaps the longest, most elaborate action setpiece ever filmed), Woo demonstrates that there’s an art to savagery.
Woo has insisted that many of the film’s themes and ideas concerning the changing state of Hong Kong were unintentional. However, with conversations like the one between Tequila and Lionheart at the beginning of the film (Tequila asks Lionheart if he’s ever thought of leaving Hong Kong, to which Lionheart replies: "no, not me…I’m a true Hong Konger—I’ll live and die in this town) and Chow’s saving of a nursery full of infant babies (a visual metaphor stating that Hong Kongers must protect their own future perhaps?), it’s hard to deny there was something at work beneath the surface in this film. Whether it was intentional or not, it’s clearly there.
While most Woo purists will champion either Bullet in the Head or The Killer as his finest work, I find that Hard-Boiled is the one I come back to most often. While all of Woo’s fare has a certain sentimentality at work in it, Hard-Boiled seems to be the most personal and touching of the bunch. It’s got a definite sense of subtlety that seems unlikely in such an overt film, but it’s there nonetheless. And while picking favorites is a fairly subjective exercise, and I like all of Woo’s work, I’m keeping Hard-Boiled as not only my favorite Woo film, but my favorite action film of all time. Now let’s hope that some Hollywood executive will give Woo and Chow Yun-Fat 120 million dollars to go and make Hard-Boiled 2.
Hard-Boiled gets my highest recommendation—if you’re an action fan, you need to see this movie.
When a tough police officer's Chow Yun-Fat partner is brutally murdered he joins forces with another loose-cannon cop Tony Leung to exact his own bloo...More at Family Video
A landmark in film history, John Woo s Hard Boiled is nirvana for seekers of action (Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle). Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hi...More at Buy.com
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