Hard Boiled (1992)

It’s a pretty big night for our hero Tequila (Chow Yun Fat) and his partner as our story opens and they enter a teahouse to bust a gun smuggling ring.  They’re police officers, as well, which was fairly unusual for the roles Chow Yun Fat played at the time.  The two aren’t inside for more than five minutes when all hell breaks loose and Tequila’s partner dies. 

When the rest of the cops arrive, his superior reprimands Tequila for his carelessness in a very important case.  In a line that best sums up a lot of director John Woo’s films to that point, Tequila is told “Give a man a gun and he’s Superman, give him two and he’s God.”  This is what lets the audience know Tequila isn’t one of those ‘by the book’ cops, he makes his own rules.  And it’s a blessing that Tequila does, because that’s what makes Hard Boiled so much fun. 

The plot is your basic, run of the mill, cop movie.  It’s solid, well done, doesn’t require the viewer to make great leaps of logic, and there because there has to be a bridge between the action sequences.  It does what it’s supposed to do, make you care about the characters and the situations they’re in.

One of the main themes of Hard Boiled is sacrifice.  More specifically, Tony Leung’s undercover cop, Alan (or Tony.  In all honesty, I never picked up on his name being Tony; however, he was credited as such.  I am assuming the Triads knew him as Alan, and Tony was his real name.  Forgive me if I’m factually incorrect) and the sacrifices he makes in trying to bring down the bad guys.  Once he’s finished, he’ll have to leave the country so he won’t face retaliation.  The poor guy even forgets his own birthday.

Arguably, Hard Boiled is John Woo at his pinnacle.  Taking what he’s practiced in his other Hong Kong films and building on it, it’s exactly what an action movie should be. It’s got the usual staples; slow motion, dissolves, a cut away here and there, and a few times Woo adds in long takes with lots of activity and no cuts.  Philip Kwok even pulls double duty for this film, portraying Mad Dog and serving as the film’s stunt coordinator.

Hard Boiled is the quintessential gun-fu film, bar none.  It’s never boring, doesn’t drag on, and always keeps your interest.  There have been three domestic DVD releases, one by Criterion, another by Fox-Lorber, and the most recent by Dragon Dynasty.  They each have three distinctly different sets of special features not contained on the others.  The best transfer is contained on the Dragon Dynasty release, however all three versions are plagued by subtitles.  Bey Logan also has a fantastic commentary track on the latter mentioned, while the previous two have different commentaries, one with John Woo and other participants, and one with Woo solo. 

Good luck tracking down a legit copy of the Criterion version.  It’s been out of print for years and still carried a hefty price on EBay last I looked.  The Fox-Lorber disc is still a rarity, but you can occasionally find a copy at a second hand DVD store for cheap.  Of all three versions, however, I suggest the Dragon Dynasty disc.  It’s cheap, easy to find, and looks great.

4 out of 4

reviewed by Seth Moore

© Copyright 2010 John Shatzer