Movie Type: Action Thriller, Police Detective Film
Themes: Rogue Cops, Police Corruption, Race Against Time
Main Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Bowie Lam, Philip Chan, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Kwan Hoi-Shan
Release Year: 1992
Country: HK
Run Time: 126 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Hard-Boiled is the last film directed by Hong Kong action auteur John Woo before his arrival in the U.S. This 1992 thriller, along with The Killer, is widely seen as one of his best from his Hong Kong days. Every ingredient of the quintessential Woo thriller is present, including his ever-present anti-hero (Chow Yun-Fat). Yun-Fat portrays a maverick, clarinet-playing cop nicknamed "Tequila" whose partner is killed in the dizzying chaos of a restaurant gunfight with a small army of gangsters. It is soon revealed that one of the mob's high-ranking assassins is Tony (Tony Leung), an undercover cop who, despite his badge, is dangerously close to the edge. Tequila and Tony must team up in a tense partnership, and their common pursuit of a vicious crime lord results in a brilliantly elaborate climax in a hospital, where the heroes must rescue newborn babies from the maternity ward while fighting off dozens of mob soldiers. The characters Tequila and Tony are two sides of the same coin, another trademark theme of Woo's films that would later be most fully realized with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in the American hit Face/Off. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
Review
Superstar action director John Woo attempted to go himself one better in Hard-Boiled, his last Hong Kong film before he headed for Hollywood. In a spectacular opening sequence that's imitated in The Corruptor, among other films, tough cop Tequila (international action star Chow Yun-Fat, in smart-ass mode) destroys nearly every piece of crockery in a teahouse when a police raid goes wrong. The balletic elegance of the incredible carnage in this scene is a Woo hallmark; the obligatory shot of Chow sliding across the floor, two guns blazing like he's dropped into a spaghetti Western, is cinematic poetry. While the ensuing plot is vintage Woo -- Tequila discovers that the assassin he's gunning for is actually an undercover cop, played with grim determination by Tony Leung -- the chemistry between the two actors as their characters develop an uneasy alliance makes the whole thing believable, even when it's discovered that the bad guys have chosen to hide their smuggled arsenal in a hospital basement, and the ensuing shootout probably cost more bullets than Terminator 2. ~ Genevieve Williams, All Movie Guide
Anthony Wong - Johnny Wong; Teresa Mo - Teresa; Cheung Jue-lin - Mad Dog; Tsang Kong; Philip Kwok - Mad Dog; Danny Lee; John Woo - Mr. Woo (night club owner); Y. Yonemura
Credit
Joel Chong - Art Director, Amy Chin - Associate Producer, John Woo - Director, John Woo - Editor, Kai Kit-Wai - Editor, David Wu - Editor, Michael Gibbs - Composer (Music Score), James Leung - Production Designer, Wong Wing-Hang - Cinematographer, Wang Wing-Heng - Cinematographer, Terence Chang - Producer, Linda Kuk - Producer, Cheung Jue-luh - Stunts, John Woo - Screen Story, Barry Wong - Screenwriter
