Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat) is a hard hitting supercop with enough bullets in his guns to conquer a small nation. Faced with the armada of Hong Kong Triads and a nasty boss who only tells him what he needs to know, Tequila soon finds himself face to face with a hitman known as Tony (Tony Leung) amongs the gun trafficing criminals who's shown to be merciless when needed, but still doesn't shoot Tequila when given the chance.

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of classic and important contemporary films brings us yet another high point in action films. Hard Boiled is the last film made by John Woo in Hong Kong before it was turned over to China and which also meant that alot of actors left before and after Woo to the states as their future was uncertain in the now-changed Hong Kong.

A better tomorrow

Even though Hard Boiled is a full fledged action movie and I know certain people who think it only as a brainless shootout, it has always had a deeper impact on me. Most of the other movies made by John Woo always had their more lighter moments, a small pauses in the middle of the heroic bloodshed. Hard Boiled never really gets into that as the movie is filled with images of departure and fear of the unknown. The chemistry among the main actors, especially with Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung is one of the best I've seen. Tony Leung's portrayal of the lone undercover cop who doesn't really know which side he's on is a really touching performance. All the nuances in his character really flesh him out, especially his 'fixation' for making small origami birds on certain occasions.

Chow Yun-Fat plays it as cool as ever, with little remorse for the underworld scum. Not a really awesome performance as compared to Criterion Collection's The Killer, but still what you've come to expect from him. Anthony Wong also delivers a good role as the new crimeboss who's about to take over Tony's current employer's stock and businesses. The new boss changes the way of work to more ruthless methods and this adds an extra burden to Tony's heart and direction.

A bullet in the disc

The disc is top-notch. You'll be paying extra as this is a Criterion disc, but it's definetly worth it. A good way to introduce yourself to the Hong Kong movies as this one features 11 trailers from Woo's movies which feature such classics as A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and A Bullet in the Head. Also included is a student film by John Woo which to me, didn't really make sense (then again, it's a student film :-D) with a crappy quality and cantonese 'subtitles'. There's also an interesting guide to the making of Hard Boiled and interesting tidbits about the problems it faced during production. Audio Commentary is also included and it's a very interesting piece of information with the right people speaking at the right time.

The video quality is good. Some noise here and there, but definetly good show for dvd quality. Audio isn't anything spectacular which isn't anything new as long as we're speaking about HK movies. Cantonese and English monaural tracks are available with optional english subtitles and I must say that the English track is just plain hilarious. I actually listened to it while doing something else and it's a real cracker. It even beats all those spanish and polish dubs I've heard from time to time! The voice acting is totally unbelievable with everyone screaming to each other and a real macho attitude alltogether. It really sets a different tone for the movie ;-)

For a good and thought provoking action movie, pick Hard Boiled. You'll pay more for it than you'll do if you pick that Die Hard, but Hard Boiled is really top notch. One thing worth mentioning is the nice amount of chapter stops by the way. There are 44 stops on the disc and one of the real high points is definetly chapter 38 which is one single action shot lasting 2 minutes and 42 seconds. That's not much, or is it? That one shot spans a spectacular corridor shootout with a really high bodycount and between that, our heroes enter a lift, go to the upper floor and the action continues there. I cannot describe how great this one shot is production-, direction-, acting- and coreography-wise. You really have to see it.

Reko 'ReXX' Nokkanen