Hard-Boiled (1992)

I just finished watching "Hard Boiled", my first introduction to infamous action director John Woo, and all I can say is "wow". I was also shocked to discover via several websites on Woo's work that this one is considered one of his lesser films...no fucking way. If this is one of his lesser films, I can hardly imagine what his other stuff is like. Actor and perennial Woo favorite Chow-Yun-Fat plays Tequila, a bad-ass Asian version of "Dirty Harry" out to nab some weapons smuggling mobsters who killed his partner. Unbeknownst to Tequila, another cop named Tony who is undercover as well, is also on the verge of breaking into the smugglers inner realms and eventually teams up with Tequila to get the bad guys. There's much more to it than that, but that's the plot in a very brief nutshell.

For those of us who have whetted our action appetites on American made cuisine, let me say that "Hard Boiled" comes across as a fillet mignon of the action world. The gunfight scenes are simply top notch and extremely well choreographed. Never before have I witnessed so many blood squibs in a film, when it comes to violence, this flick does not puss out in any way. The body count alone has to be over 200 and that's no shit my friends. Besides all the guns a blasting and squibs a spurting, each scene has a sense of style that no American action film can match, or none that I've yet to see. Woo's stamp is clearly indented on this film, making each scene uniquely and distinguishably his. There also is a reoccurring theme of loyalty and even ethics to all the killing that, while not trying to justify the violence, serves as a nice balancing point between it all. Some negatives that may affect American audiences is the foreign humor that sometimes leaves you thinking "huh?", but that's just a small complaint. The films running time did carry on a bit to long, especially in the final climatic hospital scene. I know it sounds as if I'm overly praising this film, and while that may be true, "Hard Boiled" just came to me as an amazingly fresh breath of air, sort of like the first time I saw Dario Argento's "Suspiria". Try to nab the "Criterion Collection" DVD, where you can see it uncut and with English subtitles. I tried watching the dubbed version and got sick of that after ten minutes. Subtitles are definetly the way to go, especially since most dub jobs leave much to be desired. Highly recommended.