Review of Hard Boiled (1992) by Leon B — 10 Jan 2016

Review:

I remember thinking that this movie was amazing when I first watched it, in the early 90's, because of the great action at the end and the coolness of Chow Yun-Fat but I must admit, it does look a bit dated now. The soundtrack is awful throughout the movie and the gun action seemed a bit messy and over exaggerated. Anyway, this movie is about a Hong Kong cop, Officer "Tequila" Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat), who attempts to arrest a group of gun smugglers in a tea house with his partner, Benny (Bowie Lam). During an epic shootout, Benny is killed and many of the officers are badly wounded so Tequila goes on a mission to kill the gang who ambushed there operation. Whilst seeking revenge for his partner, Tequila sets out to kill the gangster who sent out his henchmen to ambush the deal but Tequila's boss, Pang (Philips Chan) wants the gangster alive so he can testify. While all of that commotion is happening, a high ranking assassin, Alan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), works for a triad boss, Uncle Hoi but when Alan is approached by a rival gang leader, Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong) to join his gang because of his impressive gun skills, Alan turns against Hoi and they plan to raid one of Hoi's warehouses. During the raid, Wongs henchmen kill most of Hoi's workers and he demands Alan to kill Wong who is called to the scene. Because of his loyalty to his new boss, Alan kills Hoi and he's left alone with his thoughts while Wong departs. Tequila watches the whole alteration and he attempts to kill Alan but he runs out of ammo and to his surprise, Alan spares his life. Tequila is then told by Pang, that Alan is an undercover officer so they join forces to take-down Wong, while he still is undercover. Tequila's informant, Foxy (Tung Wei) gets fatally injured by Wongs henchmen and Alan shoots Foxy to show his loyalty to Wong but he knows that the shot wouldn't kill him because he gave him a lighter, which he put in his breast pocket. Foxy then tells Tequila about the whole alteration and Tequila takes Foxy to the nearby hospital because of his fatal wounds. When Wong finds out that Foxy is still alive, he sends his henchmen to the hospital to kill Foxy but Alan and Tequila are there to protect him. Whilst fighting against Wongs henchmen, Tequila and Alan come across a secret passage which leads to Wongs arsenal, which they use to defend themselves. Wong then takes the patients and police officers hostage and after killing many of them, without any remorse, Pang and his officers get involved to try and free some of the babies in the maternity ward. Tequila helps to save the babies and the hostages while Alan goes head to head with Wongs head henchman. Wong then plants bombs around the hospital, so Tequila has to fight against time to save the last baby. When Wong starts to murder some more of the patients, his head henchman decides to turns his gun on Wong because he's against killing innocent people but he runs out of ammo and is killed by Wong on the spot. While the building is exploding, Wong comes out of the hospital, holding Alan at gunpoint and Wong tries to humiliate Tequila in front of all of his fellow officers but Alan isn't having any of it and he puts up a struggle with Wong and shoots himself through the belly, giving Tequila enough time to kill him. Once again, it's another detailed storyline with loads of bullets flying throughout the movie but the whole look and feel of the film was a bit dated. I really liked Chow Yun-Fat's character because of his no fear, one man army attitude but the gun action is a bit far fetched and I personally would have enjoyed it more, if it wasn't 2 hours long. Watchable!

Round-Up:

This movie was John Woo's last release in his native country before he hit the Western market with Hard Target with Jean Claude Van Damme. Its the last movie that he made with Chow Yun-Fat, after a successful run of movies together, which include A Better Tomorrow I & II, the Killer and Once A Thief and I hope they come together again, before Woo decides to retire. Anyway, the signature gun action from Woo is definitely what made this a hit in the early 90's but I was expecting more the second time around.

Budget: $4.5million.

Worldwide Gross: HK$19.7million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/drama's starring Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Teresa Mo and Philip Chan. 4/10.