Film: Hard Boiled
Release date: 27th September 2004
Certificate: 18
Running time: 122 mins
Director: John Woo
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong
John Woo directs this high octane action fest, which is to date, the last film made in his native land. Bullets fly, men are gunned down left, right and centre, and Chow Yun-Fat is forced to run out of an exploding hospital carrying a baby. It is certainly a dazzling finale to Woo’s Hong Kong directing career.
After his partner is killed in a brutal triad shootout, hard boiled cop ‘Tequila’ Yuen launches an all out attack on a gang of gun smugglers sneaking weapons into Hong Kong, much to the annoyance of his boss Superintendant Pang who warns him off the case.
Meanwhile Alan, an undercover policeman working as a gang member with mob boss Uncle Hoi, is coerced by rival triad lord Johnny Wong into turning on Hoi, so that he can take over his business. Whilst reluctant at first, Alan eventually relents; massacring Hoi and his men. However, he is plagued by guilt and doubt as to where his allegiances lie.
After learning from Superintendant Pang that there is an undercover cop working with the gun runners, Tequila tracks Alan down. The two then form an uneasy alliance to bring Wong and his gang to justice, whilst dealing with their own doubts about their lives in the police force…
Woo shows us in this particular film that he is the master of destruction, as he directs several high calibre action sequences, all with very high body counts. You don’t even have to wait very long for the action to begin, as the first key shootout scene blasts into action at around the five minute mark. A great deal of care and attention has gone into each scene, and it’s remarkable that the film was made for just four million dollars.
Whilst this film has no pretensions of being anything much more than a big, dumb, loud action movie, Woo also manages to cram in some deft touches of exposition, by using visual reminders – such as showing parallel views of a scene at different times to show what has happened, or what the characters are thinking, which are both stylistic and allow the audience to follow the plot more easily. Yes indeed, the stabilisers are truly on for this film, yet this doesn’t feel demeaning as there are more than enough plot threads and explosions to distract you away from that.
It is also noteworthy that Hard Boiled, for an action film, contains a rather rich and interweaving plot; considering we effectively have two central protagonists in Alan and Tequila. Both are similar in that they are both cops, and both are having crisis of confidence about their work. However, whilst they are on the same side, they are effectively working against each other, too, and the pain of teaming up together is more than palpable, considering Tequila wants revenge on Alan for murdering his partner, and Alan just wants to get away from Hong Kong to find a new life untainted by killing. It is not until near the end that the two plots really converge.
Chow Yun-Fat is on fire as ever – literally, at one point – and takes on all manner of ridiculous stunts, which are both outlandish and impressive (such as swinging into a warehouse through its glass ceiling, with an assault rifle in hand). However, praise also has to be credited to Philip Kwok who does an excellent turn as ‘Mad Dog’, Johnny Wong’s personal body-guard and all-round hard man. Kwok looks as mad, bad and dangerous as his character’s name suggests, and, needless to say, is very hard to kill.
Hard Boiled is a good old fashioned romp of an action film. Somehow Woo has managed to combine a solid plot and characters, with a helping of action movie silliness when needed. It all makes for a very entertaining, and surprisingly complete film experience. DJ
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