Note: The following is not a review. It's more of a
fan's personal rant.
If you're reading these words
and you haven't seen this film then you've obviously
happened upon this website by accident. Please, return
to your search engine and continue looking for whatever
it was you were looking for, because if you've never
seen Hard Boiled then you weren't looking for
this website.
What,
you need a synopsis? Here we go: this vintage John Woo
action flick pits top Hong Kong actors Chow Yun-Fat
and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai against evil bastard Anthony
Wong and his army of bad guys. Chow Yun-Fat is Tequila,
the cop who "breaks all the rules." His mirror
is Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as triad assassin Tony, who's
secretly an undercover cop disillusioned by his double
life. Anthony Wong is Johnny, an evil bad guy who's
evil because it serves the film's plot. Teresa Mo is
Tequila's superior officer/love interest, who really
plays no part other than to be a female in a testosterone
homoerotic male action-fest. And John Woo shows up onscreen
as a bartender who is the Hong Kong reincarnation of
Yoda.
That's the set-up. There's
also some deal involving illegal arms and rival triad
gangs, and Tony's identity crisis over being a cop/triad
guy. All that standard cop/triad stuff is set up in
the first sixty minutes. After that, we get sixty minutes
of the MOST INSANE BLAZING TWO-GUN ACTION YOU'LL EVER
SEE. Yes, our respect for this film is so great that
we must resort to capital letters like a newsgroup newbie
to get our point across.
Not to say that Hard Boiled is a perfect movie. Nothing could be further from the
truth. The film suffers in its sixty-minute exposition
opening, as the conflicts and characters smack of your
standard genre types. The dialogue is sometimes cheesy
and given to undue existential metaphor that sounds
simply terrible when dubbed into English. It's not even
John Woo's best film, as it lacks the emotional resonance
of The Killer or the powerful nihilism of
Bullet in the Head.
But it's got action. What makes Hard Boiled a genre-defining film is the sheer
insanity and theatrical showmanship that the filmmakers
bring to the table. The action in Hard Boiled is
simply some of the most amazing stuff you'll ever see
in an action film. It's incredibly staged, over-the-top
balletic action that has probably never been equalled
onscreen. Also, the acting is top-notch. Chow Yun-Fat
is his usual charismatic self, but Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
runs away with the picture. His performance adds weight
to a genre that is, in its usual form, weightless and
without consequence.
There's not much else to say. I saw Hard Boiled in 1993, and was an immediate
convert. Probably everybody who reads these words has
already seen Hard Boiled. There was once a time
when very few people stateside had seen the film, and
those who had were rabid fans of it. That day is over,
as John Woo has become some sort of renowned action
god and Chow Yun-Fat is beloved by people across America.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai has won a Best Actor trophy at the
Cannes Film Festival and three Best Actor Hong Kong
Film Awards since. Many fans have seen more Hong Kong
action films and lamented that they simply aren't as
good as Hard Boiled. And
they're right. They just don't make 'em like they're
used to. (Kozo 2002) |
