Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEST ACTION FILM EVER MADE I SALUTE YOU MR WOO, 14 Jan 2005
Over 3000 rounds of ammo fired and over a 1000 people shot to bits this is easily the most influential film of the 90,s. forget die hard , forget rambo,forget the matrix forget every single american action movie in the 80,s and 90,s as this is the best and bloodiest action movie ever. hollywood has ripped off this movie as have every other american film of the past ten years.
the plot surrounds gun smuggling and a cop who,s partner is gunned down during a stakeout. the ever charismatic chow yun fat plays tequila a hard boiled cop who is on a mission to wipe out the gun smugglers once and for all. the opening scene is the most bloodiest ever commited to celluloid and for the next two hours you will be bombared with ultra violence, impossible stunts that lead up to the greatest action movie climax of all time which involves a hospital some terrorists and a lorry load of bullets. this futuristic sleek and sexy movie was shot in hong kong and the city is beatiful. as usual with john woo,s movies there is the heroic bloodshed theme. if you are a fan of the lame action movies i suggest you watch this and see how a real action movie is made. better than a dozen die hards.
awesome
awesome
awesome
i tip my hat to mr woo this is a cinematic masterpiece and quite possibly one of the most influential movies of all time.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HARD BOILED? THIS FILM IS SIMMERING.... 'HOT', 22 Sep 2006
Plz not this is more of a personal opinion other than a review as i am a fan of john woo and this vintage John Woo action flick pits top Hong Kong actors Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai against evil Git 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, my respect for this film is so great that i must resort to capital letters lol just trying to get my point across. that i think this film is rather good lol but by no means perfect. yes i had to have a little moan hehe
This film is not perfect. infact 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 I can 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 have 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 the globe. 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 do they =(
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What action films are all about, 16 Jun 2007
This and 'The Killer' were the two breakout films that got John Woo noticed in Hollywood and its not hard to see why. In an era of action films ruled by Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Van Damme, it was John Woo who breathed new life into the genre with his own brand of coolness.
'Hard Boiled' is, on paper, a conventional thriller about a reckless Hong Kong cop who is out for revenge against a gun-smuggling ring. Along the way, he encounters an undercover cop already on the case who he eventually partners up with. Although the story is pretty ordinary, lacking the emotional drama of 'The Killer', the action is non-stop and represents Woo at the top of his game.
Once again, Woo delivers awesome shootouts and insane stuntwork in a relentlessly entertaining action flick. In fact, you can break the film down into a series of set-pieces which include a eyepopping shootout at a teahouse and a bloodsoaked 40 minute finale inside a hospital. The standout moment of the film is a one-take action sequence that follows the two men through the hospital and is nothing short of amazing.
Chow Yun Fat returns as the hard-boiled cop and Tony Leung is his undercover ally. Both men exert coolness throughout the film and their scenes together are always entertaining. 'The Killer' is may have a better storyline but as far as action goes, you can't get any better than 'Hard Boiled'.
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