Movie Reviews: Hard Boiled (1992)
It has been a fair while since I last reviewed a movie due to my new obsession with the Marvel heroes game, but I am trying to get back into my old routine. Any way, you're not here to see me make excuses, you want to see the actual review, right?
Criminals are running guns in Hong Kong. Maverick cop 'Tequila' Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat) loses his partner in a shootout with the villains. Meanwhile, two rival gangs are warring over territory and one of the criminals, Alan (Tony Leung) sells out his side to the other. What either side doesn't know is that Alan is an undercover cop. A reluctant Tequila must team up with Alan if they are to stop the criminals and find their hidden armoury.
You are never far from a blazing shootout in a John Woo picture, and this film has some beauties. Things get off to a promising start with a shootout at a teahouse. One of the film's most famous scenes comes from this scene where Tequila slides down the bannister blasting the bad guys with a gun in both hands. Most action movies leave a scene like this until the climax, but not John Woo. His pictures start off with a breath-taking action sequence, and things get better from there.
Later on there is another great action scene where Johnny Wong's boys attack Alan's former employers in their warehouse and just when you think things are over, then Tequila decides to raid the place singlehandedly.
If you think that those scenes are exciting, then you haven't seen the climactic shootout as Johnny Wong's boys lay waste to a hospital that just happens to lay on top of their secret armoury.
The baddies in John Woo pictures are always wrong 'uns, but Johnny Wong is probably the worst. When a guy with a name like Mad Dog tells you that gunning down innocent hospital patients is going too far, then you know that something is wrong.
This scene also involves another one of the film's memorable moments as Tequila has to take out the baddies while trying to protect a baby that was left behind after the hospital evacuation. The baby even ends up saving the day when Tequila finds his legs catching fire.
It would be difficult for me to decide which picture was my favourite of John Woo's Hong Kong movies, but this one would definitely be at the top. Four pointy hats.
Next time: Missing in Action 2- The Beginning
Criminals are running guns in Hong Kong. Maverick cop 'Tequila' Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat) loses his partner in a shootout with the villains. Meanwhile, two rival gangs are warring over territory and one of the criminals, Alan (Tony Leung) sells out his side to the other. What either side doesn't know is that Alan is an undercover cop. A reluctant Tequila must team up with Alan if they are to stop the criminals and find their hidden armoury.
You are never far from a blazing shootout in a John Woo picture, and this film has some beauties. Things get off to a promising start with a shootout at a teahouse. One of the film's most famous scenes comes from this scene where Tequila slides down the bannister blasting the bad guys with a gun in both hands. Most action movies leave a scene like this until the climax, but not John Woo. His pictures start off with a breath-taking action sequence, and things get better from there.
Later on there is another great action scene where Johnny Wong's boys attack Alan's former employers in their warehouse and just when you think things are over, then Tequila decides to raid the place singlehandedly.
If you think that those scenes are exciting, then you haven't seen the climactic shootout as Johnny Wong's boys lay waste to a hospital that just happens to lay on top of their secret armoury.
The baddies in John Woo pictures are always wrong 'uns, but Johnny Wong is probably the worst. When a guy with a name like Mad Dog tells you that gunning down innocent hospital patients is going too far, then you know that something is wrong.
This scene also involves another one of the film's memorable moments as Tequila has to take out the baddies while trying to protect a baby that was left behind after the hospital evacuation. The baby even ends up saving the day when Tequila finds his legs catching fire.
It would be difficult for me to decide which picture was my favourite of John Woo's Hong Kong movies, but this one would definitely be at the top. Four pointy hats.
Next time: Missing in Action 2- The Beginning
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