Hard Boiled DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

There's a sticker on this DVD that says this movie was ranked as the 9th best action movie of all time from Entertainment Weekly. In that article, that was published in June, they ranked Die Hard as the #1 action movie of all time. On the back of this DVD, there is a quote from Empire that says, "More exciting than a dozen Die Hard's." It's safe to say that there's plenty of debate over what is the best action movie of all time, but there really shouldn't be any debate at all that Hard Boiled deserves a place atop the genre's elite films.

If they had to break down the movies on that list even further, this movie would likely be #1 in terms of gun fighting in a movie. For years I thought that climactic finale of Michael Mann's brilliant heist flick Heat was the best gun fighting scene of all time. Oh, how I was wrong. There are not one but TWO scenes that out-do that Heat scene - the teahouse shootout and the hospital shootout that both bookend this incredibly action-packed movie. The first teahouse scene sets you up for what kind of glorious madness you can expect in this shoot-em-up flick, and the final hospital scene (which features a simply ingenious three-minute shot done with NO CUTS) not only knocks you down, but it simply blows you away.

There really isn't a whole lot to the plotline here, but you really won't care. The script by Barry Wong, from a story by director John Woo, is your basic cop-seeks-revenge flick. Sure, this was done awhile ago, 1992, but they still had movies like that back then as well. Anyway, Chow Yun-Fat is wonderful as the rugged cop Tequila, who lost his partner (Bowie Lam) in the teahouse incident and is looking for revengance. At the same time, an deep undercover cop, Tony (Tony Leung) is trying to keep his cover while being asked by a rival Triad gang to wipe out his boss and join the proverbial big time. That's when Tequila and Tony's path's meet and things start to get a little more explosive for everyone.

Chow Yun-Fat does a fine job as the eccentric cop Tequila, but Tony Leung simply shines as this half-cop/half-gangster Tony. He has such amazing facial expressions and has range to spare. You get the feeling he is an actor that gets completely immersed in a character, even off camera. It really is a powerful performance but, while he might have given the best performance, my favorite character has to be Kwok Choi's ultimate badass character Mad Dog. This guy (who was the action coordinator firstly, and basically just fell into this smaller role) simply exudes toughness from the first frame we see him in. He has just a few lines, and they aren't even that memorable. But, from the part where he lights the cigarette over an open flame, to his masterful motorcycle skid/recovery/killing spree to the insane three-minute no-cut shootout shot with Tony Leung, he gives one of the most unsung baddie/action performances of all time. We also get some nice supporting work from Phillip Chan as the cop superintendent, Theresa Mo as an administrator/Tequila's girl and Wei Tung as Foxy. The real star of the movie, though, is director John Woo (no, not in his role as the sage-like bartender).

As good as all the performances are, and the script is and everything else, John Woo's towering direction is what will really make this movie's legacy. He has an uncanny eye for cool, and quite an unconventional one as well. Woo is who made holding two guns in a movie the cool thing to do. That three-minute shot alone could've been the last thing he ever directed and it would be one hell of a swan song. Plus the fact that they didn't really have a script (writer Barry Wong died before completing the draft and they basically wrote the rest on the set) to work with and many of the great parts were just from ideas from Woo, all just make the fact that this is Woo's movie even more certain.

If you claim to be any sort of action movie aficionado, this HAS to be in your collection. Bar none. Period.

We get a healthy dose of features, as we do in most Dragon Dynasty releases. First up is A Baptism of Fire: An Interview with Director John Woo. He starts out talking about his love for Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood and wanting to create a Bullitt/Dirty Harry sort of character for Hong Kong and goes on about the original premise for the movie (a psychopath poisoning baby food, based off a real criminal) and onto many other aspects of the movie. Woo does speak pretty good English, but he doesn't seem to be able to articulate his thoughts as well in English. He does give us some really cool stories from the set, like when Tony Leung got glass in his eye after the phenomenal hallway shootout with Kwok Choi, how the tight-knit crew didn't want to see Leung die in the end, like originally planned and they inspired him to make Leung's character survive and how Chow Yun-Fat was singed after Woo took the pyrotechnic trigger himself and hit the explosions very very close to Chow. The interview is just over 38 minutes long, and well worth it, folks, for some great insight into one of the greatest action directors of all time.

Partner in Crime: An Interview with Producer Terrence Chang is next and he talks about how he first met John Woo and then into making this movie with him. He has some very interesting stories to tell from the set, about how they had to deal with actual Triad groups in the opening teahouse scene, and a lot of great little anecdotes from the set. The interview runs about 24 minutes long and it gives some great insight into the making of this flick.

Art Imitates Life: An Interview with Co-Star Philip Chan makes you wonder how busy or hard to get a hold of Chow Yun-Fat or Tony Leung are. Chan does have a significant role here as the Superintendent, but still... Anyway, it's a decent interview, but he rambles a bit. This 16-minute interview runs a little longer because his stories aren't as slick as the previous interviewees, but it's not too bad.

Mad Dog Bites Again: An Interview with Leading Villain Kwok Choi is pretty cool because Kwok Choi a.k.a. Phillip Kwok was such a badass in this flick it was just awesome. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy, it seems, just telling it like it is. He briefly talks about how he met Woo then talking about his duties as the action coordinator on to how Chow Yun-Fat suggested he play the role of Mad Dog. He talks also about how then explosives they were starting to make then were safer, but too expensive, so the explosives they used were cheaper but more dangerous, and they went with them anyway. This one goes a little long too, at about 25 minutes, but there's still some great stuff here from the biggest badass in the whole flick.

A Hard Boiled Location Guide is next with some chick named Kea Wong. It feels like a Travel Channel thing with this girl taking us through locations where certain scenes were shot. Many of the places this flick was shot in don't exist today, but she takes us through what's there now, and some history about Hong Kong, the movie itself and the actors. The whole deal is about nine minutes long and a nifty little look at where they shot certain things in the movie.

Besides the Trailer Gallery which has just the Hong Kong and U.S. trailers, there's a Mini-Making-Of Stranglehold Video Game which is basically a sequel to Hard Boiled, but in video game form. This goes through Woo and Yun-Fat's extensive involvement in the development of this game. This is only about three minutes long, but it's a neat little look into the game, which looks just as badass as the movie.

The disc is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for widescreen 16x9 televisions.

The sound is handled through either the Dolby Digital 5.1 format in the English/Cantonese format, or the DTS format for just the Cantonese track.

Great job here. The front cover gives us a huge shot of Yun-Fat with some great critic quotes off to the left and a big title card below. The back has a nice smaller shot of Yun-Fat, another quote, a great synopsis, a special features box along with four random smaller shots and then the billing block. Looks great and really draws you in if you aren't familiar with the movie.

Hard Boiled basically made the whole world notice John Woo. It was the last Hong Kong movie he did, making American movies right after this one hit big. After watching this and reading the rest of the movies on that EW list, I'm not entirely convinced this should be as low as #9. Is it better than Die Hard? Raiders of the Lost Ark? If you think those are action classics and haven't seen Hard Boiled, this is a movie you just MUST see to decide for yourself... and you'll have an absolute blast doing so.