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Hard-Boiled: Two Disc Ultimate Edition
Studio: The Weinstein Company / Dragon Dynasty
Year: 1992
US Rating: R - Pervasive Violence and Some Language
Film Length: 128 Mins
Aspect Ratio: 1:85.1
Audio: English and Cantonese 5.1, Cantonese DTS, English Mono
Subtitles: Optional English and Spanish and English SDH
US Release Date: July 24, 2007
The Film - :star::star::star::star:
“Give a guy a gun, he thinks he’s Superman. Give him two and he thinks he’s God”
Hard Boiled is John Woo’s undeniable action masterpiece and a hard-core favourite of action aficionados throughout the globe. Detective Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat), an abrasive, mildly smug but genuine officer of the law serves his profession by ridding the streets of gun smugglers. When a tea house sting operation comes off the rails and his partner is slain by members of a gang run by crime boss Johnny Wong, Tequila becomes the requisite loose cannon, resolute in toppling Wong and his gun smuggling operation. He stumbles across Tony (Tony Leung), an ex-triad gang member, now undercover cop who is nestled in the Wong crime family. Begrudgingly teaming up with the undercover cop, Tequila throws himself into tearing down the smugglers that took the life of his partner and, with every conceivable way of striking at his enemy, boldly takes them on against the orders of his superintendent.
Director John Woo may have lost much of the intense action luster that is displayed with abundant grandeur in Hard-Boiled, but his mark on the action movie genre is never more poetically shown than with his last great Asian cinema classic. Woo forged many of his trademarks with his earlier works like 1986/87’s A Better Tomorrow I & II and 1989’s The Killer – but he takes his skillful gunplay ballet to feverish heights with Hard-Boiled. His character of Tequila is a great reflection of cops from 1960’s and 70’s western cinema (Eastwood in particular), fused with stories best found in Asian cinema and told with kinetic, poetic and fantastic action sequences that hold up against the lavish, effects reliant scenes from films today.
Woo worked with Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger-Hidden Dragon, The Replacements) many times and while his character in ‘The Killer’, the film that ultimate became Woo’s ticket to Hollywood, is deeper and more interesting, there is a playful quality about Tequila, one that becomes instantly likable. Chow Yun-Fat is a stalwart of Asian cinema and has found reasonable success with his films this side of the pond. But it is his earlier work with Woo that have come to define much of his career, or at least to define much of his Western fan-base.
As the undercover agent, Tony Leung comes close to stealing the show at times, delivering a strong performance of a man conflicted and under pressure from the deceptive nature of his job. As a cold-killer, taking care of the crime bosses dirty business, he fits the mold perfectly – but as we get to know his character better, who he is and why he is there, a sympathetic mode takes over and he again seems perfectly cast as the troubled agent fighting to complete his mission and leave the ‘darkness’ behind.
The villains of the film are classic woo, from the deceptively ordinary boss to the machine-like henchman, they deliver the goods and often hammy lines with a straight face and all due sincerity. Kwok Choi as ‘Mad Dog’, the seemingly impossible to kill main foe to Tequila and Tony, is particularly good. Doubling as the lead stunt coordinator, Choi’s contributions are superb and a real delight.
From the explosive tea-house opening to the gargantuan, over-the top closing battle, Hard-Boiled barely takes a breath, cramming one phenomenal shoot-out after another into its two hour plus running time with each expertly choreographed, shot and performed. The pounding explosions and endless supply of bullets, with limited reloads, gives the film a vigorous pace. And each mad and inventive gun battle gets you sitting up in your seat with a grin on your face born from the sheer enjoyment of it all. Woo moves the camera almost all the time, smoothly from left to right or into the action and uses high angles looking down on the action to make sure nothing is missed. He relishes debris, enjoying the chaos from explosions as body and shards of glass or concrete splay into the air. Delicious.
Unrealistic action sequences, a clever and often beautiful use of smoke and the dispersal of light and shadows are all characteristics of John Woo doing what he does best. So, if you think you are an action fan and you have yet to experience Hard-Boiled, then you have yet to qualify for the title of action fan. This action opera is relentlessly entertaining.
The Video - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
Presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the image is reasonably good but print damage is noticeable. Jumps in the image are obvious during fade-transitions and stand out awkwardly. The image is also somewhat murky in places – but having said that, this is the best presentation of the film that I have seen. I first caught this movie in college, on a less than legitimate VHS copy, then on laserdisc. The film deserves a more thorough and complete restoration (if possible) – but, to date, this is the finest presentation of this John Woo classic.
I have read reports of the image being stretched vertically. I don’t have any of the previous releases to do a side by side, but if it is, I did not find it distracting at all.
Notes: I struggled with how to rate the picture quality of this release, going back and forth between three and a half and four stars before deciding upon four stars - in part because it has never looked this good and, when all is said and done, is a solid presentation.
The Sound - :star::star::star:
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that this Dragon Dynasty release has given us three bombastic audio options. English dubbed 5.1 and both a Cantonese Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 track. The extra clarity in the DTS track edges out the Dolby Digital one, but both come with strong surrounds, powerful bass, LFE and good, clean front and center channel dialogue.
The bad news is that the subtitles are apparently based on the dubbed English translation. Perhaps a minor quibble, but given how abhorrent dubbed translations can be (even without the terrible voice-over delivery often found), it is a shame.
I would have rated this four stars if the subtitles had better reflected the original script.
The Extra's - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
Disc One:
Feature Length Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan: Bey Logan provides a pretty good commentary, providing wall to wall information, a near encyclopedic bevy of tidbits and interesting nuggets of knowledge about the locations, players and the genre overall. While it lacks a production or technical perspective (creative and artistic choices), his knowledge is very impressive and interesting none-the-less.
Disc Two:
A Baptism of Fire: A Featurette with Iconic Director John Woo: (38:20) John Woo provides his reflections of the high crime and gang dominance prolific in Hong Kong at the time the film was made. It is nice to hear from the master himself discussing the themes in the film, his decision to create a heroic image for the police and the original concept for Hard-Boiled. The original idea would have involved a psychopath poisoning babies. Woo’s English is far from perfect, but the information he imparts is enough to smooth over this minor distraction.
Interview Gallery:
Partner In Crime: An Interview with Producer Terence Chang: (24:57) This honest conversation with the producer has Chang discussing how the mere inclusion of Chow Yun-Fat in the cast afforded John Woo much flexibility and freedom in crafting the film he wanted. One particular point of interest was how the opening tea house shoot-out was filmed prior to any script being written, and how it ultimately helped move the concept for the story to the gun-smuggling idea.
Art Imitates Life: An Interview with Co-Star Philip Chan (15:56) This is an intriguing conversation with actor Philip Chan, a real police officer-turned-actor who served as a superintendent on the force and was in charge of undercover officers during his tenure.
Mad Dog Bites Again: An Interview with Leading Villain Kwok Choi: (25:04) Kwok Choi recalls his first collaboration with director John Woo and the nature of how they work together. A straightforward interview with some good observations on the rigidity of Western film making versus the looser approach of Asian cinema.
Hard Boiled: Location Guide: (8:48) Kea Wong takes us on a tour of the various locations used in the film. She provides a lot of good information for what is essentially a 'filler’ extra. Much of the information shared here is covered by Bey Logan’s audio commentary.
Trailer Gallery – Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer & US Promotional Trailer: (5:34) The original trailer provided is, to me, proof that international trailers for movies far outshine their domestic counterparts by being far more artistically creative. However, the promotional trailer for this Dragon Dynasty release is actually pretty good.
Mini-Making of Stranglehold – The Videogame: (3:02) Brief promo-making of for the ‘Stranglehold’ video game, based on the Hard-Boiled world and featuring the voice of Chow Yun-Fat as Detective Tequila. John Woo has provided oversight on the project, crafting the story, and it will be interesting to see if the end product can live up to the excitement shown in this little snippet.
Final Thoughts
The great days of John Woo appear to be behind us now. His recent misfires with Windtalkers and Paycheck are particularly disappointing given how ingenious and solid this man can be at directing action films. Chow Yun-Fat is also at the top of his game in Hard-Boiled, although he continues to star in interesting and popular roles, most recently in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. Sitting back and watching Hard-Boiled again after so many years was an honest delight and a stark reminder at how lazy Hollywood in particular has become when it comes to action films.
Fans of the film will have much to enjoy with this well thought out two disc edition from Dragon Dynasty. For those new to the film, you are in for quite the treat. The action sequences are legendary, in particular, the single shot sequence during the hospital shoot out. Incredible. This film comes recommended with both my thumbs firmly in the upright position and a huge grin on my face!
Overall Score - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
Neil Middlemiss
Kernersville, NC
