Hard Boiled
1992
***
Director: John Woo
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Philip Chan, Teresa Mo, Bowie Lam, Gordon Liu, John Ching, Philip Kwok, Ng Man-tat
A tough cop who lost his partner seeks vengeance on a ruthless Triad running an illegal gun smuggling operation, and ends up teaming up with an undercover agent. The script and the characters are frankly awful, but John Woo's best-known Hong Kong action movie showcases his signature balletic gunplay and stands as a testament to how action set pieces become action tropes. Machine guns are everywhere, bodies sail through the air in slow motion, windows serve no purpose beyond being shattered, and every gunshot seems to detonate something. I can’t deny the craft in the direction, editing, and stunt work, but the violence is so relentless and the villains kill so casually and indiscriminately that the whole thing eventually becomes comical.
