When a tough police officer's (Chow Yun-Fat) partner is brutally murdered, he joins forces with another loose-cannon cop (Tony Leung) to exact his own bloody revenge on the gun-smuggling gangsters responsible for his friend's death. A lot of action, guns, and violence, all masterfully rendered by action maestro John Woo (THE KILLER, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2). This is the last film the director made in his native Hong Kong before emigrating to the United States.
After a deadly shoot-out with a ruthless band of gunrunners, Inspector "Tequila" Yuen (Yun Fat) is reprimanded by the police brass for excessive use of force. He soon gets himself into even more trouble by trying to arrest a gangster who is actually an undercover agent. But Yuen gets one last chance to redeem himself in the film's blood-soaked finale. Teaming up with the undercover cop, Yuen battles the mob in an apocalyptic gunfight at the city hospital. In addition to subduing the criminals, he also has to rescue a newborn baby mistakenly left behind in the flames of the burning nursery.
Writer/director Quentin Tarantino refers to John Woo as "the most exciting director to emerge in action cinema since Sergio Leone." And VARIETY calls the Hong Kong director "the Mozart of Mayhem."
The Voyager/Criterion CAV laserdisc is subtitled with a dubbed version on a separate analog track.
Rated BBFC 18 by the British Board of Film Classification.
Copyright 1992 Golden Princess Film Production Ltd.
Available to buy in the UK (widescreen version).
DVD Features:
Region 0
Keep Case
Letterbox - 1.85
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
Audio Commentary: John Woo - Director
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
3-D Motion Menus
Text/Photo Galleries:
Filmographies
Credits
Notes on HARD BOILED
Costume Designer
Bruce Yu: Costume Designer/Hk
Costume Designer
Janet Chun: Costume Designer/Hk
Director of Photography
Wang Wing-Heng:
Story
John Woo: Hong Kong Director, A BETTER TOMORROW
Special Effects
Lau Hon-Cheung:
Review 1:
"...From Hong Kong with a bullet, an action classic..."
Source: Premiere
p.115 09/01/1994
Review 2:
"...Three of the greatest shootouts ever punctuate John Woo's instant cop classic from Hong Kong..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 02/17/1995
Review 3:
"...The climactic attack on the hospital is as eye-popping as any Busby Berkeley production number..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.41 01/11/2002
Review 4:
"...[Woo is] a very brisk, talented director with a gift for the flashy effect and the bizarre confrontation..."
Source: New York Times
p.C12 06/18/1993
Review 5:
"John Woo's 1992 cop thriller was his last Hong Kong movie, and it's a self-conscious career peak."
Source: Uncut
o,183 12/01/2004
Review 6:
"...All the Woo trademarks are present and correct..."
Source: Total Film
p.118 07/01/2000