The Rouge Cop and the Undercover Cop up against some gangster motherfuckers in John Woo's blueprint on how to make the motherfucker of all motherfuckin' action movies. The Jazz Club. The paperboy. The fuckin' birds at the teahouse. The first time Tequila shoots 2 guns at once. Automatic fuckin' weapons. Staircase ownage. Tequila's toothpick. White as a ghost. A chat with JW. High-tech computers. The last book your fuckin' ass will ever read. Pretty-pretty-oh-so-fuckin'-pretty flowers. Never trust an icky eel. Anthony Wong's hair. Fishin'. The impossible question: Who's a badder badass motherfucker; Mad Dog from Hard Boiled or Mad Dog from The Raid? Motorcycle madness. A grand fuckin' entrance. A Zippo. Paper cranes. Fun on a boat. Fuckin' Foxy. Mad…

A brilliant action-thriller that rightfully deserves its status as being one of the very finest & profoundly influential films for the action genre, Hard Boiled unquestionably delivers tons of masterful action sequences that are easily among the best filmed out there in cinematic history, while also maintaining a sensibly straightforward plot that for sure works just about all the way through.

The prominent characters in this are likewise incredible to watch despite loads of bullets firing & explosives erupting all over every now and then as well, with Chow Yun-Fat & Tony Leung Chiu-Wai being the obvious standouts.

It's also substantial that there is some emotional attachment with a few of the characters here, too, as it no doubt makes the film all…

An absolutely ballistic, no-holds-barred, over-the-top yet purely unadulterated action extravaganza to come out from Hong Kong during the the early 90s, Hard Boiled raises the bar for action in cinema with its heart-pounding & jaw-dropping sequences and cements John Woo's reputation as the most influential director when it comes to action filmmaking.

The story of Hard Boiled concerns two ace cops; one is a tough-as-nails detective in his department while the other one works as an undercover agent and has risen sharply in the underworld over the years. The plot covers their initial friction with each other followed by a mutual partnership as the two eventually team up to take down & wipe out Hong Kong's most ruthless mobster & his crime syndicate.…

Can more movies open with a clarinet solo from our hero?

It’s balls to the wall action with little plot and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Are the explosions always necessary? If you’re John Woo, yes. Everything needs to explode sometimes, and that’s ok.

Also TONY LEUNG IS IN THIS! I adore the guy from all the Wong Kar-Wai movies and was not expecting to see him here.

You always know your hero is going to get out of it, but it’s a matter of how. How is he going to shoot his way out of a burning building holding with a baby in his hand? It’s all incredibly fun.

This is so radically violent compared to US action…

A catalogue of every image, theme and move John Woo had made his own in the previous five years blow up to an extreme beyond even his usual outsized melodramatics. Written as it was been filmed (when Tony Leung amazing introduction was shot he was supposed to be an actual psychotic killer) it remain coherent and surprising emotional effective thanks to how focused Woo’s images are. The film is predicted in a motif of collateral damage, unlike The Killer there is always an innocent around ready to be shot and even our heroes can’t do nothing but occasionally hit the wrong target. A place of healing is turned into an war zone between a whole inefficient government (who does more…

From the opening scene of the rain covered, neon-lit streets of the city, superimposed over Chow Yun-Fat sweating, drinking a slammer and playing clarinet in a dark jazz club, we can see that this film matches its title perfectly. This is a Hard-Boiled police story in the grand tradition of Harry Callaghan, Popeye Doyle and Frank Bullitt. Everything is black and white, the hero does what needs to be done to save the day and if the brass at City Hall don't like it they can swivel. In fact Chow Yun-Fat's character, Tequila Yuen, seems to contain every cop cliché there is: matchstick chewing renegade cop, putting himself in the mind of the killer, eating around dead bodies. That's okay…