Hard Boiled; or, Die Hardest
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and
he thinks he's God. Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and
he thinks he's God.
Cited by many as “the greatest action film of all time” and
“arguably Woo’s masterpiece” which is “more exciting than a dozen Die Hards”,
Hard Boiled was the last movie before John Woo’s departure to Hollywood in the
early 1990s. Having seen it years ago (and being blown away by the action), I
wonder how the movie holds up when revisited today. Without further due,
let’s take a look at Hard Boiled.
Release Info
Directed by: John Woo Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Teresa Mo, Anthony Wong Chau-sang
Language: Cantonese Original Title: 辣手神探 Runtime: 128 min
Synopsis
Hong Kong, 1992. Police officer “Tequila” Yuen (Chow
Yun-fat) tries to eradicate the gun smuggling business which is being controlled by
rival Triad syndicates. However, this results in a brutal war between the
police and the Triads. In the meantime, Superintendent Pang (Philip Chan) has
placed his own trusted man, Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), as an undercover cop in one
of the syndicates. Tequila is not aware of this and he quickly escalates the
situation with one of the Triad bosses, Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-sang), while
relying on info from his own informant in the syndicate. Soon after, Tequila
crosses paths with Tony and learns about his true identity. The two cops discover
that Wong has a huge weapons warehouse beneath Maple Group Hospital. They step
into action, but the psychotic gangster does not let himself get busted that
easily as he takes all patients hostage at the hospital.
Hard Boiled Action, Soft Boiled Screenplay
Without a doubt, Hard Boiled is a classic picture and a
landmark of action cinema, praised by the critics and film scholars, which
still looks impressive today. Nevertheless, I disagree with the claims that
this film is Woo’s finest directorial achievement. Naturally, it cemented his
reputation as the master of action genre and it also allowed him to break away
from the label of a guy who can only make gangster epics, as this film
definitely glamorises the police. Still again, apart from mind-blowing stunts,
great ensemble cast, and jazz music score, Hard Boiled suffers greatly in terms
of a screenplay.
Evidently the plot as a whole is not the issue, because it
serves, similarly to Die Hard (1988), as an excuse to provide breathtaking action set
pieces, but the very little connections here and there which tie the events
together (getting the characters from point A to point B) are the excruciating
disadvantages which negatively influenced my enjoyment of the movie. Here are
some of the examples:
1. After finding the way to the gun warehouse, Tony closes the
door behind him and Tequila. He just shrugs it off as if nothing happened and
later they are forced to blast their way out with grenades. (Quick fix: the
door automatically shuts behind them.)
2. Tequila informs Teresa (Teresa Mo) that he will send her
flowers as a signal to begin the evacuation of the patients (after which he
puts a flower in her pocket). (Quick fix: Wouldn’t it be easier just to tell
her to begin the evacuation in about 20 minutes?) What would have happened if she had
not found a flower in her pocket?
3. The ambiguous “dead cop” subplot: In the teahouse, it is
clearly visible that Tequila does not shoot any cop, but his partner is killed
by one of the gangsters. Later in the film, Tequila tells Tony that he “killed
a cop” during the teahouse raid. How? When? (My guess: this scene was cut out).
4. Tequila takes Foxy (Tung Wei) to Maple Group hospital after
he told him that the Triads stash their guns there! (Quick fix: Foxy should
tell him that already in the hospital).
5. Putting out the fire with piss… This sequence is so hilarious
that it’s forgivable.
Well, I have enumerated a handful of issues which result
from incoherent script. I am not a nitpicker and I really hate calling out such
things. Hard Boiled aspires to bring out the best out of visual
entertainment and it certainly delivers on that front, but the plot holes make
the memorable characters look like idiots running in a fog.
Yet, I guess that I should be grateful for what the
screenplay officially became in the end, as John Woo and his team had so many
difficulties with developing it (for example, the original plot about Tony Leung
poisoning children was dropped). Then, the screenwriter Barry Wong passed away
halfway through the rewrites and the teahouse raid was filmed without any
script whatsoever.
Summing up, here is my conclusion about this movie:
action-wise: it knocks off every competition; story-wise: it lags behind.
Hence, I do not regard it as John Woo’s “all time best of the best”. This
status rightfully belongs to Bullet in the Head (1990). However, Hard Boiled is still
a wonderful fun as well a great lesson in filmmaking for any prospective action
director. My praise goes especially to Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung who work so
well together on screen. It’s also great to see Teresa Mo, but she has only one
shootout scene in the entire film. In addition, Anthony Wong shines as the bad
guy, but he is significantly overshadowed by Philip Kwok as Mad Dog.
Recommendations
Hard Boiled is the equation mark between John Woo and
action. Go ahead, grab the movie, and check it out for its stunning stunts,
explosions, and shootouts. At the same time, make sure to suspend your
disbelief during blatantly obvious plot holes which disrupt the flow of the picture.
Upon further thought, it is quite a shame that we were given a sequel to Hard
Boiled only in form of a video game. Officer Tequila deserves a movie comeback.
Overall score (screenplay: 4/10, action 10/10, thus
ultimately): 7/10
