Monday, August 6, 2007

Movie review: Hard Boiled 2-Disc Ultimate Edition

Hard Boiled is now out in a "Two-Disc Ultimate Edition" DVD, and having never watched the film before, I must say that this was one of the most impressive action movies I've ever seen.

Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung star as two men stuck on opposite sides of the law - almost. After his partner is killed in a bloody gunfight with Triads, police officer Tequila (Yun-Fat) vows revenge on anyone who stands in his way. "Hard boiled", he gets in arguments with his superiors and colleagues, but no one's denying that he's getting results done. Bullets fly and blood splatters as he drills farther into the underworld, but things get really interesting when he meets a mysterious young man (Leung) who just happens to be an undercover cop. The two form an alliance to take down an evil Triad leader once and for all, but many innocent lives will fall before their mission is complete.

Hard Boiled is one of the most action-packed movies ever, and it reminds you of the director John Woo used to be. Woo used to be my favorite action director; after doing countless Asian flicks, he moved on to America to do a favorite-at-the-time, Face/Off, Broken Arrow and the so-so-but-certainly-entertaining Mission: Impossible II. Since then, though, he has done such disasters as Windtalkers and one of the worst movies ever, Paycheck. Thankfully, this 1992 flick was made during the peak of Woo's career, as the film is just loaded with bloody violence that is rarely over the top, other than the fact that about 500 hundred people die throughout the course of the movie.

Yun-Fat and Leung are great, and it's fun to see them at a younger age. The men have moved on to do more dramatic fare now, so it's great to see them in their action hero prime - hell, I didn't even know Leung was acting back then.

There's nothing much else to say. Hard Boiled is a great action movie, and fans of the film will take delight in a second disc of bonus features. Those who haven't witnessed this movie before... should.

No comments: