Director: John Woo
Screenplay: Barry Wong Ping-Yiu, Gordon Chan, John Woo (uncredited), Chan Hing-Ka (uncredited)
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Teresa Mo Shun-Kwan, Philip Chan Yan-Kin, Phillip Kwok Chui, Kwan Hoi-San, John Woo
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 128 min
Year: 1992
BBFC Certificate: 18
When Arrow announced they’d obtained the rights to 156 films from the Golden Princess Film Production library (via Shout Factory), the ones most people were excited about were the John Woo titles. As you might expect, it’s not taken the company long to get around to releasing one of these. However, surprisingly, they’ve decided to start with Hard Boiled, the last film Woo made in Hong Kong before moving to Hollywood. I say surprised, but it is a favourite among many fans of the director. It’s a toss-up between this and The Killer for me, but both are all-timers.
So, of course, as soon as Arrow’s Hard Boiled UHD was announced, I jumped on the chance of reviewing it.
Going into the early 1990s, Woo was unhappy about continuing to glorify the Triads at a time when crime was a big problem in Hong Kong. So he decided to focus on a cop this time, influenced by American thrillers like Dirty Harry and Bullitt.
I’ll borrow Arrow’s press blurb to describe the story; “Iconic actor Chow Yun-Fat (City on Fire) stars as Tequila, a gung-ho cop working to bring down Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong, Infernal Affairs), the villainous triad boss who maintains a stranglehold on Hong Kong’s illegal gun trade. Johnny attempts to recruit Ah-Long (Tony Leung, Bullet in the Head), an assassin from a rival syndicate, just as the insubordinate Tequila gets taken off the case. Taking justice into his own hands, Tequila tracks Ah-Long down and uncovers an intricate web of deception that threatens to boil over into all-out war.”
The original concept for Hard Boiled (a.k.a. Lat sau san taam – or ‘Spicy Hand Magic Cop’, literally translated into English), was based on the true account of a man (to be played by Tony Leung) who was poisoning babies through baby food. Chow Yun-Fat was going to be the Harry Callahan-like cop trying to take him down. This was felt to be too dark and unpalatable, though, particularly for its popular stars and its director, who was already set to be making his Hollywood debut following the production.
The film’s pre-production continued to face problems when writer Barry Wong tragically died of a heart attack, leaving the script unfinished. Gordon Chan was brought in to work on it, with uncredited support from John Woo and Chan Hing-Ka, but Woo decided to move into production before it was finished.
Even after the script concept changed, Woo still originally planned to do something more gritty and less stylised. However, once production started, Woo couldn’t help himself and reverted to his usual stylish, gleefully over-the-top approach.
And I’m glad he did, because it’s so damned good.
For such a visually stunning and expertly produced action film, loaded with stunts, it’s surprising to hear that much of it was done on the fly, so to speak. On top of starting shooting without a finished script, they came up with a lot of ideas on set. Woo says he never storyboarded anything when working in Hong Kong, either. It was all in his head.
They actually shot the opening teahouse scene before the scriptwriting had even started. The location was closing down, and they had the chance to use it, so just jumped on it, coming up with a generic situation they could slot into the story at a later date.
It just goes to show how much of a genius Woo is as a filmmaker. There’s a blend of kinetic energy and balletic grace that no one else has pulled off to the same degree. The camera moves so beautifully, the use of light and smoke is gorgeous, and the editing is masterful (done by Woo and a trio of Hong Kong post-production legends), blending slow-motion with fast-paced carnage and perfect pacing. Amidst all the chaos on screen, you can always keep a handle on what’s going on, too. There’s none of the rapid-fire shaky-cam nonsense that just gives you a headache.
Woo also knows how to add texture to an action scene, to give it greater impact. Not only does he go heavy on the squibs, but he also ensures there are sparks and debris flying everywhere to add to the intensity of his action scenes.
You also get a stunning 5-minute long-take in the film. It doesn’t sound like a long time, but with all the violence on screen, it’s a remarkable achievement. Plus, I love the fact that the elevator we go into partway through the scene was a dummy, so the crew had to quickly reorganise the set whilst the doors were shut, so that it looked like a different level once the doors reopened, 20 seconds later.
The action is expertly choreographed by Phillip Kwok and Bruce Law. There are some incredible stunts, and the actors and stunt performers regularly throw themselves around the sets in dynamic, inventive ways.
There’s more to Hard Boiled than just the violence, though. Whilst the undercover cop concept is not new to cinema, it makes for effective drama. Woo was mentored by Chang Cheh, and his cherished theme of brotherhood rubs off. Whilst Tequila and Ah-Long don’t get as close as some of Woo’s heroes, they still develop a friendship, and the bonds they share with other male characters are vital catalysts to their arcs.
This gives Leung, in particular, quite a meaty role to work with. His character gets close to the mob boss whose family he has infiltrated, and he is forced to kill him at the film’s turning point. Leung plays this with quiet intensity.
Chow is as charismatic as ever, too, and Phillip Kwok is great as ‘Mad Dog’, Johnny Wong’s brutal right-hand man, who, nevertheless, has morals of his own.
All-in-all, Hard Boiled is loaded with stunningly well shot, edited and choreographed action, and backed up by strong performances and character work. This all results in, quite possibly, the greatest action movie of all time – or at least top 10. No matter how often I watch it, I always find myself in awe of how incredible it is.
Film:
Hard Boiled is out on 30th March in the UK in separate UHD and Blu-Ray releases, courtesy of Arrow Video. I watched the UHD version, and I thought it looked incredible. Colours are rich, and the dynamic range allows for an incredible level of detail. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed. As for audio, you get a choice of either Cantonese mono, Cantonese Dolby Atmos or English dub mono tracks. I opted for the Cantonese Mono and thought it sounded great.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS *
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
– Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
– Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Priscilla Page and archival writing and an interview with John Woo by Stéphane Moïssakis
– Six postcard-sized artcards
DISC ONE – FEATURE AND EXTRAS (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
– 4K Ultra HD (2160p) Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
– Original lossless Cantonese mono and Dolby Atmos audio, and English mono audio
– Optional newly translated English subtitles for the Cantonese soundtracks and optional English for the deaf and hard of hearing subtitles for the English soundtrack
– Brand new audio commentary with director John Woo and film journalist Drew Taylor
– Brand new audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng
– Archival audio commentary with John Woo and producer Terence Chang
– Archival audio commentary with John Woo, Terence Chang, film critic Dave Kehr and filmmaker Roger Avary
– Deleted and extended scenes
– Original trailers
– Image gallery
DISC TWO – EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
– Violent Night, a brand new interview with John Woo
– Boiling Over, a brand new interview with actor Anthony Wong
– No Room for Failure, a brand new interview with Terence Chang
– Hard To Resist, a brand new interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan
– Boiled to Perfection, a brand new interview with screenwriter Chan Hing-Ka
– Body Count Blues, a brand new interview with composer Michael Gibbs
– Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Hard Boiled, a brand new interview with author and Hong Kong cinema expert Grady Hendrix
– Gun-Fu Fever, a brand new interview with author Leon Hunt
– Chewing the Fat, a brand new interview with academic Lin Feng
– American Cinematheque 2025 Q&A with John Woo
– The Test of Time, an archival documentary featuring interviews with John Woo, Terence Chang, editor David Wu and actor/stunt coordinator Philip Kwok
– Archival interviews with actors Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung
* The Limited Edition Blu-ray release is the same but with a 1080p HD presentation of the film, of course, without Dolby Vision.
I’m going to be honest here. This set is so loaded with extras that I haven’t had time to look at every single thing that’s included. I skipped two of the commentaries, for starters. Woo features in three of the tracks, recorded at different periods of time. Drew Taylor joins the director for the newly recorded commentary, which is the only Woo track that I listened to. The filmmaker is advancing in years, so his voice is a little grizzled and hard to make out in places, but he still has plenty to say about his experiences making the film.
Frank Djeng goes solo for another one of the commentaries. He’s always a safe pair of hands, and this is possibly one of his strongest tracks. He discusses the background of the film and its cast and crew, as well as giving a lot of cultural context. This latter aspect is particularly useful to viewers like myself who have no East Asian heritage, helping us understand some of the wordplay and other references that would have otherwise passed us by.
There’s a recent interview with Woo which runs for 41 minutes. He talks about making Hard Boiled in great detail. A lot of what he says appears elsewhere, but it’s nice to have something more focused and polished than the commentaries, for those without the time or patience for all of them.
There’s also a recent Q&A with Woo recorded at American Cinematheque. Again, he repeats quite a few of the stories from elsewhere, but there are still some new additions and nice moments, spurred on by audience feedback.
Dr. Lin Feng talks about Chow Yun Fat in an essay. She also talks about how she feels the emotional intensity and characters draw people to the film, beyond the action.
There’s also a new interview with composer Michael Gibbs. I enjoyed this. He talks about how different the process was from most of the scores he’s done. He also discusses his approach to the main themes of the film.
Another new interview is with producer Terence Chang. This is a good one, covering the genesis of the film as well as telling stories about the production.
‘Gun Fu Fever’ sees Leon Hunt talk about the ‘heroic bloodshed’ boom and Hard Boiled‘s place within it. It’s a decent piece.
Grady Hendrix also discusses the film in an interview. This runs over some key facts surrounding the production, making for a clear overview of its history if you don’t have the time or patience to sit through the countless hours of extras on the disc.
There’s also a new interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan. He’s humble about his role, describing his part as simply polishing the script. He talks about working with Woo. It’s a nice piece.
I haven’t got around to the new interviews with Anthony Wong and uncredited screenwriter Chan Hing-Ka, but I’ll get to them soon and try to report back.
Also included is an archival 75-minute making-of documentary called ‘The Test of Time’. This is fantastic. Based around interviews with Woo, editor David Wu and stunt co-ordinator Phillip Kwok, it tells the full story of the production. Some of the stories have been told before, but, being recorded closer to the time, they feel fresher and more clearly told.
There are archival interviews with Tony Leung and Chow Yun Fat, too. These both see the actors talking about their work with Woo. They’re worth watching.
I didn’t get a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
So, Arrow have pulled out all the stops to give us the ultimate edition of what I believe is an absolute masterpiece. Granted, there’s an awful lot of repetition within the extras – I don’t know how many times I need to hear the story about Chow Yun-Fat’s terrifying experience running from the John Woo-controlled explosions in the film’s finale. However, too much is better than not enough, and I still enjoyed listening to all the stories behind the production. It’s going to be hard to top as the disc of the year.
Disc/Package:
