We can start the review by stating one fact about this movie: the body
count is 307. That is over two bodies a minute.
To sum it up, this action film is pound for pound, inch for inch one of the biggest, baddest, most intense, and most insane action movies in the entire spectrum of cinema----not just China but the entire planet. This movie nearly immediately starts off with a bang (Well, a medley of bangs) and then interweaves action sequences with a plot full of betrayal, undercover work and slight double-crossing (Yea, technically there is a plot) before leading up to a finale that ranks up there as among the best you'll ever see.
Hard Boiled is 90s action cinema plain and simple: takes no prisoners, the plot comes second, and its main focus is to satisfy the audience by any means necessary. But the biggest difference between this bloody gem and your old-school 90s Michael Bay and James Cameron is that Hard Boiled was far, far riskier in terms of stuntwork and far, far less restricted with rules, regulations, and insurance companies. Not to knock the safe techniques of Hollywood, but the extremely dedicated staff behind this dangerously destructive movie paved the way more stunts, explosions, and utter mayhem that just wouldn't be humanely possible in a film made in the American borders.
John Woo (and Chow Yun-Fat) is at his prime here, cut down by age and Hollywood limits shortly after his peak in 1992. Unlike your rapid-fire editing, extreme close-ups, shaky camera-work, and over-abundance of CGI of your modern, easier-to-make action movies, Hard Boiled was layers of stuntwork, lack of trickery, exquisite long shots of just egregious shootouts---and so much action you might feel like having to clean the television set once the credits start rolling. The final showdown alone takes up about half an hour and has more broken glass than a mirror maze overrun by black cats.
Physics and continuity are stretched to the limit as the gun fu style of action allows for thousands of bullets to fly out of the hundreds of guns at such an intense and entertaining pace you don't realize how impossible the entire sequence is. Picture high-energy martial arts except instead of punches and kicks you'll see bullets fly at each other and hundreds of near-misses from our heroes and some of the enemies. You are going to see years of action, violence, blood and guts compacted into a two-hour chunk of pure exhilaration.
Non-action moviegoers would probably see this as mundane and repetitive, devoid of good dialogue and a deep plot. Action fans will see this as a sweet dream come true as you'll see fights of gunfire in multiple angles, multiple speeds, and plenty of creativity to keep it all engaging--while telling a tale about good cops going up against really bad men. This is John Woo at his best, Chinese cinema at its finest, and a violently beautiful example of what happens when you rely solely on real life stuntwork and good ol' actual explosives. And most impressive is that with a $5 million budget it feels like a bigger movie than your modern $150-$200 million summer blockbusters.
Loud, uncut, and out of control, Hard Boiled is as tough as nails, and deserves your full attention.
To sum it up, this action film is pound for pound, inch for inch one of the biggest, baddest, most intense, and most insane action movies in the entire spectrum of cinema----not just China but the entire planet. This movie nearly immediately starts off with a bang (Well, a medley of bangs) and then interweaves action sequences with a plot full of betrayal, undercover work and slight double-crossing (Yea, technically there is a plot) before leading up to a finale that ranks up there as among the best you'll ever see.
Hard Boiled is 90s action cinema plain and simple: takes no prisoners, the plot comes second, and its main focus is to satisfy the audience by any means necessary. But the biggest difference between this bloody gem and your old-school 90s Michael Bay and James Cameron is that Hard Boiled was far, far riskier in terms of stuntwork and far, far less restricted with rules, regulations, and insurance companies. Not to knock the safe techniques of Hollywood, but the extremely dedicated staff behind this dangerously destructive movie paved the way more stunts, explosions, and utter mayhem that just wouldn't be humanely possible in a film made in the American borders.
John Woo (and Chow Yun-Fat) is at his prime here, cut down by age and Hollywood limits shortly after his peak in 1992. Unlike your rapid-fire editing, extreme close-ups, shaky camera-work, and over-abundance of CGI of your modern, easier-to-make action movies, Hard Boiled was layers of stuntwork, lack of trickery, exquisite long shots of just egregious shootouts---and so much action you might feel like having to clean the television set once the credits start rolling. The final showdown alone takes up about half an hour and has more broken glass than a mirror maze overrun by black cats.
Physics and continuity are stretched to the limit as the gun fu style of action allows for thousands of bullets to fly out of the hundreds of guns at such an intense and entertaining pace you don't realize how impossible the entire sequence is. Picture high-energy martial arts except instead of punches and kicks you'll see bullets fly at each other and hundreds of near-misses from our heroes and some of the enemies. You are going to see years of action, violence, blood and guts compacted into a two-hour chunk of pure exhilaration.
Non-action moviegoers would probably see this as mundane and repetitive, devoid of good dialogue and a deep plot. Action fans will see this as a sweet dream come true as you'll see fights of gunfire in multiple angles, multiple speeds, and plenty of creativity to keep it all engaging--while telling a tale about good cops going up against really bad men. This is John Woo at his best, Chinese cinema at its finest, and a violently beautiful example of what happens when you rely solely on real life stuntwork and good ol' actual explosives. And most impressive is that with a $5 million budget it feels like a bigger movie than your modern $150-$200 million summer blockbusters.
Loud, uncut, and out of control, Hard Boiled is as tough as nails, and deserves your full attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment