Hard Boiled
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Hard Boiled (Template:Zh-cp; literally: Hot-Handed God of Detectives), released in 1992 is John Woo's last Hong Kong action film before going to Hollywood.
It is considered one of the best and perhaps definitive heroic bloodshed movies of all time, if only for the bloodshed. It increased John Woo's and Chow Yun-Fat's popularity outside Hong Kong, and gained a unique cult status among genre fans worldwide, though critically viewed "it lacks the emotional resonance of The Killer or the powerful nihilism of Bullet in the Head." (Ross Chen [1] (http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/hard_boiled.htm)) What starts off as a stylish though mundane "cop-undercover cop duo versus triads" flick turns out to be a two hour long action extravaganza with Chow Yun-Fat guns akimbo stacking up the body count (reportedly to at least 230) while rescuing babies from a burning hospital.
A descriptive quote with reference to the title sees Chow Yun-Fat yet again (after A Better Tomorrow (1986) ("A god is someone who controls his destiny.") and God of Gamblers (1989)) in the role of a sort of god, which has by now become a cliché: "Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God". The movie was referenced in, among others, Infernal Affairs (2002), which includes the scene in which Tony Leung Chiu Wai's character, a mole for the police, receives surveillance gear from his superintendent along with a birthday gift which he thinks is also a piece of gear before being told it is his birthday. The only difference being that in Hard Boiled Tony Leung receives a lighter and in Infernal Affairs he receives a watch.
Cast includes
- Chow Yun-Fat
- Tony Leung Chiu Wai
- Teresa Mo
- Philip Chan
- Philip Kwok
- Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
- Bowie Lam
- Bobbie Au-Yeung
- Ng Shui Ting
- Kwan Hoi-Shan
- Tung Wei