Hard-Boiled (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Hard-Boiled (1992) -- J. Woo

Not for the squeamish or faint-of-heart, John Woo pulls out all the stops as he directs reckless cop Chow Yun-Fat to take on an unscrupulous arms dealer (is there any other kind?) who has a secret hideout in the basement of a hospital. Cue action set-piece in the maternity ward. Tony Leung plays the undercover cop struggling to break the case from the inside. (Of these two mega-stars, Tony's profile continues to rise in Hong Kong and with his work for Wong Kar-Wai whereas Chow Yun-Fat's Hollywood adventure seems to have been a flop and so too with John Woo). But back to Hard-Boiled: it is a heavily-stylized (slow motion, candy coloured) ultra-violent (but videogame-like) all action movie. In between the shoot-em-ups, the two stars emote and deliver the kind of sappy lines that Woo often gives to his tough guy leads. Woo himself puts in a very low key appearance as a jazz club owner.