Hong Kong Cinema Classics: Hard Boiled (1992)

Hard Boiled is masterful action filmmaker John Woo’s last Hong Kong film before he broke into Hollywood with Hard Target (1993), Broken Arrow (1996) and Face/Off (1997). It stars regular Woo collaborator Chow Yun-fat (The Killer; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as tough-as-nails cop ‘Tequila’ Yuen, who loses his partner in a teahouse shoot-out. Determined to nail the guys who killed his partner, Tequila ignores the advice of his boss and continues his own investigation into an illegal arms syndicate, which undercover cop Alan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai, In the Mood for Love) also happens to be working on infiltrating. Tequila and Alan must team up to take down the Triad gangsters in this operatic tour-de-force action movie classic, which culminates in a heart-stopping single-take gun battle set in a hospital. This is bullet ballet, violence as poetry, a sacred text for action fans.

The Hong Kong Cinema Classics program is presented by Shout! Factory and GKIDS.

Directed by John Woo

1992 | Hong Kong | Cantonese language with English subtitles | DCP