Hard Boiled

Hard Boiled ({{zh-cp|c=辣手神探|p=Làshǒu shéntàn}}; literally: Hot-Handed God of Detectives), released in 1992 was the last Hong Kong action film John Woo made before going to Hollywood.

Related Topics:
1992 - Hong Kong - Action film - John Woo - Hollywood

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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 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.

Related Topics:
Heroic bloodshed - Chow Yun-Fat - The Killer - Bullet in the Head - Triad - Akimbo - Body count

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A descriptive quote with reference to the title sees Chow Yun-Fat yet again in the role of a sort of god{{an|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".

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Hard Boiled has a famous action shot in the burning hospital near the end of the movie. It is a single handheld camera shot lasting 2 minutes and 42 seconds that follows the characters of Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as they alternately fight off enemies in frenetically choreographed action and engage in emotional dialogue, through many corridors and rooms spanning two levels of the hospital, as well as the intervening elevator ride. On the Criterion DVD, an entire chapter (appropriately titled Two minutes, forty-two seconds) is devoted to this single shot.

Related Topics:
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Criterion

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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.

Related Topics:
Infernal Affairs - Mole - Lighter - Watch

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John Woo is currently collaborating on a kind of sequel to Hard Boiled, in the console game Stranglehold.

Related Topics:
Currently - Console game - Stranglehold

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