Lashou shentan (Hard Boiled, 1992)

John Woo

Hong Kong

126 min, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)

Give a man a gun and he's Superman. Give him two, and he's God.

The last film Woo made in Hong Kong before moving to the US to direct schlock with Van Damme (Chow Yun-Fat for Van Dammnit?), Hard Boiled is considered by many to be his best. Ultraviolent, ultrastylish, and ultracool, it's the ultimate homage to Hong Kong police and perhaps cops everywhere. Woo said that he was very angry when he made the film, because of the impending turnover, because of the sky-rocketing crime, and because the police seemed unable to cope with anything. It shows. The film is the Hong Kong version of Dirty Harry, except the main lead is much more likeable.

Within the first 5 minutes of the film, a mad shootout at a tea house leaves Tequila's (Chow Yun-Fat) best friend dead. This action sequence packs two of the most memorable scenes too. (1) Tequila sliding down the stairway rails guns blazing in both hands (it can be seen on Criterion's DVD cover). (2) The scene where he dives into the room, rolls over a table covered in white flour, all under nonstop machine-gun fire, and finally comes to an abrupt halt with his gun pointed at the triad's forehead, managing not to lose to toothpick in his mouth. Closeup of Tequila's ghost-white face, cut to the triad anticipating his end, cut back to Tequila who spits out the toothpick and squeezes the trigger. A splash of blood over his face.

Tequila is the hard-boiled cop who now wants to bring down the gang responsible for the teahouse carnage. This would be Johnny Wong's (Anthony Wong) gun smuggling operation, which itself is trying to eliminate a rival gang run by Mr. Hui (Kwan Hoi-Shan) and his right-hand assassin Alan (Tony Leung). The whole setup is complicated by Alan actually being an undercover cop. So deep undercover, in fact, that nobody on the force except Tequila's boss knows it. Alan is also torn between the call of duty which makes him an everyday criminal who has killed quite a few people, and his desire to retire from it all, and hopefully forget. When Wong induces him to betray Mr. Hui, Alan also discovers that his loyalties are getting the best of him.

The sequence in which Wong's gang raids Mr. Hui's storehouse is the second memorable action-packed shootout. Stuffed to the brim with imaginative stunts, it also showcases Woo's rather unhealthy habit of putting his actors in harm's way. There are several places that I could swear the people are genuinely scared by what's happening around them. This, however, is still nothing compared to the final hospital scene. Anyway though, here we see Tequila jumping right in the middle of this gang warfare, determined to get Wong, come what may. In the end, he and Alan come to the classic Woo stand-off, standing against each other, guns touching the foreheads. In slow motion, Tequila squeezes the trigger, the hammer slowly falls, there is a loud clink but no shot... he's out of slugs. Alan smiles, pulls on the hammer spur, and slowly uncocks his gun. Sweat runs down both men's faces. Alan disappears in the smoke without saying a word.

Tequila comes to realize that Alan is no ordinary triad. He confronts his boss, which is his habit --- during an earlier mouthing off he tells him, You know, you're really full of shit. The toilet's over there. --- and comes away convinced that Alan in an undercover cop. This is Tequila's weak spot because during the teahouse shootout, he killed an undercover cop whose identity he did not know. It is inevitable that he and Alan will soon become friends.

This they do although without any of the sappy sentimental fluff that accompanies bonding in Woo's earlier films or the American versions in Lethal Weapon, for example. It's straightforward, with few words, and no memorable oneliners. When Wong finally tries to dispatch a police informant who he has uncovered in his organization, Alan and Tequila have to act together to bring down the guy. The last 20 minutes of the film is one big parade of fireworks and easily the best action sequence committed to film.

The quite insane Wong has appropriated a hospital, in whose basement he's laying his cache of firearms. Tequila and Alan are discovered before the big police reinforcements arrive although there are plenty of plain-clothes cops in the hospital, including Tequila's love interest Teresa (Teresa Mo). What follows next is beyond description and has to be seen several times. Suffice to say that Woo's direction is nothing short of amazing: there are long tracking shots that follow Tequila and Alan as they advance through corridors filled with triads. There are no cuts for a while, which just shows how superbly choreographed the sequence was.

While the triads are trying to kill everyone in sight, patients including, the police are doing their best to protect themselves and the patients. There's a room full of babies and the special forces begin evacuating them one by one through the window under the constant fire of triads from nearby windows. In the end, Tequila remains with one baby. Easily the most memorable part of the whole sequence, Tequila's narrow escape with the baby is worth describing.

Tequila hugs the baby while shooting triads that come from just about every imaginable corner. He is wounded and some of his own blood splatters on the baby's face. Tequila smiles, apologizes to the baby, and wipes it off. Wong blows up the hospital by detonating a bunch of explosives dispersed all around the building. There's fire all around Tequila, the exit is blocked, and he must use the window. He is, however, on the second floor. He grabs a cable with one hand and charges the window but before he can jump out of it, a nearby explosion blows him away from the pane. His clothes catch fire, which he cannot put down because both his hands are full. Suddenly, the baby pees and extinguishes the flames. Tequila leaps from the window, behind him the entire building goes up in flames and smoke.

Incredible stuff that has not been bested either by Woo's big budget Hollywood outings or by any other directors. It is true that as a film-maker Woo leaves a lot to be desired. Often he is not very interested in getting the framing right, or the music, or the dialogue. He always gets the action right, though and this has earned him a warm place in my heart. The bodycount of Hard Boiled is 230, although at times it appears much higher. The film is banned in Sweden, I have no idea why, but maybe we should apply what the film suggests: If you obstruct me again, I'll castrate you.

The Criterion DVD is out of print and costs big bucks on eBay. I have the Fox Lorber version, which is inferior in some respects but still quite watchable, and is not cropped slightly as the Criterion release. The colors are a bit weak, but not washed out. It is also much better than the awful Tartan R2 release. I have not seen the HK disc. The Fox Lorber release also comes with feature-length audio commentary by John Woo and producer Terence Chang. It's actually quite entertaining and reveals both why Woo made the film, and why he rewrote the original script with Barry Wong. It appears that the Fox Lorber DVD is also now out of print.

March 1, 2003