Rajada de Sangue

No pun intended - this has a few titles. One of them (in the UK) is Hard Boiled 2 (in Germany apparently it was Hard Boiled 3!) ... even though it originally was released before the original Hard Boiled movie by John Woo. Now someone asked the distributor in the UK why they would do something like that ... well apart from this being an action movie and having a climax at a hospital ... they told him that they asked John Woo if it would be ok to use the title ... and he gave them his blessings.

Not sure if that actually is true (I believe the guy who told the story, that he asked and got the answer) ... I mean if they told the truth. Whatever the case, the movie is filled with action and comedy ... and as they say: you couldn't do a movie like this nowadays in China (Hong Kong) ... the Daka Lama is clearly the Dalai Lama ... blasphemous and apparently not something the government would let anyone get away with.

Andy Lau is always a treat - the supporting cast is also really good. I still prefer the original and only Hard Boiled ... but this is a great action movie too (stunt and otherwise)

If you are familiar to Wong Jing's work than you know what you can expect. Silly stories with over the top comedy. The action in his movies are always secondary. And that is the way to approach a movie like this otherwise you surely get disappointed. Somehow they gave this movie the subtitle "Hard Boiled 2" even when there is no connection to that superior movie. But when you use a title like that it does raise some expectation concerning the action. And let me make it very clear since the other reviews on this site neglected to give a sufficient description of the action. It is nowhere near the level of "Hard Boiled". How could it be? That is nearly impossible since Woo's Hard Boiled is one of the best action movies ever made. Most of the action scenes in "Last Blood" are pretty decent that consists of gun play and some hand to hand combat. But they are short and not that impressive. There is one chase sequence that showed promise. The bad guys follow the main characters into a crowded subway station on their motorcycles. Now here is a setup for bloodshed and mayhem. Sadly the director preferred a less creative solution and ended the scene to quickly with taking out one bad guy and completely ignoring the remaining ones. And throughout the whole movie Andy Lau is goofing off. There is not one scene where he is serious even when a gun is pointed at him. He used to do to this often in his movies those days. But somehow it bothered me big time in this one. This again is proof that you should approach this movie more as a comedy than an action movie.

Last Blood (1990) was a funny flick by Wong Jing. The Daka Lama is severely wounded while making a goodwill trip to Singapore. A triad's girlfriend is also wounded when a group of Japanese Assassins try to kill the Lama. The two share a rare blood type and only five people in Singapore have it. But three are dead and one is on holiday. The fate of Asia lies in the body of Fatty who's being chased by two cops, the vacationing triad and a horde of terrorists. The film winds up in a crackerjack finale. Wong Jing throws in everything including the kitchen sink in this low budgeted action film.

One scene to watch for is the man in a wheelchair during the Hospital invasion. It's a real hoot. Film stars Alan Tam, Andy Lau and Eric Tsang who's also the Producer. Wong Jing is a hired gun on the film but he brings his usual stamp on to the screen. Blackie Ko is the Action Director. This is sometimes called Hardboiled 2, but this came out almost two years before that one and is just as entertaining.

Highly recommended.

This one is no sequel, since it was shot a year before John Woo's breath-taking "tour de force", it just ends in an hospital ; but believe your Phaithful Phrog, it's one of Hong Kong's best, with all the incredible action and beautiful ideas you expect from them - but one or two notches better. The plot's idea - trying to fond a blood donor against a bunch of terrorists - is simple but well-heeded and gives out some brains as well. This ain't got the brains of a Tsui Hark movies or the guts of John Woo, but comes very, very close.

(1990) 12 Hours of Terror/ The Last Blood (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION

The first time I saw this, it was on Laserdisc and that I was so hung up on Hong Kong action movies as they did not use cheap parlor tricks and the action was quick and fearless. I saw this as The Last Blood with zero subtitles, and after Hard-boiled was popular on home video in North America, producers decide to rename it by calling it Hard-boiled Part II even though it was released year earlier, and that it was most likely John Woo who may have been inspired by "The Last Blood" to make Hard- boiled. Anyways there is a impressive shoot out toward the end as well at the hospital. I only watched it solely for the action sequences and nothing else, made during the time when neither Hollywood or before the China takeover of Hong Kong. Anyways because "The Last Blood" is available on line streaming, I am able to understand it better. Written and directed by Wong Jing, the king of Hong Kong's Roger Corman movies that showcases comedy, action, violence or sleaze. It has Lui Tai (Alan Tam) and his partner, Stone (Ka-Yan Leung) infiltrating a possible terrorist with the main baddie, Saporo (Jackson Lou) managing to escape. Saporo main target is the Dehla Lama. A close happens on his life that ended up with the Lama going to the hospital where he has a rare blood type. It turns out Fatty (Eric Tsang) has that rare blood type except that he refuses to cooperate- hence the title "The Last Blood". With gang leader on board, Brother Bee (Andy Lau) on board with the mystery here is that whenever they go somewhere the bad guys appear to be one step on top of it. The point is the action to which all I did to rewatch this movie was use the fast forward to see some of the action since the comedy falls flat with some of the biggest highlights are the explosions that looked very dangerous.

And anyone who is a fan of John Woo's Hard-boiled released a year after "The Last Blood" should be able to tell he was heavily influenced by watching this movie particularly the motorcycle chase sequences; the final shoot out at the hospital, among other action movies Woo has seen.