Rajada de Sangue

Like in every HK action franchise you can never know whether movies are actually connected.As I reckon this movie`s only tie to famed `Hard Boiled` is the title given by money-lovin` producers. Anyway,two ideas keep Woo`s movie connected with this feature.First of all,main characters are a detective and the `golden hearted` mobster.Second similarity is that plots and final showdowns of both movies have something to do with hospitals. Each movie contains energetic and rampaging shootouts. While Woo`s original had all main landmarks of his opus (Scorsesian and Melivillian influence),the sequel shows that it was made by eminent HK director Wong Jing.His landmarks are `Looney Tunes` pacing,speeded up action and plotting derived from 1980s Hollywood action fare.The difference is quite obvious. This movie works remarkably well and it doesn`t disgrace the `Hard Boiled` franchise.Of course it works well on its own since Woo`s and Wong Jing`s styles are barely comparable. If you overrule the input of dumb HK comedy `Hard Boiled 2` is highly enjoyable.Wong Jing provides us with enough razzle-dazzle that makes this movie a must not just for HK action afficionados but even for weekend fans of the genre that look for recognizable HK fare.If you like high-calibre gunplay,high bodycounts and Eastern Heroes this feature may scratch your itches. Interesting aspect of the movie is its explicit anti-communist orientation because characters joke a lot with the Red China.

This is a solid Heroic Bloodshed drama with some EXCELLENT scenes of stunt work and gun play. The plot doesn't cover anything memorable, however it has a fast pacing so the run-time will go by fairly quickly. A high religious figure visits Singapore with full knowledge of a planned terrorist attack, although he entrusts the local police to protect him if anything awry should go down (which it most certainly does). The movie follows a group of ragtag men who try to save the religious figure's life after it becomes endangered and on-the-line in a local hospital. A terrorist group wishes to have the figure killed, and many waves of enemies confront our group of ragtag heroes in the midst of assassination attempts. There's a multitude of great action present within the movie, and a couple scenes should surprise you in terms of WOW.. If your a fan of over-the-top action movies then this should be a satisfying watch. - 7/10

(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.

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.

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.