À toute épreuve

An action film at heart. The story of gun smuggling is just a backing just big enough to support the relentless action scenes.

Motorcycles exploding in mid-air, cars blowing up, shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, bombs...it's all here.

They all make for some of the best action sequences ever filmed. A good mix of the gritty and realistic with the improbable and totally fake. Though I think that the ending is bit too much. But what can you expect from Woo aside from a molotov cocktail of intense explosive action and violence?

Action and cult movie fans are advised to watch this film, however others might be turned off by it. 7/10

Rated R: intense strong violence

Hard Boiled is my number 1 favorite Hong Kong John Woo action film that I love to death! I absolutely love this movie to death I love it. It is one of my personal favorite movies. Hard Boiled (1992) is literally John Woo's best Hong Kong action film ever made of all time! The movie is a hard-core action, I have ever seen. It is actually the best Hong Kong action film for me. It belongs right up there with Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) the best action classic film of all time. Chow Yun-Fat, toothpick in mouth, a gun in each hand. That's all of the plot you need to know. In fact, this is THE best pure action epic ever filmed. This is my film, my personal favorite Hong Kong action film of all time.

"Give the guy a gun and he's superman, give him two and he's God."

Not even Jackie Chan can mess with this film or beat it. The only Jackie Chan film that is close to this film is Police Story. In my opinion Hard Boiled is John Woo's best HK action movie from the 90's and a true masterpiece along with Hard Target (1993) his first American movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the main role.

Chow Yun-Fat stars as Tequila, a cop hell-bent on bringing down the gun smugglers responsible for his partner's death. He teams up with an undercover cop Tony Leung whose secret identity as a Triad hit man hangs on thread.

Hard Boiled is my favorite John Woo's HK action movies. This action movie with twists around, The Hong Kong Cinema Hard Boiled has everything in it, no CGI, the stunts are real, the explosions are bigger and the plot of the film is amazing you can get in to the story without guessing what is going to happened and what the plot is about. The warehouse scenes and a shooting a motorcycles in an explosions from Tequila is my favorite scenes in the movie. Sometimes to me it come for this movie is similar to Miami Vice when Tony Leung was undercover cop on a boat he remind me on Sonny Crockett, but the shout outs in this film are awesome. Just Miami Vice TV series where more about drug cartels, this is arms dealer weapons about triads.

The stunts are real and very dangerous. There was a hospital siege which was actually Die Hard in a hospital. Hard Boiled is a classic action film from Hong Kong, they don't make movies like this anymore. Phillip Chan is also in this film which I forgot to mention in my review Philip Chan was also in Van Damme's Bloodsport. You have a great action sequences in the tea house, where the guns are hitting in the bird cage, he shoots a dozen guys and saves a baby, the hospital sequences are real. The first time I saw this film I had no idea that how great film it is, the greatest movie of all time in the cinema. John Woo is also as a bartender in this film. The hospital sequences for me is real, the action is real. The best Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo movie ever made.

Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film written by Barry Wong and directed by John Woo. It stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

10/10 I love this movie to death it is my favorite Hong Kong Action film and it is my second favorite film that I love. It is also my number 2 favorite action film.

When someone mentions, "action movie", the first thing that gets in their minds is guns, fighting, blood, and so on. The people who they instantly think are the likes of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis, even the hammy Seagal, Snipes and Van Damme! Not until recently, I found myself confused about which action movie is the greatest. For me, the ultimate action hero is Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I cannot seem to find a perfect action movie.

Until I began checking up films of John Woo, and stumbled upon this baby...

Only a handful of action movies can compare to this, but most fail to be better. This movie IS the epitome of an action movie, it has never-ending thrill-a-minute stylish action sequences that just make your jaw drop in amazement. It has a body count that can be compared to most epic movies, and it has an excellent atmosphere to further enhance the story. The action sequences are a combination of outrageous, unreal and cool at the same time.

The story is weak, but not very. It provides the basis for the action to unfold. And boy, when it does, you'll have a blast! I mean, they took the premise of a basic cops and robbers tale and highly jazzed it up somehow to deliver this truly authentic and unique piece of movie making. This is not just a movie which action fans alone should see, this movie deserves to be sought and recognized by other highly-ranked film critics.

The director, John Woo, ups the ante on this one. After glorifying the gangsters in his "Better Tomorrow" movies and "The Killer" (which almost is as good as Hard Boiled), he decides to glorify the cops, and he does that, but with bigger elements. He doesn't show realism and humanism in this film, because he wanted to emphasize and slightly exaggerate on how big the elements can go. The criminals would kill lots of innocent people to complete their nefarious deeds, and the violence is hyper-stylized to the point where it becomes necessary to subdue the criminals using that technique. He combines unique Chinese Opera dancing techniques and dramatic shootouts to create stylistically significant and exhilarating gunfights for the eyes and ears to behold. The pace is hyper kinetic as Woo relentlessly dishes out whatever tricks he has up his sleeve, much to our delight.

Chow Yun-Fat's status as an action hero is immortalized here in his performance as super cop Tequila, who dodges bullets and shoot crooks while cooing a baby to sleep and covering his eyes from the ensuing violence. This scene also signifies the violence in Hong Kong back in the days, but highly stylized to create a superb action experience. Tony Leung is also splendid as the disillusioned undercover cop, who seeks to regain his humanity and reputation. The rest of the cast gave good performances, with kudos to Anthony Wong as the sadistic villain who will do anything to get what he wants (fully exampled during the film's climax), and Cheng Jue-Luh as one of the most badassed villains ever, Mad Dog.

The atmosphere of the movie further improves its credibility. John Woo's interests are shown through Tequila's passion of jazz and the beautiful and dark cinematography of Hong Kong, which, when combined together, gives an effect that signifies two different worlds, that is, the life of a cop and the life of a criminal. Also, the music score by Michael Gibbs is great, with a perfect melodramatic jazz score during dramatic scenes, and to pumping synthesizers, gritty and haunting scores during the majority of the action sequences. All of these add up to the amazing elements of the movie to make it even better.

Overall, I cannot think of any other action movie than this. This is THE action movie for film-goers, critics, and action junkies alike. This perfectly shot ballet of blood and bullets is an example of how great and reliable Asian movies can be, when we are finally tired of cliché elements from Hollywood. Mr. Woo, Your Midas Touch has its full effect here. This movie is one of the greatest action movies ever made. And I will stand by that decision for as long as I live.

A must see.

9/10

Delton

Chow Yun Fat, toothpick in mouth, a gun in each hand. That's all of the plot you need to know. Hard Boiled was my first John Woo movie and, in my opinion, his best. No other action movie comes close to this. In fact, this is THE best pure action epic ever filmed. Upon viewing it, I immediately fell in love with Woo's style and his star. It's full of the most stylized gunfights ever seen and Chow Yun Fat is the definition of cool. The full blown finale defies description. Someone once called it an action fan's wet dream. There's not much more I can say because actions speak louder than words. So go see the movie.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. No movie has ever had this level of stylishly directed action, NOT EVEN CLOSE. This movie has the 3 best action sequences in the history of cinema, PERIOD.

The story is about a cop named Tequila who, at the beginning of the film, loses his good friend and fellow cop, in a teahouse shoot-out. He goes against all orders in trying to bring down the Triad that caused his friends death. In doing so, he inadvertantly finds out that there is an undercover cop, Tony, in the Triad he is trying to bring down, and eventually teams up with him.

This isn't your standard buddy cop fair like Lethal Weapon with tons of cheesey lines, dorky action and sappy side stories. The dialogue is insightful the action is the best ever and the side stories are well thought out, if a bit abbreviated (due to lack of time to shoot John Woo admits).

Tequila is trying to deal with a failed relationship and the death of his partner, Tony is torn against blowing his cover and defending his honor and the Lieutenant insists on playing it by the book even though it isn't fair.

John Woo said he made this film in honor of the men and women of the Hong Kong police force and the good work they do. He wanted to make a movie about the good guys winning. What he has done is made one of the most pivitol action films ever made, influencing every action movie since.