Customer Reviews

Hard Boiled [VHS]

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: This review was written for the Dragon Dynasty DVD VERSION of this film, but thanks to Amazon's bizarre practise of porting reviews from one product platform to another product platform with no regard to differences between them, there's a good chance you're reading this review on the Blu-ray listing for this title. Having seen the Blu-ray version, I can say with absolute certainty that it is only a VERY MODEST improvement over the DVD in terms of picture quality. While I have neither the time nor inclination to review the Blu-ray, I would direct you to the extremely informative review at DVD Beaver (dot com), and concur 100% with the "disappointment" label given this release. What is most puzzling is the loss of the trailer gallery available on the earlier DVD set. Strange that a format that actually holds more is, in this case, used to hold less!

The remainder of this review is for the previous DVD special edition, which the new Blu-ray does little to better:

There should be no doubt that HARD BOILED is a phenomenal action picture, one of the best ever produced in Hong Kong. Much has been written all over the internet about it in the years since it was released direct-to-video in North America in the very early 90's.

Now, some 16 years later, through any number of flawed prints, alternate edits, crummy dubs and subtitles of varying quality, not to mention several PREVIOUS special editions on DVD, each with their own pros and cons, the chance to do right by this film in so many ways is, typically, blown by the Weinstein machine and their cabal of Hong Kong cinema experts.

Oh, sure, this disc is watchable, and considering there is now a generation of teenagers out there who weren't even BORN when this was released, I'm sure there will be new fans made from watching this film. But the film ain't the problem for the rest of us.

Who in their right minds, in 2007, puts DUBTITLES on a "premium" special edition of possibly one of the most important Hong Kong motion pictures of all time. DUBTITLES based on a dub that was made, what, 16 years ago now? That dubbed version was indeed responsible for bringing a great many western fans into the fold, but that doesn't mean we liked it. Or any dubbing for that matter. Just because HARD BOILED is over half action sequences doesn't automatically mean the dialogue sequences are unworthy of even a moderately more accurate translation of WHAT THE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY SAYING IN CANTONESE. Instead, they appear to have paid the receptionist a few bucks to type the original dub script verbatim into the subtitle stream.

Thankfully, far superior subtitles are still available on other, BETTER DVD releases of the film. Some of which even have an image where Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Chow Yun-fat DON'T look like they've put on about 50 pounds!! I'm no expert on aspect ratios and the like, but I know enough, and I've seen enough Chow and Leung movies to know that they don't quite look like this in real life. Gotta wonder who's bright idea it was to CROP the movie, then STRETCH it back to the proper aspect ratio. I can think of a few people who probably figured no one would notice, or if they did, that they'd just be the usual internet pedants.

If that's what I am, so be it, but for god's sake, you think a label that so eagerly wants to be viewed as the top shelf for Hong Kong and Asian movies, would actually start treating those very products with some REAL respect. But then again, look what they did with their "edit" of the Protector. Laughable. And to hear the commentator on that one JUSTIFY the cuts tells me where he really stands when it comes to his paymasters' wishes. This edition of HARD BOILED is another clue.

If I were just reviewing the film, I'd give it 5 stars. But since this is a DVD review, and I managed to find one at a store that broke street date, AND I'm now out about [...] for something I now know I DIDN'T NEED TO UPGRADE, the best I can muster is (a generous) two stars, largely for the interviews on the second disc, which are not bad, and the location tour, which is not without interest.

The commentary on the other hand, while not a total write-off, obviously, offers SOME interesting tidbits that are tangentially related to the film itself, but to save a list of errors and 'best guesses' that would make your eyes glaze, just dig up a copy of the old Fox Lorber DVD from and listen to this film's CREATORS, John Woo and Terence Chang contradict Dragon Dynasty's commentator on several occasions. Or listen to the track on the Criterion edition of this title, where they do the same thing (though in fairness, the Fox Lorber track may have been a longer, uncut version of the Criterion one, only minus Roger Avery and Dave Kehr). John Woo and Terence Chang MADE the film, so who should you trust? A self-anointed expert? Sure, he means well enough, and he knows more than I do (which is why I'm a lowly peon who doesn't do commentaries ;) ), but a lot of the less film-specific stuff on this track feels awfully familiar...

Watch this disc for the movie (in Plump-o-Vision) and the interviews. Then do a little surfing to find one of the superior international versions if you really feel you need an "ultimate edition" in your collection, 'cause this ain't it.

Hard Boiled is one of the best action movies ever and every John Woo film from the 1980s is golden. Hard Boiled has been released twice in the U.S. now, once from Fox Lobrar and once from Criterion, both are now out of print. (Of course there are numerous companies in Asia selling the film currently, thank goodness for Ebay!) I own both versions; the Criterion one has the best features but the picture is noticiably darker. This version of Hard Boiled from Dragon Dynasty/Wienstein Company has an amazing picture, stand out colors, well lit dark scenes, and excellent detail. If I was juding this film on color, brighteness, and overall picture, I would give it 5 stars.

However, there is one major flaw to the film somehow slipped through the cracks. The original film's aspect ratio is 1.85:1; wide screen tvs at home are 16:9, or 1.78:1 (Standard tvs are 4:3 or 1.33:1). Because 1.85 is wider than 1.78:1, you will have small black bars on the top and bottom of a widescreen tv, this is normal. For some reason, they decided to turn this movie into widscreen 16:9, and what this means is images on the sides as well as top and bottom are cut off slightly. Imagine looking at a photograph and then zooming in about 7 percent all around, essentially this is what has happened here. The film is still viewable, but artistic quality is compromised because the image is being cut off all around.

As for this release, the menus are good and the special features looked neat, I haven't had time to watch them yet.

Hopefully by releasing this movie many people will get to see the film for the first time. Just be aware that the movie is not in its original format and that the image is cut off slightly on the top, bottom, and sides.

For those of you lucky enough to own the Criterion Collection edition of this movie, you might want to hold onto your copy as none of the extras from that edition are included on this one. That being said, the video and audio on this version easily surpass any previous Region 1 incarnations making this edition a must-have for fans of the movie.

The first disc features an audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan. He shows off his impressive knowledge of HK geography by pointing out which locations in the film don't exist anymore and their significance in the country's culture. Logan also dishes out interesting factoids, like the teahouse in the opening sequence was going to be demolished and this happened right after they filmed the last scene in the place! As with other commentary tracks that he has done his encyclopedic knowledge about the film and HK cinema in general is quite impressive, making for an informative track.

Disc two starts off with "A Baptism of Fire: A Featurette with Iconic Director John Woo." He was a big fan of Steve McQueen in Bullitt and Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry and with Hard Boiled; he wanted to create his own Dirty Harry. Woo wanted to make Chow Yun-Fat like Eastwood's iconic character but with the Asian actor's warm charisma.

"Partner in Crime: An Interview with Producer Terence Chang." He talks about how he met Woo in the late 1970s but that they didn't start working together until ten years later. Chang also talks about the genesis of the film which was originally a psycho who kills baby (?!). Fortunately, after they filmed the teahouse shoot-out, Chang convinced Woo to discard this idea.

"Art Imitates Life: An Interview with co-star Philip Chan," the actor who played Tequila's boss in the film. He was real policeman before getting into film and brought that authenticity to his role. He actually ran a team of undercover cops and speaks admiringly of working with Woo.

"Mad Dog Bites Again: An Interview with Leading Villain Kwok Choi." He talks about working with Woo on the film. Originally, he was hired to only design the action sequences but Chow Yun-Fat recommended him to play the villain's right-hand man.

"Hard Boiled Location Guide": takes us on a fun, fascinating tour of many of the locations from the movie. Some places, like the teahouse (which is now a mall), don't exist anymore and a little historical background is given to some of the places.

Also included are two trailers, the U.S. and Hong Kong versions.

Finally, there is "Stranglehold Video Game Mini-Making Of." This is the John Woo-approved sequel to Hard Boiled that allows you to play Tequila. This extra shows how deeply involved he was in the game's production with Chow Yun-Fat returning to provide the voice for his character!

HARD-BOILED
[La Shou Shen Tan]

(Hong Kong - 1992)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Mono

John Woo's electrifying crime-thriller amounts to a great deal more than the sum of its action set-pieces. As with virtually all of his post-1986 HK films, Woo generates a tangible sense of melancholy by placing honorable, chivalrous - even lovable - characters into situations where all those precious moral virtues are constantly being challenged and devalued by the greed and cynicism of our modern age. And yet, Woo was eventually persuaded to conclude his picture on an optimistic note, with the villains routed and the good guys allowed to resume their places in the grand scheme of things. It's a daring move, given everything which precedes it, but no less effective than the all-out tragedy which Woo had originally envisaged.

Audacious and red-blooded, hyperviolent and exciting, "Hard Boiled" is the tale of "Tequila" Yuen, a cop determined to take down murderous arm dealers led by Johnny Wong(Anthony Wong). But what "Tequila"(The excellent Chow-Yun Fat) doesn't know is that undercover cop Alan Tony(Tony Leung) is siding with the arm dealers to trap them as well. Hong Kong is about to become a war zone, and it's up to Tequila and Tony to save the city. Almost everything in this thriller is great. The cast is decent, but it's Fat who once again overwhelms everyone else, both physically and emotionally. Nevertheless, Leung is convincing as the cop stuck between good and bad, and stunt coordinator Phillip Kwok steals the show as a ruthless henchman. The action scenes are explosive; the best gunfights are set in a teahouse, a warehouse, and most unbelievable of all, a hospital! Director Woo has never been better with camera angles and pace. He gives true meaning to the word "thrill-seeker!" The movie's only true weakness lies in the script; you might want to watch the film again to understand some confusing plot points. Nevertheless, "Hard Boiled" is 5-star material. Once you see it, it may not be the same again. If you want to purchase the movie, buy the Criterion DVD or the Fox Lorber VHS version; other tapes contain edited sequences that may disappoint.

"Give a man a gun and he is a hero. Give him two and he is God"

Nothing can quite prepare you for the amount of bullets that are used in this film - all done to an impeccable action style that has still not been beat. If there was ever a Guinness Book of Records for the "Most bullets shot in a film" John Woo's Hard Boiled would be first place for a very long time. It is a terrible shame that this director has only been toned-down by Hollywood. There is not a hope that he would be allowed to do what he has done here with Hong Kong actors to the Hollywood cream of the crop. It seems that it is okay to have a Hong Kong Asian to shoot the hell out of everything but this same action when applied to Western culture would only shock and shame. The same can be said for the star of Hard Boiled - Chow Yun-Fat (Crouch Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who since moving to the West has fired less bullets in all his Hollywood films put together than he does in the first five minutes of this film. Does that really matter? In many ways - Yes it does. Unlike THEIR Hollywood films the gun violence here is not gratuitous. It is artistic and warrented. No one can come away from this film to say that have seen unjustified and unnecessary amounts of actions. It is all integral to the style and plot of this movie. Yes, innocent people do get mowed down in a hail of hot lead and yes the violence is bloody, but is that not what gun violence is? Here you see exactly what guns do to people. Forget Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" - The true message of gun control is right here! The plot is even about the dangers of gun smuggling!

One thing for sure is that there is more gratuitous gun violence in most Hollywood productions than there is here. Here we have a hard boiled cop who is assigned to tracking down gun smugglers. He is a hard boiled cop because he knows how to use his guns. His superiors are using him to fight fire with fire. The action gets going from the word go as the hard boiled cop busts a gun dealing operation. His buddy cops and innocent people get killed in the process. He then goes to extract some revenge and put the big gun runners out of business - only problem is there are literally thousands of them he must cut down. Cue unrelenting battle sequences from start to finish all done in excellent style and slow-mo. You have not seen anything like Hard Boiled before, nor will you again. The ending in the hospital is like DIE HARD with ten thousand times more suspense.

Hard Boiled is also a wonderfully acted movie with excellent first rate action direction. The story is also coherent and good, especially for an Asian production. This is every action fans wet dream. Believe me if you have not seen Hard Boiled then it is about time that you did.

Majestic Filmmaking, not to mention John Woo's greatest film. This is the stuff of Legend with an action hero to root for.

Take the combined bodycount total of all of the Friday the 13th series, Rambo II & the entire Halloween series add them together and Hard Boiled still has more kills. Has anyone ever took the time to count? Must easily be 250+ kills in this film. Seriously though, superb gun fights (as you would expect from John Woo), excellent acting on Chow-Yun's part and a villian who will kill just about anyone but refuses to utter a single word of profanity make for a great film.

Before seeing Hard Boiled, I had only seen John Woo's American work - Mission Impossible 2, Broken Arrow and Face/Off. If you've seen these movies, you've seen a glimpse of the style and grace that Woo brings to film. And let me tell you, it is a small glimpse. Hard Boiled, made in Hong Kong, eclipses all of his American work by leaps and bounds.

The plot is solid and the acting above average (I especially liked Tony Leung as the undercover cop - his acting was particularly inspired), but what make this movie such a great movie are the beautiful action sequences by Woo and Chow Yun-Fat, who delivers a better performance than in his American work as well. It's been said many times, but the sequences are absolutely poetic, and unlike M:I-2, original and inspired. This is a great movie, and for those of you who love action, is a great introduction to the master of action (again, forget his American work - there's no comparison).

Some brief back-story: I first experienced "Hard Boiled" in 1997 and, like all of it's fans, my jaw hit the floor. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. Soon after seeing it, I bought the Hard Boiled/Killer VHS pack. That followed with "A Better Tomorrow" on VHS and "A Better Tomorrow 2" on DVD. Every so often, I would see the Criterion Collection version of "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer" but not wanting to shell out the money and believing it would be around forever I never picked it up.

Fast forward to 3 years ago when I make a concerted effort to own the best DVD versions of all the films I love. Believing that Criterion did it better then anyone, that's the one I wanted and that's when I discovered it was out of print. At that moment I made a vow to myself that I wouldn't watch either "Hard Boiled" or "The Killer" again until it was re-released on a special edition DVD.

Fast forward again to this July when I look in the weekly Best Buy ad and see "Hard Boiled: The Ultimate Edition". As quickly as my balloon became inflated, it was popped upon going online to read these facts about it:


1. It was not going to be presented in it's original aspect ratio.

2. Instead of upgraded subtitles, it would be subtitled with the script
from the dubbed version of the film.

3. No John Woo commentary track.

4. No interview or commentary track with Chow Yun-Fat about the film.


It was also disconcerting to read that no DVD version(not even the Criterion) of this classic was without it's flaws but more on that in a bit. Weighing my options, and feeling like a sellout, I purchased the Dragon Dynasty edition of the film.

This week, I finally got around to watching it. How do I feel about my four biggest reservations now?:


1. While not visually presented in the way that it was meant to be seen,
it is a MAJOR upgrade in quality over my VHS version.

2. To not have decent subtitles is ridiculous but the "dubtitles" weren't
so egregious that it ruined my enjoyment of the film.

3. The 37 minute interview with John Woo on Disc 2 almost completely made
up for not having a full length commentary.

4. Chow Yun-Fat was shown doing voiceover work for the game
"Stranglehold" but not having him speak about his experiences during
shooting still bothered me.


In addition, I had a whole new appreciation for Tony Leung's performance after this viewing. I was disappointed he was not included on any bonus features.

A couple of more things before I give my summation...the Bey Logan commentary track gave me more information about Hong Kong cinema then I was ever going to find out otherwise. His enthusiasm and knowledge of the genre made me wonder why I haven't gotten more into Hong Kong cinema beyond a few John Woo films. This makes up for a few of his assertions about the film itself which are probably off the mark. The Terrance Chang, Philip Chan, and Kwok Choi interviews are insightful and entertaining. Overall, the location guide didn't give me a sense that I was seeing where "Hard Boiled" was filmed but that might just be because the landscape has changed so much.

In conclusion, I can't understand why no distributor of this film has ever given it the proper DVD release it deserves. Like the back of this version says, "Hard Boiled" is a landmark in film history and deserves to be treated as such. Why Dragon Dynasty failed to achieve this on their crack at it is beyond me. This means that fans have to compare and contrast the 4 or 5 different editions of the film that are out there and decide which one suits their individual needs the most. Therefore, all I can say is that the Dragon Dynasty version of "Hard Boiled" suited my needs the best because:


1. It was major upgrade in picture quality.

2. It wasn't the dubbed version of the film, just the "dubtitles"
(which still bother me but not enough to not enjoy it)

3. It has some cool bonus features(if not everything that I wanted).

4. I could walk into my local Best Buy and purchase it.


Until a true "Ultimate Edition" comes out(if it ever does) 10, 15, 20 years from now, I will be happy with this edition. But that doesn't mean you are going to be.

It truly is the greatest action film I have ever seen by a significant margin, and I have seen a lot. The insane 40-min. climax at the hospital just has to be experienced to be believed, no amount of description can do it justice.

Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung have a great chemistry together and perform their roles perfectly, as does the sleazy smarmy main villain.

I certainly enjoy big-budget action films (Die Hard, Terminator, Aliens, etc.), and won't be one of those snotty types that puts them down. "Hard Boiled" just belongs on a higher plane of existence. The greatest action sequences from the greatest action film from the greatest action director. On first viewing, you'll get exhausted just sitting there watching the movie!