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When a tough police officer's (Chow Yun-Fat) partner is brutally murdered, he joins forces with another loose-cannon cop (Tony Leung) to exact his own bloody revenge on the gun-smuggling gangsters responsible for his friend's death. A lot of action, guns, and violence, all masterfully rendered by action maestro John Woo (THE .. Read more
| Starring | Tony Leung, Chow Yun-Fat, Philip Chan, Bowie Lam |
|---|---|
| Director | John Woo |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
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When a tough police officer's (Chow Yun-Fat) partner is brutally murdered, he joins forces with another loose-cannon cop (Tony Leung) to exact his own bloody revenge on the gun-smuggling gangsters responsible for his friend's death. A lot of action, guns, and violence, all masterfully rendered by action maestro John Woo (THE KILLER, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2). This is the last film the director made in his native Hong Kong before emigrating to the United States.
| Starring | Tony Leung, Chow Yun-Fat, Philip Chan, Bowie Lam, Anthony Wong, Lau Kong, Philip Kwok, Benny Lam, Johnson Law, Theresa Mo, Kwan Hoi Sang, Ng Shui-Tung, Tung Wai |
|---|---|
| Director | John Woo |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 34 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Cops & Robbers |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
| Language | Cantonese, Chinese |
| Dubbed | English |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 24 Apr 2000 Production year: 1992 |
| Format | DVD |
John Woo turns to history, in this Chinese war adventure. read more »
Want to see one of the greatest action films of all tme? Then watch this. Woo's greatest film. Ok its getting on a bit now, but the action is just on another level to any you have seen before. It takes the no reload rule to a new level. So yes its completely ott but just enjoy! Even after the PUB! if you need to. Duh! Hint. Its the best time to.
There is a lightly better transfer of it from Tartan films i think. Its not the best but apperently its the best we'll get.
As far as gun battles go, this is the best action film of all time!
Cinematically speaking, it doesn't hold a candle to Bullet In The Head or The Killer for that matter, but it still has a level of depth in the plotting, dialogue & characterizations which is ignored by not only the filmmakers who make these kinds of movies but by the audience alike.
I've read much criticism where everyone is accusing this movie of brainless entertainment just because the action scenes are truly riveting with awesome dynamics and amazing danger. The perception among people is that if a film has exceedingly fantastic action set-pieces then that supposedly means there's no story or cinematic merit to speak of what so ever. It's very easy to think that if a film has hypnotically spellbinding action sequences that any attempt at artistic eminence is pretentious and silly or non-existent but that's very common when someone has a cynical pre-conception of what this kind of movie is like.
It still doesn't change the fact that the dialogue and cinematography (with John Woo's highly engrossing usage of metaphors) is better than most action films. Plus, the acting is infinitely superior with Chow Yun Fat and Tony Leung showing a great sense of vulnerability and pathos. Not to mention that the script has an unseen level of humanity rarely depicted in Hollywood non-action movies, let alone action films in general!
Even though films like Desperado, The Matrix, Equilibrium, Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Bad Boys 2 aim to imitate and surpass Hard Boiled for sheer trigger-happy mayhem and colossal destruction, all of these films have failed - disappointing when considering the budget for Hard Boiled.
It just goes to show you that budget means hardly a nickle (pardon the somewhat obvious pun) when you have genuine talent waiting to be painted onto a canvas - and in John's case he really paints the screen with vibrantly violent colours (again, pardon the pun).
If you want to find information concerning the behind the scenes making of the film, go here:
www.hkfilm.net/hb.htm
If you want to find out information concerning the alternate uncut Taiwanese version, ask this guy here:
www.dvdunited.co.uk
A mere slip of an epic at 146 minutes (you think I’m kidding, but I watched the original two-part, five-hour Asian-market version), John Woo’s first Chinese film in nearly two decades is both a triumphant homecoming and too much of a good thing. When Woo went to Hollywood in the run up to the handover of Hong Kong in the early 90s he was riding the crest of a wave: hyper romantic urban thrillers like The Killers, A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled had earned him a reputation as the... Read more
Orient Express ~Essential classics (43)
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