Hard Boiled - Criterion Collection
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List Price: $39.95
Features
• Color
• DVD-Video
• Letterboxed
• Widescreen
• NTSC
In Theaters : 1992
DVD Release : 10 June, 1998 |
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Hard Boiled - Criterion Collection description
Masterful Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Face/Off) turns in this exciting and pyrotechnic tale of warring gangsters and shifting loyalties. Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killers) plays a take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of the triad, the Hong Kong Mafia, when his partner is killed during a gun battle. His guilt propels him into an all-out war against the gang, including an up-and-coming soldier in the mob (Tony Leung) who turns out to be an undercover cop. The two men must come to terms with their allegiance to the force and their loyalty to each other as they try to take down the gangsters. A stunning feast of hyperbolic action sequences (including a climactic sequence in an entire hospital taken hostage), Hard-Boiled is a rare treat for fans of the action genre, with sequences as thrilling and intense as any ever committed to film. --Robert Lane |
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Hard Boiled - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
A Chinese Die Hard
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Hard Boiled was the last film John Woo did on location in Hong Kong before his eventual move to Hollywood. Part reaction to the escalating violence Hong Kong was experiencing at the time, the film pays homage to the Hong Kong Police.
Starring Chow Yun Fat and Tony Lueng as two policeman out to stop an arms smuggling triad. The two actors exhibit all of the characteristics of any actor in Woo film. Woo also uses his trademark filmmaking style and ulta violence to make his points. Look for freeze frames and Sam Peckinpaugh like slow motion throughout the film.
This is not for the squeamish or those not fond of gun violence. Approximately 100,000 blanks were fired making the film and the body count tops 200. Part of the point here is that violence affects us all. Bystanders are not spared by Woo. The only hope may lie in the next generation. Woo states in his commentary track that this is why he often employs infants in his films. Woo says that he was angered with the Hong Kong situation at the time of filming and his anger shows.
The version I viewed was the Winstar edition. The quality of the transfer was fine but the subtitling could have used some improvements. However, we find out in the commentary that Woo is not too concerned with dialogue he would rather have images tell the story. The sound is also adequate. We have a mono track that would really be improved by at least a stereo remaster. This is not the best edition of the film out there but unless you are willing to shell out the big bucks for the out of print Criterion this is the best you are likely to get.
This edition has production notes and filmographies, trailers for Hard Boiled and The Killer and an excellent commentary track by Woo and Terrence Chang.
Worth seeing. |
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Hard Boiled - Criterion Collection dvd movie.