I was highly anticipating seeing this, one of John Woo's most acclaimed films. Having seen and loved HARD TARGET and FACE/OFF, I had heard about how good this film was, and I literally couldn't wait to see it after all the good words were said. Did it fulfil my expectations in the end? Hell, yes! The police procedural style plot will be familiar to anyone who's a fan of Hong Kong crime thrillers. We get an on-the-edge cop, and his murky world of villains, grasses, and untrustworthy allies. It's a simplistic plot in the extreme, averagely written, nothing much to set it aside from all the others. Chow Yun-Fat is good, yes, but he hardly sets the screen alight.
And then comes the action. Starting off with a tea-house shoot-out, it ranges from massive showdowns in warehouses to the forty-five minute, hospital-set climax. During this time in which my opinion of the film completely changed. The hospital shoot-out has to be one of the best moments ever in an action film, it just goes on and on as criminal after criminal is shot, no, riddled with bullets, glass smashes, and literally loads of people die. Then the building gets set on fire, and babies are being rescued while Chow runs around shooting people with two guns in one of the longest, yet most consistently exciting action sequences ever filmed.
I loved it. I hope, in the course of things, that I can discover more films which equal this kind of spectacle. Since I wrote the above comments I've rewatched HARD-BOILED a number of times and it's grown on me every time, offering perfectly shot action, full of excitement, highly stylised and never letting up on the violence and bloodshed. Tremendous, unsurpassable stuff.
And then comes the action. Starting off with a tea-house shoot-out, it ranges from massive showdowns in warehouses to the forty-five minute, hospital-set climax. During this time in which my opinion of the film completely changed. The hospital shoot-out has to be one of the best moments ever in an action film, it just goes on and on as criminal after criminal is shot, no, riddled with bullets, glass smashes, and literally loads of people die. Then the building gets set on fire, and babies are being rescued while Chow runs around shooting people with two guns in one of the longest, yet most consistently exciting action sequences ever filmed.
I loved it. I hope, in the course of things, that I can discover more films which equal this kind of spectacle. Since I wrote the above comments I've rewatched HARD-BOILED a number of times and it's grown on me every time, offering perfectly shot action, full of excitement, highly stylised and never letting up on the violence and bloodshed. Tremendous, unsurpassable stuff.