User Reviews

Despite the somewhat obvious rip-off title, LIVE HARD turns out to be a Hong Kong cop thriller little related to the Bruce Willis flick. Instead it's a complex and sprawling effort with a huge ensemble cast rather than one lead character, although Simon Yam's put-upon renegade cop is the closest thing this has to a hero. It suffers awfully from confusing writing, with a lot of nightclub scenes early on which seemingly have nothing to do with the main story, which is about cops hunting for terrorisms bent on bombing and assassination (it doesn't help that the aforementioned nightclub scenes are very poorly lit). Halfway through things work out and get better, leading to some great fight scenes at the action climax. The cast alone is worth tuning in for, with notables like Jason Pai Piao, Eddy Ko and Hwang Jang Lee teaming up with young newcomers to take on the gwailo baddies. Not a great film, but interesting enough to track down for HK action lovers.