STORY STUDY - CRITERION WEEK 9. "Hard Boiled"

Dual-wielding gunfights; explosions; slow motion? Sounds like John Woo to me. Time to finish the year with a bang.

Directed by John Woo, screenplay by Barry Wong, and story by Woo, Hard Boiled is the story of Hong Kong police inspector Tequila Yuen who is currently on a case involving Triad gun smugglers. In an attempt to arrest them at a restaurant, his partner is killed.

As the case continues, Tequila discovers a rival syndicate led by Johnny Wong is taking over all of the Triads by killing all the other bosses. Wong is able to do this with the help of an assassin under his rival’s employ, whom he convinces to work for him instead.

The case leads to its iconic, climactic shootout at a hospital that starts to build just after the first hour of the film.

The film is one of the famous examples of why Woo is such an influence in action filmmaking. Gunplay, stunts, and breathtaking explosions are filled throughout the films he’s known for, but there is an art to it.

As someone whose preferred action is martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, Woo demonstrates that gunfights are still exciting and mesmerizing to watch. Part of that is because of the amount of gunfire sound effects occurs, and the amount of blood that comes out when someone gets shot and how it splatters.

As someone who is watching the film with English subtitles, I’m judging the dialogue based on that, and it… doesn’t flow well. There are weird lines that seem way too lame too be said. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a Hong Kong film from 1992, or it’s just poor dialogue translation, but it’s something that bothered me.

I was aware of the film when looking up some of Woo’s iconic films, the ones that made a name for him in America. They are, of course, this film, A Better Tomorrow, and The Killer.