‘Hard-Boiled,’ ‘The Killer’: The best of Hong Kong action films

HARD BOILED (1992)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Early in the violent and entertaining Hong Kong crime thriller “Hard-Boiled,” police Inspector “Tequila” Yuen joins his partner Benny at a local tea house where they plan to arrest a ring of gun smugglers.

After an ambush from another gang member, an explosive gun fight breaks out. Firey-hot tea pots slam into gangsters’ faces. Guns blaze. People, a lot of people, die. The action is over-the-top, heightened by slow-motion effects.

Then we see one of director John Woo’s signature shots: Chow Yun-Fat, who stars as Tequila, slides down the railing of a flight of stairs, a loaded gun in each hand furiously firing away.

Welcome to violent world of the Hong Kong cop and gangster films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a genre that produced a series of rich, viscerally exciting movies unlike anything seen on screen in the West.

Cars crash, guns fire and the body count steadily rises. These are highly stylized, extremely violent action films. And they are incredibly fun to watch.

American action films are violent – but not to the level of Hong Kong crime thrillers of the 1980s and 1990s. I was stunned when I first saw Woo’s breakthrough international hit film “The Killer” from 1989. I was stunned again three years later with “Hard-Boiled,” Woo’s Hong Kong version of a “Dirty Harry” film.

But what surprised me more than the level of violence was the masterful storytelling. Woo was one of the first film makers who blazed the way for Hong Kong crime cinema. He stole bits and pieces of style from other American directors. But Woo had enough talent to make them his own. And he always told fascinating, well-written stories with fully developed characters.

SCENE FROM JOHN WOO’S “THE KILLER” (1989)

Among Woo’s many influences was Sam Peckinpah, an American film maker who directed violent, no-nonsense action films. Peckinpah’s 1969 Western classic “The Wild Bunch” influenced Woo a lot as he mimics that film’s slow-motion action scenes in most of his own movies.

Other American influences evident in Woo’s films  include Martin Scorsese and Don Siegel, who helmed several Clint Eastwood films including the original “Dirty Harry.”

Woo spent the early part of his career making martial arts films, some of which were successful. His big break, however, came in 1986 with “A Better Tomorrow,” a blockbuster hit in Hong Kong about two brothers, one an officer and one a criminal.

After shooting a sequel to the film, Woo turned his attention to one his greatest successes and a landmark film in its own right, “The Killer.” The story about a mob hit man who takes one last assignment was violent, emotional and touching; it featured a star-making turn by actor Chow Yun-Fat.

That film included many of Woo’s signature filmic touches: Lots of two-fisted gun play, white doves that symbolize life and stunning Catholic Church imagery and icons. In fact, the climactic gun battle of “The Killer” takes plays inside an abandoned church.

THE KILLER (1989)

Three years later in 1992, Chow Yun-Fat and Woo teamed once more on “Hard-Boiled,” the director’s final Hong Kong film before he moved to Hollywood – where he would see mixed results on several good-to-mediocre big-budget films.

I have seen most of Woo’s American films and many of his Chinese-language movies, including “A Better Tomorrow” and the amusingly titled but emotionally powerful “Bullet in the Head.”

For me, my favorites remain Woo’s two influential Hong Kong crime films, “The Killer” and “Hard-Boiled.” I discovered both films on now out-of-print DVDs from the Criterion Collection. Even though I missed the films on the big screen, they still literally blew me away.

I obviously am not alone in my appreciation of Woo’s Hong Kong films. Many other current film makers, including Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski Brothers, also have been heavily influenced by “The Killer,” “Hard-Boiled” and other Woo titles.

Watch one of Woo’s Hong Kong thrillers first and then watch Tarantino’s directing debut, “Reservoir Dogs,” or another one he wrote, “True Romance.” Both are heavily influenced by Woo. As a matter of fact, “True Romance” even includes scenes from the Woo-directed “A Better Tomorrow II.”

“The Killer” and “Hard-Boiled” are available for purchase and rental on DVD and Blu-ray high-definition disc.
You can click here to purchase “The Killer” on Blu-ray or click here to purchase the film on DVD from Amazon.com. You can click here to purchase “Hard-Boiled” on Blu-ray or click here to buy it on DVD through Amazon.com.Watch both in Chinese with English subtitles; avoid the English dubbed soundtracks. Both films are rated R for extreme violence.


Here is the theatrical trailer for “The Killer.”





Here is the theatrical trailer for “Hard Boiled.”

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