Hard Boiled on Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]

Released in 1992, Hard Boiled is considered John Woo's golden gem, his magnum opus, his greatest achievement. It's now released on Dragon Dynasty DVD, and while this new release isn't truly the "Ultimate Edition" it claims to be, it's a fantastic buy, especially if you've never seen it.

Starring Chow Yun Fat and Tony Leung, Hard Boiled is a tale of two cops trying to take down a very powerful Triad gang. I'm not going to give away alot of the film, as it's actually filled with a suprising amount of depth, and some great plot twists.

Hard Boiled was John Woo's last Hong Kong film before he came to America, and he regards it as his "swan son" to the Hong Kong action industry. If you're a fan of crazy dual wielding, slow motion, insane amounts of rubble, and completely amazing choreography, you have to look no further.

I absolutely adore this film, along with John Woo's The Killer [en.wikipedia.org]. I hold both of these films up as the greatest action movies ever made, and Hollywood has yet to even come close to the amount of action, smarts, and cinematic grace featured in these two classics. I hope that The Killer is rereleased in America soon, as it's very difficult to find, as was Hard Boiled before this Dragon Dynasty release.

Enjoy!

I've had this on DVD for a while now, so I'm not about to rush out and buy the dragon dynasty version. Especially when I know it's coming out on BlueRay along with the special edition of Stranglehold on PS3.

I'm a big fan of hong kong cinema. Hard Boiled isn't that hard to find, you just need to know where to look. Yuen Biao in Knockabout, now THATS hard to find. I'm still having trouble getting my hands on Jet Li's Twin Warriors and Fist of Legend

I gotta tip my hat to the winestiens for the whole Dragon Dynasty line. I finally have quality transfers of the first two police stories thanks to them. And Born to Fight, man what it lacked in even the smallest plot it made up for with some of the best stunts I've seen since that period when the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and the Sammo Hung Stunt Team were constantly trying to one-up each other.

I gotta be honest, I wasn't that big of a fan of The Killer. I mean, I think it might've been because I saw Hard Boiled first and in Hard Boiled John woo had his shit together, it's like all the peices fell into place. The Killer and A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2 were all alright, but it was like they had little peices of awesome here and there, but they didn't really fit together as flawlessly as Hard Boiled.

kingofsnake
I gotta be honest, I wasn't that big of a fan of The Killer. I mean, I think it might've been because I saw Hard Boiled first and in Hard Boiled John woo had his shit together, it's like all the peices fell into place. The Killer and A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2 were all alright, but it was like they had little peices of awesome here and there, but they didn't really fit together as flawlessly as Hard Boiled.

See, I really loved the fact that it focused more on characterization than Hard Boiled did (at least, in my opinion), and there was a completely shocking moment that got me hooked (the early scene with the muzzle flash...oh man). I love Hard Boiled for the incredibly smooth way everything fits together, and I love The Killer because of plot, suprises, and developments. They're two sides of the action genre, and they fit together incredibly well.

Also, speaking of Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung, I'm not sure if anyone's seen Kill Zone (with Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yen, originally released as SPL: Sha Po Lang), also published by Dragon Dynasty. I'm pretty interested in it, as it not only has a great cast, but has a great premise.

I have it, it's OK

There isn't alot of kung fu in it, except the end where Donnie Yen fights Sammo. That fight is OK but I wouldn't put it amoung the best of either of those guys. Although I've never seen a fight scene where Donnie lives up to his potential. I have Red Dragon, and it's ok, it was the first movie I saw where I realized "This dude can fight" but even that wasn't what it could be. Killzone is mostly just the cop drama stuff that the chinese love so much. I think theres usually a very fine line between genius and heavy handed, and Killzone is a little on the heavyhanded side.

Honestly, if you wanna see sammo fight, Millionare Express just got released on Dragon Dynasty. For most of it, it's just a silly sammo style comedy, but theres one fight between him and yuen biao, and then theres this huge brawl near the end where he goes up against Cynthia Rothrock that's brutal, it's gotta be one of my favorite Sammo fights, he really doesn't pull his punches in it. And of course theres the signature bodyslam :) Plus it's got like, every actor in hong kong cinema in it, so many familiar faces. And Yuen Biao has got to have been one of the finest martial artists of his time.

Hell yeah, I actually took martial arts because of Yuen Biao, and Jackie Chan.

I really enjoyed the first Iron Monkey, as I thought Donnie Yen had some great stuff. I also loved his and Jet Li's fight in Hero, even though it was a bit wire-heavy. I've just always loved when those two would trade off. :D

By the way, kingofsnake, do you by chance know the name of the film which is about Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung's childhood? I watched a documentary on asian cinema, which had interviews with both of them, where they mentioned this film, and how realistic it was. It looked brutal, as they were beaten daily, all for the sake of doing asian theatre. Very bizarre, and very fascinating.

Man, I just re-watched Hard Boiled, and like Blade Runner, it gets better with each passing viewing. There are little details you simply don't catch the first few times you watch it, but it's still as exciting as ever.

Naw I haven't heard of it unfortunately. Do you know who's in it??

If I was going to be lured into martial arts by anyone it would be Hwang Ing-sik's hapkido. He's the villain in Young Master and Dragon Lord. That guy was never given his due, he was friggen amazing.

Plus he's got a dojo in Canada so I could theoretically actually train under the dude