Welcome to a new installment of WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN
THAT?, where we talk about a must-see or iconic movie that we have never
seen...until now. This week we take a look at the 1992, John Woo film HARD BOILED. Enjoy.
When you think of action films, you think of Die Hard, John Wick, The Matrix,
but I don’t personally hear of Hard
Boiled enough. At least not in the circles of people I converse with. So,
to my surprise, when I was told it’s one of the greatest action films made I
was surprised.
The film is directed by John Woo. It has a simple premise: a
cop who lost a partner in a shootout is going against some gang members. Where
it shines is in its perfect action sequences that display brutality and yet are
elegant in their own twisted nature. Aside from amazing action sequences that
will drop your jaw, what makes this film a must watch is the moments between
the chaos. From the individual relationships to the characters themselves, none
are perfect but they all have motives and nuances that make them all relatable.
The performance by Chow Yun-Fat is, in my opinion,
outstanding, rivaling Bruce Willis’ in Die
Hard. I think that all the performances are great overall, but the slightly
sarcastic, witty nature of Chow’s characters adds a lot of depth and as
audience you become a lot more attached to the story as a result.
If I was to give an area where I think they could have done
a better job it would be the score, I feel like the whole score felt very
similar and it didn’t add to the story. I don’t think it was bad, however, for
a film that was so spectacular it was just an area I wish they would have
improved on.
I do think if this film does anything, it stamps John Woo’s
name in the history of cinema as one of the greatest action film directors of
all time. From his attention to detail, to the intense nature of the shootout
scenes, I think he is a director whose name will name always come up when
cinema fans talk about directors who can make incredible action films.
Khizer’s Score: 9.5/10
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