Rating: 
Summary: John Woo's best work
Review: "Hard Boiled" is definitely within the top twenty Hong Kong movies.Chow Yun-Fat ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Once A Thief", "A Better Tomorrow") and Tony Leung pair up in "Hard Boiled" to stun the audience with a film, that in every aspect defines perfection. With creativity and original scenes, it is surprising to know that John Woo directed "Mission: Impossible 2", for "Hard Boiled" far exceeds "M:I2" in every facet. With creative technology, very effective dialogue, unpredictable occurences, it is all topped off with Tony Leung's best performance, and one of Chow Yun-Fat's best as well. Special effects, stunning acting, and themes even manage to give the "bad guys" perspective without being bias. -Priscilla
Rating:
Summary: Classic Woo
Review: John Woo's farewell film to Hogn Kong, and quite possibly his best. Highlights include Chow Yun Fat sliding down a bannister while shooting thugs, a 40 minute action finale, with a 10 minute shot without the camera cutting away, hard to explain, just buy the movie already!
Rating: 
Summary: Great John Woo action that looks like a BOOTLEG!
Review: First of all I gotta admit that I'm a real big fan of John Woo's work and the film that got me started with him was Face/Off. After the in my opinion even more excellent M:I-2 I decided to give Woo's older works a shot and purchased the DVD of the much famed and almost legendary hard boiled. As soon as I popped it into my DVD player, I instantly noticed one thing: video and audio quality of this DVD are the worst I've ever seen and heard! As far as the video is concerned: dirty print, picture distortions, pixelization, color and contrast imbalances - you name it, this DVD's got it! My conclusion is that the DVD was actually made from an (old rental) laserdisc (that got involved into a plane-crash) without any sort of digital re-mastering. I might even say it rather looks digitally de-mastered. ;-) The sound not only isn't much better, but even far worse. Listening to this DVD makes you wonder why you spent so much money for a 6 speaker sound system when some films are still presented in MONO! The answer of course becomes apparent very quickly: Mono sound on a DVD is just plain horrible. With a film like Hard Boiled this really is a shame as it would richly profit from a good DD 5.1 or even DTS mix. The english dubbing of this film is so bad that's it's almost good again. (Which seems to be a common phenomenon with asian films.)Halfway though the film I switched over to the Cantonese version and, though (or maybe because) I didn't understand one word, almost liked it better. The reason for this is probably the fact that the entire dialogue of the film is plain DUMB. The only half intelligent lines are delivered by director John Woo himself, who (of course) has a cameo appearance. After overcoming my shock over the horrible quality of the DVD itself, I managed to turn my attention to the actual movie. The main problem here in my opinion is its sheer length. Hard Boiled runs a solid 126 Minutes. About 90 of those minutes are a complete waste. Everything in this film that does not involve incredible stunts, pyrotechnics, double guns and explosive ammo, is just BAD. The story is simply boring and quickly forgettable. The acting is probably as cheesy as you will ever see outside middle-school-plays. The only noteworthy exception of that is Tony Leung, whose performance quickly outplays Chow Yun Fat's trademark routine of 3 facial expressions. (blank/angry/smirky) You have to suffer through 90 minutes of almost unbearable bore (fortunately with some great action sequences inbetween)to finally enjoy the much-famed hospital-shootout-scene. (and, YES, it IS THAT GOOD!) Why do I still give this film 3 stars? Because it has (except for the pigeons) all of your trademark John Woo stuff (slow-motion, still frames, intense and over-the-top stuntwork and choreography)that made me a fan of his work in the first place. Still it should be noted that Hard Boiled is much more violent than all of Woo's Hollywood-films combined. If there was an action-only (45 Minutes runtime), anamorphic, Dolby Digital version of this film available, I'd rate it 5 stars. On a closing note: I bet any half-talented techie with a laserdisc player and a PC with videocapture-card and DVD-burner could make an equal or even better DVD in a matter of hours. So shame on Fox Lorber for this!
Rating: 
Summary: Great action scenes , great plot.
Review: John Woo is at his best in this hard-hitting hardcore action movie.This movie is ablaze with action.The story is pretty good the action scenes great and the charachters are cool!
Rating:
Summary: John Woo's best
Review: After watching this movie dozens of times, no other action movie can really satisfy me any more. The Matrix, when compared to this movie, is only mildly action packed. Some of the CQB fight scenes are reproduced in the movie Hard Target. Some of you think Face Off and Mission Impossible 2 are cool, but wait until you have seen this movie then decide what an action packed movie really is.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie.
Review: I saw this movie years ago. John Woo is a master of the action movie. His great directing was the only thing that saved Mission Impossible 2 from being a completely stupid film. It's been a long time since I saw Hard-Boiled, but I remember that Chow Yun Fat was phenomenal; acrobatic and graceful even in the midst of heavy fight scenes. The scene which stuck with me is quite near the end. There's a hostage situation at a hospital which ends with a big gunfight between Chow Yun Fat and the criminals. At one point he grabs up a little baby boy to save it from falling and gets winged by a bullet. Some of his blood hits the baby. He ducks away from the killers and stops to gently wipe away the blood and whisper soothing apologies for bleeding on the little guy. It was an amazingly still moment of tenderness in the midst of the fast-paced violence of the gunfight. I was really impressed.
Rating:
Summary: Woo= Action + Story
Review: Master of Action John Woo delivers once again with his hard-hitting, action-packed thriller "Hard Boiled," starring Chow Yun-Fat as a veteran cop known as "Tequila," Hong Kong's answer to San Francisco's own "Dirty Harry." In this one, an undercover officer infiltrates a gangland Triad dealing arms, and when a rival gang threatens to take over, Tequila joins in the melee, and once it begins the action never stops until the last of the credits have rolled off into the recesses of the darkened screen. Along the way there are tests of loyalty, mistaken identities and a staggering display of superbly choreographed violence. There's a couple of plot twists, but it's a rather straightforward story, and as usual, Woo melds it with the action with his trademark style and perfection. The action sequences are incredibly well staged and delivered, but so exceedingly violent that it passes beyond reality at times (especially during the climax) into a somewhat surreal state of being, only to be ultimately drawn back in again by the grounded core of the story. It's a fine line that Woo treads successfully time after time in an arena in which many other "action" directors have foundered. A consummate professional, Woo knows exactly what he wants and what works, and he doesn't quit until he gets it. Among the directors of the "action" genre, he is quite simply the best there has ever been. As the somewhat jaded and "hard Boiled" cop, the charismatic Chow Yun-Fat demonstrates that if Jackie Chan can team up with Chris Tucker, he most certainly could find a place at Eastwood or Gibson's side. He has the attitude and the look that make his character credible, which helps anchor Woo's art in reality, albeit a rather violent one. As with the "Dirty Harry" or "Lethal Weapon" movies, it gives the audience someone to whom they can relate and root for. And it's all buoyed with symbolism and metaphor and Woo's impeccable sense of timing and deft and sparing use of slow motion, which in his hands becomes an extremely effective tool. The supporting cast includes Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Alan),Teresa Mo (Teresa Chang), Philip Chan (Superintendent Pang), Hoi-Shan Kwan (Mr. Hui) and Philip Kwok (Mad Dog). The true brilliance of Woo's films lies in the fact that he never sacrifices story for action, but instead blends the two together to create a whole that is artistically rendered (his action sequences are something akin to visual poetry) and substantial, rather than having an action film that-- like so many others of the genre-- is hollow inside. Like his earlier film, "The Killer," which also starred Yun-Fat, "Hard Boiled" pushes the envelope and will keep you on the edge, right along with the characters in the film, right until the very end. As with all of Woo's movies, this one is a satisfying foray into the intense, cutting edge "Action" world of one of Cinema's Master directors, and a must-see for any true film buff.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: The Best John Woo Movie Ever.Dont Get Any Other John Woo Movies Over This One.His American Ones Arent Half As Good As This One.The Most Action I Have Ever Seen In A Movie.If You Want Alot Of Action And Alot Of Tension This Is Your Movie.This Is A Awesome Movie With A Awesome Director!
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad flick, but it didn't feel very John Woo-ish
Review: Ok, so I finally saw this movie cause I heard so much hype about it being the "Real" john woo film, before he became watered down for America. Ummm..well the film itself isn't bad, it has more action than anyone could ever dream of. But unlike films like Armageddon the action doesn't get boring or tiresome. It got VERY gruesom, with the killing of many innocent ppl and poor hospital patients. The two main characters had good chemistry without that "buddy" movie feel. I don't understand though WHAT makes this a john woo film? None of his american film trademarks (slow-mo walking, slow bullets, White Dove) are in this movie. It seems to be, beside the tons of violence, this film could have been directed by anyone else and you could have gotten the same result. It seems really typical, to be directed by such a well known Director. After seeing this film, I will no longer cringe in delight if I hear about John Woo directing a new film. BROKEN ARROW was crap. MI2 was crap. Which leads me to believe that Face/Off was a total fluke. John Woo is totally over rated, but this film was pretty alright. If you wanna talk about a director who knows action, go watch a Jackie Chan film. But don't waste too much time with Mr. Woo, he seems to be given too much credit for no reason at all.
Rating:
Summary: Hard Boiled
Review: This is the best action film i have even seen,Unfortunatly i saw it on the video,Couldnt see it in the theathers.Though the story is the usual Gangsters vs Yun-Fat and his friend,It never has a dull moment.Right from the shoot out at the restaurant to the warehouse,Boat and the final battle at the hospital,It is a roller coaster ride through out.It makes Face off look like a merry go round.A huge body count much bigger than any film,But it has many disturbing sences,Shoot out at the hospital infant center,Helpless patients killed by mad dog and his men.The hospital battle last upto my god more than 30+Minutes,but i never felt it lasted that long.After watching Hard boiled i couldnt sit through any other action films besides John woo's,because they seems to be very slow and the action just a Yawn!.Another Woo + Yun-Fat thriller. Truely Poetric Action Film.
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