Hard Boiled (Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) | 
| Director: John Woo
Actors: Yun-fat Chow, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok
Studio: Dragon Dynasty
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $3.55
You Save: $11.40 (76%)
New (56) Used (24) from $2.04
Rating:  173 reviews
Sales Rank: 11222
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Cantonese (Original Language), English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: WEID80192D
UPC: 796019801928
EAN: 0796019801928
ASIN: B000N4SHNK
Theatrical Release Date: 1992
Release Date: July 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com essential video
Masterful Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Face/Off) turns in this exciting and pyrotechnic tale of warring gangsters and shifting loyalties. Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killers) plays a take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of the triad, the Hong Kong Mafia, when his partner is killed during a gun battle. His guilt propels him into an all-out war against the gang, including an up-and-coming soldier in the mob (Tony Leung) who turns out to be an undercover cop. The two men must come to terms with their allegiance to the force and their loyalty to each other as they try to take down the gangsters. A stunning feast of hyperbolic action sequences (including a climactic sequence in an entire hospital taken hostage), Hard-Boiled is a rare treat for fans of the action genre, with sequences as thrilling and intense as any ever committed to film. --Robert Lane
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| Customer Reviews: Read 168 more reviews...
 Arguably One Of The Best Action Movies Ever Made March 29, 2009
Sebastian Sanjurjo (Miami FL)
John Woo is definitely a poet when he comes to action, and he is no stranger to this exquisite action flick. Written and directed by Woo himself, Hard Boiled is perhaps one of the best action films ever made. The gun fu sequences are so elaborate and craftily choreographed that it becomes an astonishing eye candy festival.
In Hard Boiled, Chow Yung Fat plays Tequila, an over the edge super cop that will do what he can to stop crime from covering the streets. Early in the film we are introduced to another important player in the story, Alan (Tony Leung) an undercover cop working for the triads. He as well will do the impossible to bring down the organization.
The plot is not that original, it has been seen countless times in other films. Though Woo manages to take the plot and give it a couple of surprises here and there. The real magic however lies in the action sequences; which are arguably the best in any movie I have seen. Specifically a sequence in a burning hospital, which is a single handheld camera long take. This scene believe it or not lasts 2 minutes and 42 seconds. In that long take Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung alternately fight off enemies in a deliciously frenetic choreographed scene. The way they engage in emotional dialogue is superb. The scene goes through many corridors and rooms spanning two levels of the hospital, including an intervening elevator ride.
This is definitely a movie that is needed to be scene to be believed. The plot is not exactly Shakespeare...but then again we watch these type of flicks for the action than for the plot. This is a definitely must own by any action junkie. I recommend you get the Dragon Dynasty 2 disc Edition. It includes a vast amount of special features; along with a commentary by john woo himself. The Dragon Dynasty edition has been remastered in high definition, which presents a crisp and anamorphic transfer, much better than the previous edition.
MY PERSONAL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5
Loads of gunplay March 29, 2009
David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States)
Mourning the death of his partner in a spectacular teahouse shoot out, a Hong Kong cop (Chow Yun Fat) goes to war with the triad. His ally is an undercover officer (Tony Leung) who has worked his way into a position of trust in a powerful criminal syndicate.
The movie is more than a little silly. A Chinese cop named Tequila who expresses his pain by playing the saxophone (without moving his fingers, by the way) in a hole-in-the-wall jazz club? It's as if director John Woo and co-screenwriters Barry Wong and Gordon Chan decided to throw in every convention of the tough cop genre that they could glean from American movies. Soon, however, the talent of the cast, the good humor of the plot, and the exuberance of Woo's direction won me over. I wouldn't place this at the apex of action films--it's over-reliance on gunplay and explosions becomes tedious at times--but it is a very enjoyable film. I've written before that I think John Woo is overrated, but that's only because so many lionize him as a god of the cinema. He is "merely" a very talented action director who can deliver a good time at the movies--and there's nothing wrong with that.
Hard Not To Like February 9, 2009
C. Pegee (Okinawa, Japan)
Although this movie is quite dated, the action and plot still grab your attention. This film inspired a lot of action movies we see today and I look at it as a "pioneering" film in action, especially for gun warfare. Bullets fly and people die so the death count is exponential in this but it all is "smoothed" over with the interesting plot (kind of reminiscent of Infernal Affairs or the Departed). Top Notch film that started a whole new revolution in action gun scenes.
 The hard-boiled die hard January 30, 2009
AMP (Somewhere on Earth)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Good Things
*The video/sound quality is great. The picture is a bit grainy, but still clean, sharp, colorful, and vivid.
*Includes a commentary and a bunch of featurettes and interviews.
*Includes English dubbing, as well as the original Chinese and optional English subtitles.
*Contains a huge amount of great action scenes. The last hour is especially awesome; it's like a nonstop sequence of shoot-outs. Like any John Woo movie, it has a lot of slow-motion jumping and flying and crashing-through-glass, but none of it is hoaky or cliched (no darn doves either).
*Photography is good.
*Fight scene choreography is good.
*Production design (sets, props, costumes) were good. One of the bad guys (who incidentally only had one eye) had a way cool gun.
*The story is good.
*The characters are quite good. They are well-acted and well-written.
*Music is not bad.
*It dawned on me, as I was watching this, that this is the predecessor to the video game "Stranglehold." Cool.
The Bad Things
*I think the sides of the screen may have been cut off or something. Other people seem to have a "skewered" image. Either way, there's something weird about the aspect ratio.
*Subtitles translate only the English dubbing, not the original Chinese dialogue.
*Not for the squeamish; contains lots of bloody violence, brutality, and lots of swearing.
The Questionable Things
*Some things are quite absurd (I can't remember what specifically, but I remember seeing some of the action scenes and thinking "yeah right!"). If you prefer movies to be totally realistic, you may wind up laughing at a lot of things. But if you can suspend disbelief, it's not so bad.
*The first hour had some slow parts to it.
Once, I said that "Invisible Target" resembled "Die Hard," but now I see that I spoke way too soon. This movie is much more like a Chinese "Die Hard," and it's equally thrilling, if not moreso. Although the first hour of this movie seemed a bit long, the second hour was a non-stop extravaganza of violent action. Above all, it was well-made and John Woo's style is most original and fresh in this film. This DVD edition is not the best, but I found it suitable; die-hard fans, or fans of Hong Kong cinema, may be dissapointed. Still, highly reccomended to anybody who enjoys action!
Buyer beware!!!! December 16, 2008
The Doctor (The TARDIS)
Buyer beware--the majority of sellers on this listing are NOT selling the Criterion Collection release of this film, but a crappy, dubbed version. Do not fall for it.
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