It’s one of the greatest action movie epics ever made, but it’s been unavailable in America for years. However, now that it’s finally available to stream, Hard Boiled is creating legions of new fans. John Woo‘s 1992 “heroic bloodshed” magnum opus has become a streaming hit, now available to stream on Shout!TV. Woo’s work in Hong Kong, featuring balletic, stylized gunplay, was greatly influenced by American action cinema; conversely, his films would go on to inspire a generation of American filmmakers, who discovered his movies on VHS.
Hard Boiled was the last film Woo made in Hong Kong before relocating to Hollywood to direct films such as Hard Target, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible 2. As his previous films had focused on hitman and gangsters, Woo wanted Hard Boiled to focus on police officers, instead. The film opens with a shootout in a teahouse, one of Woo’s most memorable and iconic action scenes, which was shot before the script was even finished. The crew spotted the teahouse, which was about to be demolished, and decided it was the perfect location for an action set piece.
What Is ‘Hard Boiled’ About?
Woo mainstay Chow Yun-Fat stars as “Tequila” Yuen Ho-yan, an alcoholic police detective with a penchant for playing the clarinet. He finds himself embroiled with a gang of drug smugglers who kill his partner, Benny (Bowie Lam), in a furious shootout. He ends up in the crosshairs of Alan (Tony Leung), a triad assassin who leaves an origami crane at the scene of all his kills. Soon, however, Tequila learns that Alan is an undercover police officer. The two men, and Tequila’s girlfriend, Teresa (Teresa Mo), have to work together to smash Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong) and his gun-runners before Wong and his deadly enforcer, Mad Dog (Philip Kwok) uncover Alan’s secret.
Hard Boiled and a number of other iconic Hong Kong action movies of the 1980s and 1990s have been locked away from American cinephiles for some time, as their rights were held by the defunct distributor Golden Princess. However, earlier this year, Shout Studios negotiated the rights to the Golden Princess catalog and is beginning to release its bounties to action fans worldwide. Other Woo films in the Golden Princess deal include The Killer, Once a Thief, Bullet in the Head, and the A Better Tomorrow trilogy.
Hard Boiled is now streaming for free on Shout!TV. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Release Date
April 16, 1992
Runtime
126 Minutes
Writers
John Woo, Gordon Chan, Barry Wong