| Shout! Studios | Release Date: June 18, 1993 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
16
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
|
Critic Reviews
Hard Boiled escalates perfectly, with the action starting out spectacular, and then getting increasingly grand in scale and ambition as things march along. The whole final act is particularly great, and largely responsible for making the movie an all-timer among action/crime flicks.
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It is far too sophisticated and operatic to be dismissed as simply a cheap-thrills, blast-'em blowout. [19 Aug 1994, p.C14]
It's not his most satisfying, full-bodied work, though it does provide many of the Woo pleasures. [18 Jun 1993]
Woo's passion and confidence in guiding his films are shown clearly in the delicate emotional shades the director is able to paint with his actors. [13 Nov 1992, p.F]
As a director, Woo never hesitates, and the result is exhilarating. [22 Oct 1993, p.G6]
Before John Woo went all Hollywood on our ass with the likes of Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II, he made several films in his native Hong Kong, this being arguably the pick of the bunch. Although not as slick as his later films, it's more inventive and stylised and with great early performances from Fat and Leung.
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Anyone who saw The Killer will have a fair idea what to expect, from the intense male bonding to the hyper-kinetic editing style. What's new here is a rich vein of anarchic humour (will they evacuate the maternity ward before the hospital blows up?) and a bluesy back-beat of philosophical musings on a cop's sad lot.
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The film's plot may have more holes than one of Tequila's innumerable victims, but when a visual stylist like Woo is at his peak, no one even thinks of caring.[30 Apr 1993, p.F6]
The film lacks the delirium, ambition and transcendence of Woo's "The Killer" and "Bullet in the Head," but nothing in the way of over-the-top action or audacity. [27 Sep 1992, p.8]
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