Hard boiled

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Movie
German title Hard boiled
Original title Lashou shentan
Country of production Hong Kong
original language Cantonese
Publishing year 1992
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK SPIO / JK
Rod
Director John Woo
script Barry Wong
John Woo
production Linda Kuk
Terence Chang
music Michael Gibbs
camera Wong Wing-Hang
cut Jack Ah
Kit-Wai Kai
occupation

Hard Boiled is the title of an action film by John Woo from 1992. It was Woo's last Hong Kong production before moving to Hollywood before he returned to Hong Kong cinema in 2008 with Red Cliff . It is one of the most famous representatives of the Heroic Bloodshed genus .

action

In Hong Kong, inspector "Tequila" Yuen works for the Chinese police. He's hot on the heels of a gunslinger ring headed by Johnny Wong. In a tea house, Tequila and his colleagues shadow several suspects in a gun deal and want to catch them in the act. The planned arrest goes wrong and turns into a wild shootout. Tequila and his colleagues were able to take out several perpetrators, with the criminals also killing a number of civilians and officials. His friend and colleague Benny is brutally shot by the last surviving gun pusher. Tequila manages to kill his friend's killer. Tequila learns from his superintendent Pang that he was an undercover agent . Pang is beside himself and Inspector Tequila has to take a lot of criticism.

Meanwhile, the hit man and mercenary Alan executes a traitor in a library. Alan works for Mr. Hoi's gun pusher ring. Alan receives an offer from Johnny Wong to work for his organization. In return, he should kill Mr. Hoi so that Johnny can take over his Alan. Another Johnny employee, called "Maddog", is very skeptical and suspicious of this.

Meanwhile, Tequila argues violently with his boss Pang, who wants to withdraw the case. Tequila, however, is not deterred and continues to work on the case. His ex-girlfriend Teresa also works in his department. Flowers are sent to her regularly, which makes Tequila very jealous. However, he finds out that the flower delivery encoded messages are exchanged with an undercover agent. Tequila desperately wants to know who this person is, as it could lead to his friend's killer. However, Pang and Teresa keep this matter under wraps.

Tequila blames Johnny Wong for the death of Lionheart and so he pays him a visit. He beats Wong and threatens him with a gun. He tells him that he knows he is responsible for Lionheart's death and will arrest him. Alan steps in and knocks down tequila. Out of anger, Wong tries to shoot Tequila, but Alan prevents this. A meeting between Pang and Alan reveals that Alan is the undercover agent and actually works for the police. Only Pang knows who Alan really is.

Tequila contacts his own informer Foxy at his favorite bar, where he used to play jazz with Lionheart. From Foxy he learns that a warehouse with weapons from Mr. Hoi is to be robbed by Johnny Wong. Mr. Hoi summons Alan to take him to prayer, apparently knowing about Johnny's offer. Alan asks him to leave Hong Kong, but Mr. Hoi refuses. When Mr. Hoi's arms depot is attacked by Johnny's henchmen, dozens of Hoi's people die in a major shootout. Tequila manages to infiltrate the area and watches the action with heavy artillery in his luggage. Johnny now instructs Alan to kill Mr. Hoi and choose a side. In order not to blow his cover, Alan kills Mr. Hoi and all of his remaining bodyguards.

The next moment Tequila storms the camps by abseiling through a hatch in the roof and throwing smoke grenades into the crowd. With a multitude of weapons, he manages to kill countless gangsters. Even Maddog fails to stop tequila. With the help of Alan, Johnny Wong manages to escape. In a Mexican standoff between Alan and Tequila, Tequila wants to shoot Alan with a revolver. But his revolver is empty. Even so, Alan leaves Tequila alive and just disappears.

Alan's behavior tells Tequila something about Alan's point of view. He manages to find Alan and lies in wait for him by his boat. After a chat, Mr. Hoi's surviving bodyguards attack to avenge his death. The two kill the attacker, with Alan being seriously injured in the back. When Johnny shows up, the two agree to keep in touch and Tequila disappears as quickly as possible.

Later, Foxy is exposed and Alan is supposed to kill him. In front of Wong's people, he beats Foxy severely and unobtrusively slips a metal lighter into his breast pocket. Alan shoots this with his pistol, causing Foxy to fall off a bridge. Foxy survives the attack and manages to drag himself into the jazz bar. He reports Tequila and is taken to a hospital where Alan is also lying because of his back injury. It turns out that Wong is a huge influence in this hospital.

After a conversation between Alan and Tequila, Maddog kills the badly ailing Foxy. The two pursue Maddog and discover the criminal secret of this hospital: It is Johnny Wong's main weapons depot.

Meanwhile, Tequila's colleagues have also been informed and mingle with the patients undercover. Teresa and Pang are also among them. When Alan and Tequila examine the morgue more closely, they find the secret entrance to the arsenal under resistance from some gangsters. Together they manage to open the heavily locked door behind which Maddog is waiting for them. After an intense fight between the three, Maddog escapes through another exit and destroys the doorway. Watching through cameras, Johnny has gas discharged into the warehouse. Alan and Tequila blast their way with the arsenal and kill many gangsters in the process. The situation in the hospital is coming to a head. To evacuate the patients, Teresa triggers the fire alarm, which the hospital director doesn't like at all. Johnny decides to cordon off the hospital and take the patients hostage. Panic breaks out. Patients, gangsters and police officers die in exchanges of fire. More officers arrive and try to free hostages.

Meanwhile, Alan and Tequila make their way through the hospital corridors. You can take out a lot of gangsters and resolve a hostage situation. To rescue infants from the neonatal unit, Alan and Tequila split up. While Tequila and Teresa try to save the babies with the help of a special task force, Alan pursues Maddog. More shootings ensue, with many patients, gangsters and police officers dying.

Alan almost manages to catch Maddog, but ailing patients hinder their fight. Both decide to lay down their arms until the patients can get to safety. Suddenly Johnny appears and immediately lets fire open, from which the patients die, but Alan survives. Maddog thinks this is wrong and tries to shoot Johnny as well. The plan fails and Johnny kills Maddog. Johnny orders the whole hospital to be blown up.

Teresa and Tequila almost managed to save all but one of the babies. Since the hospital is on fire, the two have to hurry up. Teresa manages to get to safety while Tequila has to deal with even more gangsters. He succeeds in eliminating all of them and escaping from the exploding hospital with the last remaining baby.

Johnny has taken Alan hostage and presents himself and his hostage with contempt in front of the entire police force. He orders tequila to humiliate himself. The injured Alan seizes Johnny's gun and shoots a bullet through his own body in Johnny's chest. Tequila ultimately eliminates Johnny with a headshot. Shortly afterwards, Tequila and Pang can be seen burning Alan's file with his lighter. You can see a bullet hole in the lighter. The film ends with Alan sailing on his boat in the sea and dropping his origami cranes into the water.

criticism

“Elaborate action film in which the violence occasionally takes on extreme proportions, but is so stylized that it hardly seems real. The wild sequence of actions, interrupted by melancholy or burlesque comedy, is at its core an attractive parable about chivalry, friendship and honor. This is conveyed more through dynamics and cinematic signs, so that despite all the speed the film remains strangely empty. "

- Lexicon of international film

“[...] Like the production, the story unites classic elements of the“ woos ”cinema. A male friendship between two antagonists, who go beyond the spiritual kinship and finally fight side by side, seems as familiar as a woman standing between them, even if this point is amusingly broken here. Tony has no real interest and only uses the supposed love letters to exchange secret messages. [...] "

- Björn Becher : filmstarts.de

Awards

Hong Kong Film Awards

Mystfest

Further information

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
  • The budget of the film was about 4.5 million US dollars .
  • About 232 (307 in the uncut version) people die in the entire film.
  • The film won the 1992 Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Film Editing .
  • In Germany a sequel came out under the name Hard Boiled 2 . However, this is the film Just Heroes , which was also directed by John Woo a few years earlier.
  • John Woo himself has an appearance in the film as the bartender Mr. Woo.
  • The video game Stranglehold is thematically based on the film Hard Boiled and was also developed under the direction of John Woo. It is a direct sequel to the film and the first collaboration between Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo since Hard Boiled .
  • A comprehensive overview of the genesis of the film as well as a detailed review can be found in: Thomas Gaschler, Ralph Umard: Woo. Belleville, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-933510-48-1 .
  • In September 2018, the index of the film in Germany was lifted after 25 years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hard Boiled. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ Björn Becher: Hard Boiled: Critique of the FILMSTARTS editorial team . filmstarts.de. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on September 28, 2018.

Web links