5 Star

Go Hard or Go Home

From the legendary Hong Kong – Hollywood writer, director John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Face/Off, Last Hurrah For Chivalry) comes his action masterpiece of the heroic bloodshed genre. With his leading action actor Chow Yun Fat (The Replacement Killers, Bulletproof Monk, Wild Search, RICH AND FAMOUS / TRAGIC HERO) who is also big in Hong Kong and Hollywood, carrying on his high-octane action roles. With this 4K Arrow Video release you get plenty of extras (see below) and all the Gun-Fu action is the best it has ever been, grab the edge of your seat and get ready for 128 minutes of pure action, Chow Yun Fat rocks.

No babies were harmed in the making of this film.

As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill.

The bustling streets and tea houses of 1990s Hong Kong, inspectors “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun Fat) and Benny Mak (Bowie Lam, In Broad Daylight, Bleeding Steel) are tracking down gun smugglers and they believe it is going down in the tearoom. With some noisy canaries they go upstairs to stake out the place and the customers, there are a few shifty looking ones around one of the tables. An undercover cop, posing as a waiter kicks it all off by throwing his boiling kettle at the table, knocking a bird cage to the floor, spilling out the contents of the secret compartment at the bottom of the cage. Proof of the smuggling ring, this is when we get started into the first explosive round of Gun-Fu. What a show they put on as bullets fly, and innocent bodies hit the floor. One of the gangsters kills Benny, to which Tequila takes umbrage and a gun battle erupts between the pair, Tequila gets the upper hand, and instead of arresting him, he kills him.

It is all very animated as Tequila slides down a banister to take out the fleeing smugglers. But he is reprimanded by Chief Superintendent Pang (Philip Chan, Long Arm of the Law, Bloodsport), who needed the executed gangster as a key witness.

In other parts of the city there is a struggle to control the illegal arms supply, the old style Triads, with “Uncle” Hoi (Hoi-San Kwan, Project A, Red Boy), and the upstart Johnny Wong (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Time and Tide, Initial D). But what Uncle Hoi has is assassin Alan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Where the Wind Blows, Infernal Affairs) who has done Hoi a solid as he has taken out one of Hoi’s subordinates who had double-crossed them for rival syndicate run by Johnny. Johnny’s version of Alan is Mad Dog (Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Tomorrow Never Dies, Treasure Hunt) and with his help he takes out Hoi’s factory.

Johnny makes his move on Alan, this is where all our players come together as Tequila takes it upon himself to crash the party, and this is where Tequila starts to think there is more to Alan than meets the eye.

It is his estranged girlfriend Teresa Chang (Teresa Mo, Men Suddenly in Black, 2 Young) that helps to give him a clue as she keeps getting flowers with song lyrics in them, which are a code from someone undercover. Watch how the HK police force work from inside and what they will do to keep their identity secure.

This is one of the best HK action films you will ever see, and now on 4K it is the best it has ever looked. Marvellous.

Give a guy a gun, he thinks he’s Superman. Give him two and he thinks he’s God.

Hard Boiled Limited Edition 4K UHD [Blu-ray] [Region Free] is available now

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
Double-sided fold out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Priscilla Page and archival writing and an interview with John Woo by Stéphane Moïssakis
Six postcard-sized artcardsDISC ONE – FEATURE AND EXTRAS (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
4K Ultra HD (2160p) Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless Cantonese mono and Dolby Atmos audio, and English mono audio
Optional newly translated English subtitles for the Cantonese soundtracks and optional English for the deaf and hard of hearing subtitles for the English soundtrack
Brand-new audio commentary with director John Woo and film journalist Drew Taylor
Brand-new audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng
Archival audio commentary with John Woo and producer Terence Chang
Archival audio commentary with John Woo, Terence Chang, film critic Dave Kehr and filmmaker Roger Avary
Deleted and extended scenes
Original trailers
Image gallery

DISC TWO – EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)

Violent Night, a brand-new interview with John Woo
Boiling Over, a brand-new interview with actor Anthony Wong
No Room for Failure, a brand-new interview with Terence Chang
Hard To Resist, a brand-new interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan
Boiled to Perfection, a brand-new interview with screenwriter Chan Hing-Ka
Body Count Blues, a brand-new interview with composer Michael Gibbs
Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Hard Boiled, a brand-new interview with author and Hong Kong cinema expert Grady Hendrix
Gun-Fu Fever, a brand-new interview with author Leon Hunt
Chewing the Fat, a brand-new interview with academic Lin Feng
American Cinematheque 2025 Q&A with John Woo
The Test of Time, an archival documentary featuring interviews with John Woo, Terence Chang, editor David Wu and actor/stunt coordinator Philip Kwok
Archival interviews with actors Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung