Hard Boiled

Alright I'll admit, it was pretty awesome.




Hard Boiled has been on my radar since probably 2008, and now that I've finally seen it I can appreciate it that much more. It's not as off the wall over the top as Crank but still illicited strong vocal reactions from me and I really loved it. The plot involves two police officers, one undercover and one putting pressure on the outside to bring down a weapons magnate and crime lord. Very simple plot but the execution is what makes it work so well. The movie had me hook, line, and sinker before the 10 minute mark, the fact alone the movie was about a cop who offtimes as a jazz musician is enough for me to pay pre-screening prices to see this movie. I've just never seen that in a movie before, and the soundtrack itself is very jazz/blues mix with some damn good action beats which reminded me of a combination of Blade Runner and Cowboy Bebop. Awesome. And once again, for reasons unbeknownst even to myself I friggin' love asian cinema around this time period, the movie was released in 1992 which hits that sweet spot for me, if a movie was made in Japan or China from the span of 1984 to 1998 I'm there. The action, ho mah gawd. It's insane, but with many recognizable cliches which I enjoy a great deal. More henchmen than you can shake a stick at, guns that never have to reload, good use of slow-mo, guys flying through plate glass windows, it's not a realistic movie but who says action has to be? Chow Yun-Fat is needless to say a great lead, flawless in his action man status but very funny and has the range to play up emotional states. At first I thought Tony Chieu-Wai Yeung was going to play an undercover cop torn between being an officer of the law and right hand man of a crime boss, but he's a good guy but has to do some bad stuff and that's a real good character dynamic. He hits the emotional scenes much more than Chow has to and I thought was mighty good. Teresa Mo what a class act, she was friggin' brilliant, at first being a comedic relief cutie pie but at that climax hell to the yeah. Speaking of climax, that 3 minute shot that everyone raves about is well deserved. They have this running gunfight through the hallways of a hospital, no edits, no trick photography, expertly timed choreography and gun effects, for almost 3 minutes. Pretty impressive I must say. The stuntwork and effects involved throughout must be commended, cause you really got to know what you are doing to make it all seamless and they by God do it. I read that they used legit guns and not prop weapons, and about 100,000 squibs and I'm not sure how many squibs were used in The Wild Bunch which supposedly was more than actual bullets used in the Mexican Revolution but it was a lot. Maybe not one of the more flowery written action movies or bloodiest even, but it was a treat to see this movie and I loved it from start to finish. 4 stars, 8.5/10, and Bullet Train is speeding onwards tomorrow.

Face/Off

I really had no clue what I was in for.

Such an interesting movie, both in style and story but I can fully understand if it isn't someone's cup of tea. I'm fairly certain this is the first film I've seen of John Woo's filmography and I'm infinitely curious to see if any of the others fit this specific style. I will give some good points towards the plot, where a long standing feud between an FBI agent and a terrorist goes to new heights when the terrorist is apprehended but has one more ace up his sleeve, and information to his next act has to be procured in an interesting way. But the dynamic between hero and villain is the most intriguing part of the movie, and John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play their respective parts super well but then we get to the main crux. I'm still bewildered beyond words that after Nic is captured the very first idea that pops out in obtaining information on his biological bomb, is to literally undergo a face transplant to make John look like Nic. And it only gets wilder from there. Granted the movie sets it's tone expertly in the opening scene with batshit Nic on cloud nine, with one of the most overblown and highly unrealistic but still enjoyable action scenes I have seen in a long time. This is the epitome of action cop movie sequences, like it goes so out there and unashamedly so with sparks coming out of everything that gets hit, slow motion for no other reason than to have slowmo, shootouts where people stand on the roof of cars and point guns at each other while having conversations, and of course obvious wire work. Now I can appreciate that kind of pure Hollywood actionsploitation way of doing things, but I know it is not for everyone. You almost have had to have grown up on very specific kinds of action movies to fully enjoy this ride. But like I said the best part of the movie are our stars, and it is honest to God a super interesting and unique concept for a movie. Have the villain and hero swap places but still have it out for each other, collide some worlds just to see what happens, they do as much with the concept as the runtime allows and decently so. You can tell the actors are having a blast working with this material and the audience can enjoy it just as much, when Nicolas Cage is playing John Travolta who just so happens to look like Nicolas Cage there's a lot to read into that performance. I wouldn't mind seeing such a concept for a film in the future even if it doesn't have the gunplay and chases, it has that potential. While it is an absurdly ludicrous movie at times, I found it to be a decent one and can recommend it to some. 3 stars, 7/10, another week another new movie and no rest for the wicked.