11/17/10 - Lat sau san taam (Hard Boiled)

Lat sau san taam (Hard Boiled) (1992, 128 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104684/

This was another foreign film I'd wanted to watch for quite some time now. I hadn't seen any John Woo movies and this was usually regarded as the most well known so I figured I'd start with it.

The movie follows Insp. "Tequila" Yuen (Yun-Fat Chow) as he tries to bust a crime boss in Hong Kong named Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang). He works with Tony (Toney Leung Chiu Wai) who is undercover and a member of Wong's syndicate. On the government side there's also Supt. Pang (Philip Chan) - the boss of both Yuen and Tony - and Teresa Chang (Teresa Mo) - Yuen's girlfriend. A major figure for Wong is his most prominent hitman Mad Dog (Philip Kwok).

This movie is renowned for its high octane action and I was not disappointed. Perhaps most famously there's a long take of about three minutes. I'd read quite a bit about long takes (I frequently mention really good ones in these comments) and this one deserves a paragraph. Up until this point the action of Hard Boiled has been great so it's not like the movie is known for this scene because it's the only big action scene. Instead, it's just that it's so different from all the other ones. Usually action movies employ heavy cutting during the action and naturally Hard Boiled is no exception. Here though I am treated to Tequila and Tony going through two floors of bad guys completely uninterrupted. It's completely flawless execution by everyone involved (especially those not actually in the scene - like the people that handle the set change mid-scene). Long takes build tension the longer they are so when a long take this crazy and this intense and this long all comes together in the perfectly paced spot in the movie it really adds a lot. As a final point, the time that a cut actually comes it's just a normal cut. The movie almost doesn't make me focus on the length of the cut and this makes the scene all that more natural and work all that more.

The other great thing with Hard Boiled is the character of Tequila. He's really cool and very likable. I think an important point in an action movie is for the main star to have flaws of some sort. When they are simply indestructible it's almost boring. I guess the exception to this is old school James Bond where somehow stuff just worked in its own way. I mean, Bourne has this problem of his identity and someone like Bryan Mills in Taken is older as he fights to get his daughter back. These are flaws that make the characters somewhat believable. Similarly, Tequila is facing girlfriend issues along with the pressures of handling a case that's somewhat delicate given the undercover involvement. It works together though to make Tequila a pretty cool guy and one I was easily rooting for throughout the movie.

Next, I'd like to point out a minor complaint on the soundtrack of Hard Boiled. There's two noticeable styles used. First, there's a heavy jazz theme that's used at the beginning and various other times throughout. The other is a much more percussion oriented beat that's added to the action scenes to provide tension. The first works; the second doesn't. The jazz just goes with the visual images when it's being used and it's also quite pleasing to the ears. On the other hand, the percussion songs get somewhat repetitive after a while and eventually don't really add to the action at all. It almost reached the level of being annoying but not quite. However, I don't think "more jazz" is the answer here as given the nature of the jazz I don't think it would have worked with the action scenes. Maybe just a less intrusive percussion soundtrack would solve my complaint.

Finally, some other minor quibbles and praises with the movie. There's a baby subplot in the movie as everyone is trying to evacuate the hospital. Really, this became too drawn out and somewhat annoying after a while. I don't know if it was supposed to be elaborating on the relationship between Teresa and Tequila in some way but whatever it was it just didn't vibe well with me. Next, the character of Tony at one point essentially electrocutes himself so as to open a door. But then he's fine five seconds later. It's a little unrealistic even given the nature of the movie and I think a better approach could have been found for this scene. And last but not least, the character of Mad Dog is very well written. He's not a major factor except in some noted action scenes but he has a character arc of redemption that serves him well and makes him not just "another thug" in the whole movie.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. Hard Boiled was thoroughly enjoyable and definitely convinced me to check out further John Woo films both from before he came to the States (basically pre-Hard Boiled) and after he came over here. I had high expectations for the action and they were quite easily met.