Hard Boiled

Hard Boiled
Film poster illustrates the character Tequila holding a shotgun in one hand, and a newborn baby under his other arm. The background depicts the underground hospital area seen in the film. Text at the bottom of the poster reveals the production credits.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Woo
Screenplay by
Story byJohn Woo
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyWang Wing-heng
Edited by
Music byMichael Gibbs
Production
companies
Distributed byGolden Princess Film Production
Release date
  • 16 April 1992 (1992-04-16) (Hong Kong)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
BudgetUS$4.5 million[1]
Box officeHK$19.7 million (HK)
US$71,858 (US)
85,104 tickets (France)
Hard Boiled
Chinese辣手神探
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLàshǒu Shéntàn
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationLaaht-sáu Sàhntaam
JyutpingLaat6sau2 San4taam3
IPA[lat̚˨.sɐw˧˥ sɐn˩tʰam˧]

Hard Boiled (Chinese: 辣手神探)[2] is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Anthony Wong. It follows a police inspector whose investigation of a brutal Triad leader entangles him in the complex world of undercover policing.

The film was John Woo's last Hong Kong film before his transition to Hollywood. After receiving criticism for making films that glamorized gangsters, Woo wanted to make a Dirty Harry-styled film to glamorize the police. With the death of screenwriter Barry Wong, the film's screenplay underwent constant changes during filming. New characters such as Mad Dog and Mr. Woo were introduced, while the original plotline of a baby-poisoning psychopath was cut.

Hard Boiled was released in Hong Kong in 1992 to generally positive audience reception. Though it was not as commercially successful as Woo's A Better Tomorrow, it still did slightly better than The Killer in the domestic box office. Reception from Western critics was much more positive, with many critics and film scholars describing its action scenes as being among the best ever filmed. In 2007, a video game sequel titled Stranglehold was released.

  1. ^ Elder, 2005, pg. 117
  2. ^ Elder, 2005, pg. xxviii