Hard Boiled: We take a look at Shout Factory’s 4K Blu-ray of the unrivaled John Woo action epic
How fu*kin’ cool is Chow Yun-Fat?
Seriously. Bruce Lee had his own coolness — with a subtle humor mixed with a killer instinct. Jackie Chan has his everyman persona — who gets in over his head and it usually brings about a lot of humor, mixed with intricately-choreographed scenes. Jet Li is usually more of a stoic type — who would then explode into a killing machine. But with Chow Yun-Fat, he has a charisma that is all his own and it’s always a pleasure to watch his characters dance around the line of being righteous with the heart of gold to also being kind of a scoundrel that you just love to hate sometimes.
Shout Factory has recently released a new 3-disc 4K Blu-ray from their Hong Kong Cinema Classics collection for Hard Boiled. And while its price may intimidate some of the more casual buyers, this set is a great treat to fans of the film and collection completionists. The Hong Kong Cinema Classics collection has been great thus far at not only remastering the picture of these films in ultra-high-definition, but they’ve been able to produce some welcome extra content, including brand-new interviews with those who worked on the film.
First and foremost, the film looks amazing. I was able to watch the Blu-ray (which also has a 4K restoration scan from the original negative) at a home theater, and it was like I got to practically see it like a brand new film release. The movie still holds up as a signature film of John Woo‘s, and it’s easy to see the influence it had on action cinema going forward. The man knows how to pit mortal enemies against each other in a blood-soaked rivalry, which is probably why Face/Off remains his most beloved American film that fans deem to be the closest to his Hong Kong work.
The great twist of the formula is that while Chow Yun-Fat’s Tequila and Tony Leung’s Alan are seemingly fighting on opposite sides of the law, they are actually secret brothers-in-arms and you get to see them literally at each other’s throats, then fighting side-by-side in one of the greatest action finales of all time. The 45-minute hospital sequence is even how it earned a top ten spot on our 25 Greatest Action Movies of All Time list. Chow and Leung are also joined by a strong supporting cast. Anthony Wong is about as unhinged a villain as I’ve ever seen as his aspirations of acquiring a bigger gun trade results in a giant blood bath with too many innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.
Philip Kwok steals nearly every scene he’s in as Mad Dog. When Tequila and Alan become allies, Mad Dog is the immensely formidable opponent that takes both of them on at the same time and even though he’s outnumbered, the policemen are still very much the underdogs when facing Mad Dog. It’s safe to assume that he is perhaps an inspiration for the character from Gareth Evans’ The Raid, who also happens to be named Mad Dog.
If you’re not too knowledgeable about the behind-the-scenes story of this movie, you’ll learn a ton about it thanks to the extra features. And it gives you more of an appreciation for the film as you learn that the crew (both filming and stunt crew) wouldn’t let him quit on filming the long, one-take shootout shot at the hospital, despite things going wrong multiple times. The original ending had Tony Leung’s Alan dying, then you learn that, again, the filming crew pleaded with John to make the ending happier since everyone loved Tony so much and they legitimately felt sorrow when filming his “death scene.”
The 4K disc is presented in Dolby Vision, but the normal Blu-ray is not. You get new subtitles for this release and new commentaries by the great John Woo and film historians. Additionally, you also get the past commentary from the Criterion Collection release also included, which features Woo and Quentin Tarantino’s frequent collaborator, Roger Avary.
The Special Features disc has a bunch of interviews, including a new one with John Woo as he reminisces about making the film and offering a lot of background information behind the making of the movie. You’re also treated to a new interview with one of the film’s stars, Anthony Wong, as he gives his experience on the film. You also hear from uncredited writers of the screenplay, and you learn about how the plot changed extremely last minute, and the script had to be written pretty much as it was being filmed.
In addition to the many interviews and video essays, you also get deleted and extended scenes, along with the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery.
As said before, the price is intimidating, but if you are a fan of the movie and want to upgrade your physical copy, this is a definitive next-gen home video experience. You can buy your own on the Shout Factory shop site HERE.
The post Hard Boiled: We take a look at Shout Factory’s 4K Blu-ray of the unrivaled John Woo action epic appeared first on JoBlo.