Negative Positive
Title: Complex, brilliant film with astonishing action set-pieces
Review: HARD-BOILED[La Shou Shen Tan](Hong Kong - 1992)Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Theatrical soundtrack: MonoJohn Woo's electrifying crime-thriller amounts to a great deal more than the sum of its action set-pieces. As with virtually all of his post-1986 HK films, Woo generates a tangible sense of melancholy by placing honorable, chivalrous - even lovable - characters into situations where all those precious moral virtues are constantly being challenged and devalued by the greed and cynicism of our modern age. And yet, Woo was eventually persuaded to conclude his picture on an optimistic note, with the villains routed and the good guys allowed to resume their places in the grand scheme of things. It's a daring move, given everything which precedes it, but no less effective than the all-out tragedy which Woo had originally envisaged.
Is the review positive or negative? 