A comment on the front cover of the DVD case for Hard Boiled says that it is 'more exciting than a dozen Die Hards'. A dozen may be an over statement but this exciting balletic action from genre maestro John Woo does its best to blow you away! This is easily Woo's best film along with The Killer and is a mile apart from any of his mediocre Hollywood efforts. He manages to take the classic elements of the cop movie, including plot devices, typical inciting incidents and characterisation and overload it with as much action you can fire a gun at, creating two hours of pure adrenaline rush. The superb action sequences are split up by good plot detail and a bit of humour thrown in for good measure, a lot of it completely incongruous to the often violent scenario (the sequence with Yun-Fat dodging bullets while holding a baby for example). In this sense it doesn't take itself too seriously and the respectable, if basic storyline helps to make this not jut another pointless action workout. If your not a fan of subtitles then watch it for the action sequences and any conosseuir of all things violent would lap this up. The amount of bullets fired is staggering and the gunplay and stuntwork is some of the best you will ever see! The last 40 minutes in particular is pretty jaw-dropping, with explosions and bullets gallore, amidst the frenetic camera-work and stylish visuals. Hard Boiled must be near to the record for having the highest on-screen body-count in a film and this is a statistic that hints at what to expect. Amazing.<br /><br />8/10