Hard Boiled

"As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill."

1992 2h 6m CN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🔥

92%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 997🍅92%Rotten Tomatoes★7.7IMDB · 57,998

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

“As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill.”

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Cast

Chow Yun-Fat
Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Alan
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Johnny Wong
Teresa Mo Shun-Kwan
Teresa Chang
Philip Chan Yan-Kin
Supt. Pang
Stephen Tung Wai
Little Ko / Fox
Kwan Hoi-San
Mr. Hoi
John Woo
Mr. Woo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Woo
Writers: Gordon Chan, Barry Wong Ping-Yiu, John Woo
Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Countries: Hong Kong

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 58% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Directed by John Woo, shot by Horace Wong Wing-Hang. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michael Gibbs. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Wu shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Woo directs. Horace Wong Wing-Hang behind the camera. Michael Gibbs scores. David Wu cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Hong Kong. Dialogue in Cantonese, Mandarin, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 58% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
334 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English.
5Directed by John Woo, shot by Horace Wong Wing-Hang. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Michael Gibbs. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor David Wu shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill.".
10IMDB entry: tt0104684 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "arms smuggling", "inspector", "arms dealer", "hong kong".
12Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Horace Wong Wing-Hang
Original score: Michael Gibbs
Editing: David Wu
Production design: James Leung Wah-Sing
Costume design: Janet Chun Siu-Chun
Makeup / hair: Cheng Wai-Fong
Stunt coordinator: Jackie Yeung
Runtime: 126 min · 2h 6m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,500,000
Box office: $2,592,782
Return: 58% of budget
Original language: CN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Hard Boiled (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 57,998 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 4 nominations total

Also by

John Woo

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-07-19
★ 1/10
Who wants to see a free bloodbath before breakfast today? Hong Kong has a long history of good action cinema, but this movie didn't seem that good and interesting to me. Many people love it, they say it is wonderful, and I accept that very well, I think that everyone has their own tastes, but the truth is that the film did not work for me. Sounds like an excuse for an action movie. John Woo is a director I don't know very well. I liked “The Killer” and, therefore, I decided to see this film: it is considered, by many people, one of the director's best. They're not even alike. It is noted that it is the same director, there is a certain style and look, and some shooting options, which are in both films, but we lack a good script, a convincing story. From the middle, sensibly, the director's brutality and bloodlust lose the brake: in minutes, we watch in the armchair what we can only classify as a gratuitous bloodbath (false, obviously). I would like to talk a little about the actors, but I felt that none of them has the time, space and material to represent a character properly. They are there to kill or die, according to the wishes and desires of the Machiavellian Woo, who abuses visual effects, brutality, the toughest and most soulless action that we can see on a cinema screen. Loaded with graphic effects that accompany a cinematography worthy of an industrial rock music video, the film takes us from massacre to massacre and, before halfway through, we already begin to doubt that there is a live cast. In truth, and to be fair, the film also has the grace of being quite immersive, be it for the good use of sound effects, be it for its magnificently adequate soundtrack, be it for the fast and visceral filming. We are part of that, we are there. And that makes it even harder to bear, depending on how insensitive you can be.
Dr Nostromo2026-04-13
★ 9/10
90/100 John Woo's last Hong Kong film before coming to the states, he went balls out on this non-stop action, crime thriller involving 2 cops stuck right in the middle of a major drug war. Highlights include some of the most incredible stunts I've seen, a single shot traveling gun battle that goes on for nearly 5 minutes, electric performances by Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung, and, holy crap! What a body count!! Ranked #18 in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 Cult Films of All-Time" ...and well deserved. --DrNostromo.com