Hard Boiled review

 Number 368 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action-triller Hard-Boiled.

"Tequila" Yuen Ho-Yan (Chow Yun-Fat) is a cop who doesn't play by the book. His goal is to bring the triad boss Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong) to justice. He finds an unlikely ally in undercover cop Alan (Tony Leung) who is masquerading as Johnny Wong's closest advisor.

Similar to his previous effort of the Killer, Woo's Hard Boiled will be an acquired taste. If you're a fan of action films then you'll love it, but if not then I'd recommend you watch something else, as Hard-Boiled employs almost every action film cliche in the book including infinite ammo, plot armour, slow-motion, lots of blood and endless gunfights.

Thankfully, one refreshing change was how Hard Boiled's female protagonist - Tequila's girlfriend Theresa Chang (Teresa Mo) and fellow cop has some agency and does something else than incessantly scream like Sally Yeh did in the Killer. Teresa even shot one of the bad guys.

In making this film, John Woo wanted to romanticise the police rather than criminals, which he did do in fairness. True they weren't the most complicated of characters, but Tequila and Alan were undoubtedly the heroes of the films. Not the two-dimensional villainous Johnny Wong. 

I did enjoy seeing Yun-Fat and Leung together - they had good chemistry which is important in a film like this. I've seen Leung in both romantic and action roles and he's good at both. It's just a shame that I don't care for action films. The endless explosions and gunfights became rather repetitive. Rather than being exciting, it was very boring.

And I also found it strange how despite the film is mostly in Cantonese, the characters had a few odd lines in English. True Hong Kong was still a British colony, but it seemed like an odd, out-of-place choice.

Similar, to the Killer, I'd only recommend watching Hard Boiled if you're an action film fan. If you're not then you best find something else to watch as this is not the film for you.

Chungking Express review

 Number 234 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Hong Kong art house romantic-drama Chungking Express.

Chungking Express tells two separate love stories which only interconnect where one ends and the other begins. The first sees a Hong Kong police officer He Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) trying to come to terms with the ending of a relationship, while growing closer to a mysterious, unnamed woman in a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin) who is trying to survive in a dark, criminal underworld. The second story sees another policeman only known by his serial number 663 (Tony Leung) as he grows closer to the cafe waitress Faye (Faye Wong) after another failed relationship.

Of the two stories, I much preferred the second one. I found the first to be more of a loose sketch rather than an actual story. He Qiwu was such a wet blanket of a character. I get it. I've been him, moping around after a bad break-up. I'm sure I was an absolute misery to be around. What fun is somebody who is always feeling sorry for themselves? While it was realistic, it didn't make for a very compelling protagonist.

His female co-star had a more interesting story, but she wasn't afforded enough time to tell it. We see that she has been wronged in this criminal underworld and she is trying to take revenge on everybody who screwed her over. Yet her story was left incredibly vague and unexplained. Her actions certainly didn't have a lot of clarity. Although maybe this was because of the intentional motion blur that director Wong Kar-Wait used. And who knew there was such a big Indian minority in Hong Kong? Evidently not me who didn't realise the real Chungking estate does indeed host a whole bunch of Nepalese and South Asian immigrants.

Overall, the first story took itself too seriously. Not so for the second which was more light-hearted. It helped you had the comic relief character of the cafe manager played by Chan Kam-Cheun. He was constantly pushing 663 to move on. And it also helped that Tony Leung's character had more backbone than the other copper. Rather than moping around in self-despair, he's trying to get on with his life - if not actively moving on.

One way he's doing this is by frequenting a cafe where he starts getting friendly with the waitress Faye - who plays California Dreamin' by the Mamas and Papas on repeat. She is immediately smitten with him and her attempts to get closer to him - like cleaning and organising his flat when he isn't there - usually leading to some comic moments. It's quite a charming little story.

And Chungking Express is a charming enough film. It's actually two films in one with the second story being a lot better than the first. 

Kung Fu Hustle review

 Number 512 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Chinese martial art, comedy-drama Kung Fu Hustle.

Sing (Stephen Chow) and Bone (Lam Chi-Chung) are two hapless, small-time crooks. To break into the big time, they decide to join the Two-Axe gang which terrorises the local neighbourhood run by Landlord (Yuen Wah) and Landlady (Yuen Qiu.) To gain initiation, Sing and Bone must kill somebody - a task easier said than done when the neighbourhood is populated by no less than five kung fu masters.

Would it be fair to say that Kung-Fu Hustle was more style than substance? I know it's a comedy and it's not meant to be taken seriously, but I've never been a fan of films that are overly-reliant on special effects. I know they're supposed to be integral to the film's humour especially the slapstick nature and they weren't meant to be used gratuitously, but I did find them tedious after a while. From the weird banshee shockwave that the Landlady performed to the Sing's sonic punch that destroyed an entire building, it all became repetitive after a while.

Another reason I didn't get on with this film is that I'm not keen on martial art movies. Similarly to boxing films, while the fights maybe well choregraphed, they drag on too long and don't hold my interest. I'm not invested in the fighting so I naturally don't care about who wins or loses. I am also puzzled as to why the film was marketed as a comedy. It didn't make me laugh very much. But that's not because the jokes fell flat, but rather they didn't seem to be making many jokes at all.

A lot of the film is dedicated to Sing's childhood and a particular flashback of him standing up to some bullies going horrifically wrong. He is trying to stop them from beating up a girl, but is beaten up instead. We see the two re-unite and kindle a romance as adults. This was a cute subplot, but not very funny. In fact, other than bizarre special effects, the only joke I remember is a rather predictable one.

Bone, to gain initiation into the Two axes, decides to kill Landlady by throwing knives at her. But due to his terrible aim and hapless nature, the knives all end up in Sing instead. And Sing is behind him. Yet as we know that these two are hapless, this joke was far too obvious to be funny.

Unfortunately, this film didn't appeal to me. I am not a fan of martial art films, not am I fan of films that prioritise style over substance, but I am sure this film has a dedicated fanbase. I'm just not one of those fans.