Hard Boiled

First of all, why do I give this one such a high rating and a movie like zootopia such a negative one?
They sound uncomparable except for the fact that in my zootopia review I hated the worldview the movie had on cops. There are good cops, that is true but the movie also wants to tackle racism and corruption within the system but forgets to completely ignore the cop side of thing.
Its a very poor view of those things, the movie sucks because of that.

Hard boiled also revolves around cops but its not about racism, its not about corruption at least not like that.
The movie sweeps you into this grounded yet over the top world with simple but great characters.
Tequila is stubborn, he gets into a lot of trouble and he always just goes in without thinking but later on he's able to show that he is more then meets the eye and actual displays not intelligent smart but rather street smart. We also see in the beginning that he cares about his fellow men when a cop dies and has a funeral.

Pang, his boss doesn't understand him and sometimes is understandable annoyed by tequila but he also is willing to sacrifice alan if he needs to but the movie later on in the third act has pang forcibly and unknowingly by the bad guys has to watch has some of his men are brutally murdered and later on he is willing to make all of his officers drop his gun for alan. Its simple but it works.

Alan is such a good character, we see with him the underbelly of the underworld and the violence that comes with it. He's clearly horrified multiple times but he has to do what is done to win over the trust of Johnny.
He has to kill many, many guys and that does impact him in the third act where he probably felt like he had to set things right and sacrifice himself for what he has done.

Alan and tequila are somewhat of direct opposites of eachother.
While they can both be stubborn, alan is a lot more willing to take the commands of his superior, he still qeustions some of the choices but ultimately goes through with them while tequila in classic movie cop fashion does things in his own way which lands him in trouble most of the time.
I would say some characters like Johnny and Teresa feel undeveloped but I still like how Teresa doesn't argue with tequila despite hinting at a straining relationship. She keeps things proffesional and stays proffesional. Also its not like she and him only bicker, they do just have normal conversations together.

now what about the action?
The action is elegant, these are not gun fights, these are dances, these soap operas and the way woo is able to use slow motion to way that he does is so magnificent.
I wanted to cry sometimes with good the action is. Its definitly fast paced but the camera is steady, the editing is sometimes fast but not to fast but it also can be slow and able to create suspense.
The sound design and things like gushing blood effects for these fights are so immaculate. Like one scene where someone kills another guy for being an alleged traitor feels theatrical in the best way possible, the camera moves so nice in that scene.
The action is also helped by the fact that the cinematography is excellent.
Shots feel precise but can also feel shaky when they need to be.
There are a lot of things like fade ins and outs and screen wipes that feel so much like they are from a by gone era which is half true but the film uses these in such a fun and cool way that I hope they are gonna be used more often. In 2025 fade ins and out were definitly used a lot in popular films like one battle after another and no other choice.
The film is a quick reminder of how action films should look and not like washed out hazards like every modern action flick.

The performance are all perfect.
Chow Yun fat should get more recognition as much as Tony leung nowadays has after being in a blockbuster like shang chi and a movie like in the mood for love getting more and more popular.
Tony leung is also perfect, a lot of his facial expressions are great, same for chow Yun fat.
A lot of the dialogue is sharp but the performance strike a nice balance between Hollywood "realism" and Hong Kong theatricality.
John who's direction seems effortless in that area.
Maybe one of the coolest films i've ever seen.

Its a cop movie yes and while my statements on some movies like zootopia contradicts the love I have for this movie, simply the difference here is that it doesn't swing higher for what it wants. It doesn't use random citizen as bodybags to not care about.
Movies like kingsman for example while not necessarily featuring cops, it does have a secret organization to save people but also toys with the lives of people. The church scene is a decent example where everybody is killed but there are no reprecussions.
Same with eggsy's driver in the first action scene. Just there to be killed and never being acknowledged.