Hard Boiled

"Give him a gun and he becomes Superman. Give him two and he becomes God."

An uncompromising cop named Tequilla sets out to destroy a gang of arms dealers, only to discover that not every opponent is what they seem. The bodies of gangster henchmen pile up by the dozens, emotions, pathos, and coolness flow freely, and Chow Yun-Fat definitively became a cinematic icon.

Hard Boiled may not be as emotionally intense as director Woo's Killer or Better Tomorrow, but as a pure action spectacle it is flawless, brutal, and revolutionary. Woo perfected his bloody ballet here and inspired an entire generation of filmmakers who tried to imitate his aesthetically perfect shootouts - but this is the original that reminded the world that Hong Kong knew how to do action even better than Hollywood. And John Woo earned his invitation to Hollywood.