Hard Boiled: Hong Kong Cinema Classics: Deluxe Edition – Shout! Factory (UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1992
Director: John Woo
Writers: Gordon Chan, Barry Wong, John Woo
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Kwan Hoi-san

Release Date: November 4th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 128 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 Dolby Vision
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $49.99

"In this genre-defining masterpiece from action legend John Woo (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible 2, The Killer), a cop (Chow Yun-Fat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Killer) 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 (Tony Leung, In the Mood for Love, Marvel's Shang-Chi) who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative."

Hard Boiled comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 89.1 GB

Feature: 88.8 GB

None of Hard Boiled's previous home media releases look great; they all left a lot of room for improvement. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look. That said, this new transfer looks phenomenal, and it is easily the best this film has ever looked on home media.

Hard Boiled comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 38.7 GB

Feature: 38.4 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Cantonese and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and range-wise action sequences sound appropriately robust. Included are English subtitles for the Cantonese language track and English SDH for the English language track. Language tracks and subtitles can only be changed via the setup menu and not during playback.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an archival audio commentary recorded for the Criterion Collection with director John Woo, producer Terence Chang, filmmaker Roger Avary, and film critic Dave Kehr; an audio commentary with John Woo and film journalist Drew Tayler; and an audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng.

Extras on Blu-ray disc one include an archival audio commentary with John Woo, Terence Chang, Roger Avary, and Dave Kehr; an audio commentary with John Woo and Drew Tayler; and an audio commentary with Frank Djeng.

Extras on Blu-ray disc two include an image gallery (posters/lobby cards/stills), two theatrical trailers (6 minutes 28 seconds, DTS-HD mono with text in English), deleted and extended scenes from the Taiwanese version and South Korean version (13 minutes 58 seconds, DTS-HD mono Cantonese with burnt-in English, Mandarin, and Korean subtitles), an interview with academic Lin Feng titled Chewing The Fat (12 minutes 43 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with author Leon Hunt Gun-Fu Fever (18 minutes 38 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with author Grady Hendrix titled Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Hard Boiled (13 minutes 3 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with composer Michael Gibbs titled Body Count Blues (10 minutes, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with screenwriter Chung Hang Ku titled Boiled to Perfection (16 minutes 42 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan titled Hard to Resist (10 minutes 20 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Terence Chang titled No Time For Failure (11 minutes 59 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with actor Anthony Wong titled Boiling Over (22 minutes 6 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), and an interview with John Woo titled Violent Night (41 minutes 6 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips).

Other extras include a rigid slipcase and a 52-page booklet with an essay titled A History of Violence written by Russell Dyball, an essay titled A Stiff Shot of Tequila written by Callum Waddell, an essay titled Tony The Tiger (General) written by Grady Hendrix, and an essay titled Hard Boiled: An Industry Calling Card with a Political Note written by Victor Fan.

Summary:

John Woo’s run of six films from A Better Tomorrow to Hard Boiled are among some of the best action films ever made. After Hard Boiled, John Woo, like many of his contemporaries, would leave Hong Kong and go to Hollywood to make movies. While he ventured into Hollywood filmmaking, none of John Woo's Hollywood projects could ever compare to those six iconic films.

Inspector "Tequila" Yuen Ho-yan will do anything, even break the law, to catch Johnny Wong, the man responsible for his partner’s death. During a raid, Inspector Yuen befriends one of Johnny Wong’s men, Alan, who also just happens to be an undercover cop. Inspector Yuen and Alan decide that, by working together, they can get more accomplished as they track down the evidence that will finally bring Johnny Wong down.

Hard Boiled is a masterclass in action cinema; John Woo was in top form for his farewell (at that time) from Hong Kong cinema, and the result is a remarkable film that stands out as one of cinema’s best action films. While he departed from Hong Kong cinema following Hard Boiled, Hollywood had sought to entice him as early as after the release of The Killer, a film that is widely considered his masterpiece. Hard Boiled may not reach the same level of emotional depth The Killer does, but when it comes to action sequences, it surpasses any of John Woo's previous or subsequent films.

It is immediately clear that you are about to watch something special. In the opening setup, there is a scene at a teahouse, where undercover cops are waiting for the moment to take down the criminals. In the bottom of birdcages are guns, which characters gain access to when they break the cages. Things quickly go awry, when the moment arrives; there is a hailfire of bullets and a lot of carnage left in its wake. Although John Woo has delivered countless exemplary action pieces, this moment is arguably his most brilliant and jaw-dropping.

Throughout cinema’s history there have been several notable actor/director collaborations in which both reached their greatest successes. More than any actor, audiences identify Chow Yun-Fat (City on Fire) with the cinema of John Woo, and they worked together on five films, starting with A Better Tomorrow and culminating with Hard Boiled. Chow Yun-Fat portrays "Tequila" Yuen Ho-yan, a hard-boiled police inspector who is impulsive and relies heavily on his instincts. He delivers another phenomenal performance that elevates everyone around him.

The most astonishing aspect of Hard Boiled is not its action sequences but its cast and their exceptional performances. Tony Leung (Bullet in the Head) is cast opposite Chow Yun-Fat in the role of Alan, an undercover cop who is deeply embedded into the criminal underworld. His role mirrors a similar character he would portray years later in Infernal Affairs. He delivers a captivating performance that perfectly contrasts with Chow Yun-Fat’s.

Another performance of note is Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (Full Contact), who portrays Johnny Wong, a psychopath crime boss whose first reaction is to kill. No matter how many times I have seen him portray a character like Johnny Wong, it is always a delight to see him in this type of role. The most memorable performance is Philip Kwok (Five Deadly Venoms) in the role of an assassin named Mad Dog, who has a moral compass when it comes to who he will kill.

The opening setup does a superb job fleshing out all the characters. Although the front half of the narrative is more exposition-heavy, that is not to say that the latter half is just wall-to-wall action; there are several dramatic moments in the latter half that greatly add to the rising tension. At 128 minutes in length, the narrative does an excellent job moving forward and building momentum to its finale, a lengthy action set piece that’s nearly ⅓ of the running time.

Besides the aforementioned tea house sequence, there are two other action sequences of note. The first of these takes place in a warehouse, where "Tequila" witnesses a massacre at the hands of Johnny Wong’s men, and instead of calling for backup, he becomes a one-man army with an impressive arsenal of weapons. The other is the finale, which takes place in a hospital, where Johnny Wong’s weapons depot is in the basement. When it becomes clear that the police are in the hospital and have the place surrounded, Johnny Wong has his men kill everyone, including patients. This is John Woo’s biggest and most impressive action sequence of his career. That said, John Woo’s action set pieces garner a lot of attention, and yet the heart and soul of his cinema is his ability to execute emotional conflict. Ultimately, Hard Boiled is an extraordinary action film that finds a perfect blend of substance and style.

Hard Boiled gets an exceptional release from Shout Factory that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer