Hard Boiled

It had been forever since I first watched this movie, so most of it had long since been forgotten—and thus most of the film came across as fresh and surprising. Well, not the hospital sequence—that is simply unforgettable. What truly came as a surprise to me, upon re-viewing, was this movie’s inspirations and antecedents. I didn’t recognize it upon first viewing, but this flick actually comes across as an extended, Hong Kong flavored Miami Vice episode. It’s all there, pretty much from the first scene: the ‘80s music video styling, with plenty of quick cuts and rapid fire beats; the saxophone laden soundtrack; the mismatched partners, with Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai as the Chinese Crockett and Tubbs: one plain and veteran and tough, the other fashionable and somewhat mysterious; and all the cop story cliches, including the rogue inspector, the angry, yelling supervisor, the thin line between the cops and crooks, and even the glamorous port city setting. It becomes clear watching this story how much John Woo, far from being an innovator, owes a great deal as a director to Michael Mann and countless MTV video directors. None of which is to say that this movie gets downgraded in any way—it remains a smashing good time as a viewing experience, with all the action one could want (or even stand), terrific performances by the leads bolstered by strong supporting work, and just enough pathos to make all that violence seem to have real importance. It’s still one of my favorite foreign language films—nothing hard about making that call.

  

Mission: Impossible-2

It is itself, only more so. This second outing in the series takes the template--one is tempted to call this work formulaic, but that would be too negative--formed by the first and magnifies it. Credit for that must go to having John Woo as the director, or at least to the decision to bring the Hong Kong action master in to helm the production. His  touch shows throughout the proceedings, in a building pattern that eventually reaches a point where, at the climax, the movie achieves maximum John Woo-ness, with set pieces, stunts and visuals that are so over the top that certain moments are laugh out loud funny. Other parts of the production are uneven yet entertaining. The story runs from simple and straightforward to a growing complexity, where at at least one point it’s hard to follow who is doing what. The propensity of the characters to wear flawless disguises assists in creating certain confusion, though at one point the ploy is used so obviously that there’s humor in what should otherwise be a serious confrontation scene. Then again, this flick never really takes itself too seriously, except perhaps for its through line of ogling Thandie Newton, a pastime that gets devoted attention almost from start to finish. Overall, this movie delivers decent popcorn entertainment; if you don’t expect brilliance--and clearly, many moviegoers have not over the franchise’s lifetime--you will be mostly satisfied with your investment here.