A wonderful monster movie import from South Korea. Now playing in indie/wide release. Meaning, in Boston, it's playing at the Boston Common theater downtown and the Kendall Square theater in Cambridge.
In a nutshell, it's a creature feature with heart. That is, the movie has heart, not the monster. Although, I suppose it probably has *a* heart, but that's not important right now. When the beastie, a mutant aquatic creature from the Han river, begins terrorizing the citizens of Seoul, it abducts the youngest child of a dysfunctional family, and things get personal. While the government and the military attempt to contain the mutated threat, the family defies them and decides to hunt the sewer-dwelling monster on their own. In the clever and crafty hands of director Bong Joon-ho (MEMORIES OF MURDER), the movie is as much LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE as it is GODZILLA or the BLOB.
HARD BOILED. trailer
Playing Monday and Tuesday night (only 5.30 on Tuesday) at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. If you want to know what's right with buddy-cop action movies, you must see this film!
I first saw it back in 92 or 93, at the Brattle, and it changed my life (granted, if you're familiar w me and any of my life, you'll understand that that doesn't mean all that much =). It raised the bar for action and cop pictures and opened my eyes to a new wave of film coming from Hong Kong.
This is John Woo at his Hong Kong cops-vs-triads hyperkinetic cinematic bullet-ballet best, before his diluted, but still comparatively quality, Hollywood work. He directs some kickass HK talent—Chow Yun Fat (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER), Tony Leung (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), and Anthony Wong (THE PAINTED VEIL), along with a host of excellent acrobatic bullet-eating HK stunt and supporting cast—to tell a definitive HK supercop/undercover cop detective story, full of archetypal cop and gangster motifs, themes, and codes, as well as the most amazing firefight sequences you'll see on the big screen. This film is probably the inspiration for half of all the memorable action movies and video games you've seen in the last decade or so (FIST OF LEGEND is probably the inspiration for the other half).
From the Brattle blurb...
"Hard to beat. To this day, and by some measure, HARD BOILED remains the benchmark for relentless, thrilling, visceral action. Still the most action packed 2 hours of celluloid in cinematic history. John Woo hits a delirious high in his Cantonese career with a fistful of amazing set pieces that put other directors' whole careers to shame. From the white-knuckle teahouse opener to the relentless hospital closer, the film has more showstoppers than an MGM musical."
—HOT FUZZ director Edgar Wright
The dilemma you'll have to face when walking out of the theater...
Great Action Movie, or... The Greatest Action Movie?
Note that HARD BOILED is playing at the Brattle as part of an ongoing 2-week series called the HOT FUZZtival, which features films selected by the makers the upcoming HOT FUZZ (the same brilliantly warped minds who brought us SHAUN OF THE DEAD) as inspirations for the new film. Already screened were THE FRENCH CONNECTION, DIRTY HARRY, and today, LETHAL WEAPON. Check out the Brattle site and schedule for the showtimes for more excellent buddy cop action (and one zombie =) films.
Keep on keepin on~
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