John Woo's Masterpiece Hard Boiled Has Never Looked Better

Director John Woo will be familiar to most North American film fans for his work on Hard Target, Mission: Impossible 2, and Face/Off–  mostly mediocre action films that have their fans. What audiences might not know is that before Woo came to America, he directed a fantastic run of Hong Kong action classics, including The Killer, A Better Tomorrow Trilogy, Bullet in the Head, and Hard Boiled. Hard Boiled was his last, maybe best, movie in that memorable era, but it's never gotten a quality release on Home Video. 

In January, Shout! Studios announced that they had acquired the exclusive rights to the Golden Princess movie library, which encompassed 156 highly sought-after classics from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. These movies include the works of director John Woo and Tsui Hark, as well as performances from renowned actors Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Tony Leung Chiu-wai (In the Mood for Love), and Leslie Cheung (Farewell My Concubine). The press release linked within explains the full breadth of classics that Shout Studios licensed in the deal. Needless to say, it's a library full of gems that haven’t seen quality releases in the West. Some of the movies have been licensed out further to streaming services like Tubi and Criterion Channel, but the physical releases are the prize I’ve personally been waiting for.