The Mission and Hard Boiled

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will screen Johnnie To's 1999 film The Mission and John Woo's 1992 film Hard Boiled as a part of their Hard Boiled Hong Kong Weekend Series.

The Mission

One of Hong Kong's most prolific filmmakers, Johnnie To is a master craftsman of mobster entertainments, rife with bravura set pieces and undercurrents of betrayal (a theme shared with Woo). An eccentric assortment of mercenaries—among them a pimp and a hairdresser—is hired as the security detail for a targeted Triad godfather. But when it turns out one of them has been having an affair with the boss's daughter, the team's loyalty is put to the test. Considered To's masterpiece by many, The Mission was filmed without a screenplay over three weeks and features some of the director's most iconic sequences, among them a meditative standoff in a empty shopping center that exemplifies the director's sculptural precision. "The best crime film to come from Hong Kong in years. It's austere and still, beautifully composed and tense, and the characters are professional and efficient, positioning themselves for efficiency and communicating and interacting silently while on the job."—Sean Axmaker.
1999/color/81 min./Scope | Scr: Yau Nai-Hoi; dir: Johnnie To w/ Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Jackie Lui, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet; Simon Yam.

Hard Boiled

Following the international breakthrough of The Killer, Woo hit a triumphant high with his final Hong Kong production. Fat stars as Tequila, a gruff flatfoot equal parts Dirty Harry sneer and Popeye Doyle savagery. Joined by steely undercover agent Leung, he's out to avenge the death of his partner by an arms smuggling outfit. Ostensibly a buddy movie, Hard Boiled is Woo's farewell to Hong Kong filmmaking. By the time of its release, Woo was in Hollywood, where he would spend the next decade helming seven films. Shot in an abandoned Coca Cola plant without a script, Hard Boiled is a 21-gun salute to the genre Woo had reinvented. A vivid procession of dazzlingly choreographed face-offs, it culminates with typical Woo abandon in an astonishing maternity ward shootout. "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...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."—Edgar Wright
1992/color/126 min. | Scr: Barry Wong; dir: John Woo; w/ Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Teresa Mo.