ERIK OLSON

What a rubbish rehash this was. An egotistical, narcissistic take on what was a good, quintessentially 80s action movie. Dalton is a zenless, reckless, straight-up killer now? A MMA monster, with no one in the world - not even a bit of mentorship from a weary fellow traveler? The incidental, formulaic bookstore father and daughter duo. Is that Juliette Lewis, circa Cape Fear? No, not even close, though the intentional groomy creep factor is served up right there. Bad guys less developed than the worst caricatures you can fathom, including the Gary Sinise rip-off and vaguely Mad Max, mental Aussie cage fighter nemesis. This was a disaster. Why? Why did we need this?

A can't miss intro to Chinese action actor, Chow Yun-fat and director, John Woo's unrivaled brand of action. Gorgeous cinematography and art direction, with flawlessly choreographed stunt sequences set Hard Boiled above and apart from most other films of the Golden Hong Kong action era. See also, "The Killer" and "A Better Tomorrow."