Unquestionably the crowning jewel of John Woo's filmography, Hard Boiled is a film that doesn't have anything to prove and Woo's last hurrah to the industry that brought him lasting vitality as a filmmaker. Mayhem has never looked better. So many films owe their origins to this movie and Woo himself, his shootouts are a ballet; his firebombings are poetry. And while he lets the body count get away from him, he constantly fascinates, through a combination of chaos and an excruciating control over what we're allowed to see.

Boasting some of the finest action sequences ever filmed and beautiful emotional resonance Hard Boiled is a powerful thriller that hits hard in more ways than one. It's the very definition of an action masterpiece; Heroic Bloodshed that only Woo could deliver, give him a gun, he's Superman. But give the man two and he's a God.