A friend bought the Criterion Collection Laserdisc of John Woo’s Hard Boiled when it was released. Care to guess how much the album size silver discs cost him back in the mid ’90s? How about $124.95 before tax. That’s roughly $245.84 in today’s money. I tell this story to illustrate two things: First is the prices of movies on disc today aren’t nearly as bad as you imagine. Second is that when there’s an audience willing to shell out that amount of cash for John Woo, it’s easy to see why the distributor of Wong Jing’s The Last Blood would rename the film Hard Boiled II in certain countries to beef up the box office. During the early 90s, John Woo was hot property as his Hong Kong action films starring Chow Yun-fat found their ways to America. What’s interesting is that The Last Blood came out over a year before Hard Boiled in Hong Kong. Both movies feature gunfights in hospitals so why not link the two films? When you’re trying to sell a foreign film, a distributor must work any angle to sell more VHS tapes. All these decades later, The Last Blood can exist on its own cinematic merits.
A courier with a video cassette arrives at the safe house of the terrorist Japanese Red Army. Inside several armed members gather around the TV set to watch the message from their leader. During the address, the leader holds up a photo of Interpol agent Lui Tai (Armour of God‘s Alan Tam) that is out to bust them up. It’s a photo of the courier. Without missing the beat, the courier turns into a lethal assassin and takes out the terror cell with agents firing through the windows. The JRA are by no means crippled. The surviving members next big plan is to take out the Daka Lama (Law Shu-kei) during his visit to Singapore. Lui Tai is on the case, but discovers things are not good for getting full security from his Singapore connections since this is a big holiday. There are a lot of people out of the office. During his flight, the Daka Lama meets Big B (Infernal Affairs‘ Andy Lau) and his girlfriend May (Lady Supercop‘s May Lo). Both of them are rather snide to the Holy Man. The Lama tells May that they’re born the same day because the horoscope year cycle flips on the actual years between them. This means they share the same fate. This prophecy is proven shortly after they depart the plane and the terrorists strike. This is a rather daring attack that fills Singapore’s airport with lead. During the attack, both Daka Lama and May suffer the same fate and need the same extra rare blood type of they both will die. It’s up to Lui Tai and Big B to track down the few blood donors in the City-State. But the JRA member are also looking for those same people. It’s a frantic race against time.
The Last Blood has the elements that make Wong Jing films exciting. The action scenes fill the screen with mayhem. Beyond the airport, we’re given a creative shootout at a hospital (which is why a distributor thought they could rename it Hard Boiled 2). The motorcycle stunts are tremendous in the nighttime chase. The guy who has the valuable blood type is a complete jerk and hustler. He wants to get paid to help out with the transfusion action. He’s a hustler who finally has something in demand. Andy Lau’s boyfriend is a serious jerk throughout the film even when he’s desperately trying to save his girlfriend’s life. These are not easy to embrace characters. Alan Tam was mostly doing comic roles before this movie. He shows that he can be a serious action star on the screen as the Interpol agent. He’s not yucking it up when he takes out the room full of JAR members. He’s there to slay. There are comic moments to balances with the extreme violence including a massive beach invasion from the JAR. Wong Jing had his own aesthetic going and wasn’t simply a clone of John Woo. Wong Jing already had international success with Chow Yun-fat with God of Gamblers and City Hunter with Jackie Chan. He was a major contributor to the scene that was erupting in the late ’80s and early ’90s that redefined action films at the end of the century. Wong Jing should not be overshadowed by his peers during conversations about directors about this time. The Last Blood is more than a sequel of a film that came after it. Also the 88 Films Blu-ray doesn’t cost nearly as much as the other film’s laserdisc and there’s no flipping.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer looks clean with plenty of bullets flying across the screen. The Audio is 2.0 Cantonese 2.0 DTS-HD MA Mono There’s also an English dub in 2.0 DTS-HD MA Mono. There’s a lot more depth to the Cantonese dub mix. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary with Hong Kong expert Frang Djeng is joined by John Charles, the author The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977–1997. Frank Djeng points out the film was entirely filmed in Singapore. Charles says that the distributor of The Last Blood had received John Woo’s blessing to rename the movie Hard Boiled II. Djeng does another excellent commentary giving cultural context, background on cast and crew and behind the scenes tales. Charles contributes to the conversation.
English Trailer (3:38) opens with a headshot. This was for the version called The Last Blood in English markets.
Hong Kong Trailer (4:12) begins with the swarm of motorcycles chasing the main guys.
Stills Gallery (2:19) includes press photos, artwork and box cover.
Two Sided Mini-Poster with original Hong Kong artwork and the new cover design.
88 Films present The Last Blood (a.k.a. Hard Boiled II). Directed by Wong Jing. Screenplay by Wong Jing. Starring Alan Tam, Andy Lau, Eric Tsang, Bryan Leung, May Lo & Natalis Chan. Running Time: 94 minutes Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 10, 2023.
