Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Anthony Wong. It follows a police inspector whose investigation of a brutal Triad leader entangles him in the complex world of undercover policing.

Plot

In a Hong Kong teahouse, Royal Hong Kong Police inspectors "Tequila" Yuen and Benny Mak surveil a group of gun smugglers while they are making a deal. When a rival gang ambushes the deal, a fierce shootout breaks out; the gangsters are defeated, but several police officers and civilians are wounded and Benny is killed. As revenge, Tequila executes the gangster who killed Benny rather than arrest him. He is reprimanded by Chief Superintendent Pang, who needed the executed gangster as a key witness. After a police funeral, Pang burns the personnel file of another smuggler Tequila killed, revealing him to be an undercover cop.