Chow Yun-Fat

In Hard Boiled (1992), Chow Yun-Fat's Inspector ‘Tequila’ Yuen is reckless enough to worry us and charming enough to keep us watching. We enjoyed his swagger because Chow never made the policeman seem harmless. Tony Leung Chiu-wai's Alan is more guarded, and his reserve gives Chow's expansiveness something to work against. Their scenes together make the fighting personal, even when the gun-running plot gives them little help.

A Better Tomorrow (1986) made Chow a star and began his long collaboration with John Woo. In The Killer (1989), his physical poise serves a hitman troubled by his conscience. The stillness, the charm and the practised handling of cigarettes and guns are familiar parts of his work, but the men he plays can also be hurt by what they do. Woo is a good director for an actor who can make loyalty credible without needing to look innocent.

The move into Hollywood in the late 1990s brought narrower opportunities: The Replacement Killers (1998) was a formulaic vehicle with limited room for its star. As Li Mu Bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), he found another use for his stoicism and chemistry with fellow actors. He has also worked in comedy, melodrama and historical drama. Treating him simply as a gunman leaves too much of that work out.

In Hard Boiled, there are limits to what even this partnership can fix. Woo's interest in male loyalty sometimes grows solemn, the story is thin, and the violence can tire us. The precise staging and reckless humour earn much of the film's excess, but Chow and Leung provide the reason to care about who is doing the shooting. Their exchanges are worth attending to even when the writing gives them little to say. Start there for the partnership, provided the evening can accommodate a great deal of gunfire.