Chow Yun-Fat

Inspector ‘Tequila’ Yuen, in Hard Boiled (1992), makes a reckless course of action seem settled before anyone has had time to object. Chow Yun-Fat supplies the certainty that lets John Woo push the gunfights so far. We can enjoy their extravagance because Chow remains easy to read even when there is a great deal happening around him. His confidence carries us through a thin police story, though it cannot make that story any thicker. He gives us a person to follow when the destruction might otherwise become exhausting.

The action films can obscure how much dramatic work came first. The Story of Woo Viet (1981) and Hong Kong 1941 (1984) brought him film acclaim before A Better Tomorrow (1986) began the partnership with Woo that made him a star. The Killer (1989) helped bring that style of action to international audiences. The honourable cop or criminal became a familiar part for him, but he had already established himself in drama before that partnership began.

In Hard Boiled, Tony Leung Chiu-wai's Alan gives us more cause for concern than Chow's Tequila. The two performances make the attachment between the men credible without requiring speeches to explain it. We worried about Alan, and Chow's easy acceptance of danger made that worry sharper. Chow does not have to become solemn for their bond to register, nor does Leung have to imitate his swagger. Woo gets two distinct men into the same commotion, and both remain legible.

Hollywood roles followed from 1998, but The Replacement Killers (1998) was among the vehicles that underused him. Such films did not always make enough use of what he could do beyond action. As Li Mu Bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), his understated presence offered a different use for the same assurance. That quieter performance is worth keeping in mind when the guns threaten to define him. Start with Hard Boiled for the partnership with Leung, and allow the police plot a little patience.