High-Octane
Summary
The Last Blood is let down by some annoying characters but where it excels is the action which is frenetic and well done with chaotic shoot-outs, regular explosions and some fights too.
Plot: The Red Army aims to assassinate the Daka Lama in Singapore. Ling May, with a rare blood type, encounters them. Terrorists strike. Authorities seek a donor match as Ling’s boyfriend and a conman intervene, racing against time.
Not to be confused with the final Rambo movie, The Last Blood is classic Hong Kong action at its best; starring Andy Lau and Alan Tam, it’s about a cop and a gangster forced to work together to protect a blood donor to save the life of the Daka Lama who has been shot. In the shoot-out Brother Bee’s (Lau) girlfriend is also injured and requires the same blood which is his motivation for him to reluctantly work with the police.
Why does practically every Hong movie from back in the day have a character called Fatty who is usually an idiot? This time played by Eric Tsang who really isn’t all that overweight but whatever. His character is the weakest aspect and is rather annoying, but I think he’s meant to be funny. Andy Lau’s character is also quite irritating which is rare making Lui Tai (Alan Tam) the best character as he seems to be the only one with any brains.
So, if you’re here for great characters and dialogue then this ain’t it however, what The Last Blood does have is some wild action scenes the like of which we don’t see any more. We get crazy shoot-outs, explosions, and fights with some nice moments of violence too including someone getting an axe in the face.
It’s mostly well-paced and the finale set in a hospital delivers the action goods too. In the UK this was sometimes called Hard Boiled 2 but has no connection and was released before the John Woo classic. It’s also known as 12 Hours of Terror which isn’t very catchy, so I think The Last Blood makes more sense.
Overall, The Last Blood AKA Hard Boiled 2 may have some annoying characters but where it excels is the action which is frenetic and brutal making this worth checking out if you’ve never seen it.