Hard Boiled

In a crowded Hong Kong teahouse, Tequila and Benny Mak shadow a gun-smuggling deal between rival factions. A rival gang opens fire, triggering a brutal shootout that leaves officers and civilians wounded and Benny dead. Tequila fights back, determined to bring the killers to justice.

Tequila tracks down Benny's killer and executes him, choosing vengeance over arrest. The act earns him a stern reprimand from Chief Superintendent Pang, who warns him about the consequences of taking the law into his own hands. The line between justice and duty begins to blur for Tequila.

After Benny's funeral, Pang burns the personnel file of another smuggler Tequila had killed, hinting that the man was an undercover cop. The move signals a deeper conspiracy within the force and leaves Tequila questioning who else may be compromised. The investigation grows dangerous and murky.

Alan, an assassin working for Uncle Hoi, kills a subordinate who betrayed them for a rival syndicate. Johnny Wong is impressed by his skill and recruits him to help seize control of the illicit arms trade. Alan reluctantly agrees and prepares for a brutal initiation.

The initiation raid on Hoi's warehouse unfolds with brutal efficiency as Wong's plan comes together. Surrounded, Hoi lets Alan kill him to spare his surrendering men, but Alan kills them all anyway to please Wong. Tequila, watching from cover, ambushes Wong's men but is captured by Alan, who spares him, deepening the dangerous alliance.

Pang refuses to confirm whether Alan is undercover, but reveals the teahouse friendly-fire incident to Tequila and warns him to stay away from the case. The warning raises the personal stakes for Tequila as the net tightens around the operation. The investigation grows more dangerous and opaque.

Tequila deduces Alan's undercover status and shadows him to his sailboat by the harbor. The pair are ambushed by remnants of Hoi's gang, and Tequila escapes just as Wong arrives, leaving Alan to preserve his cover. The uneasy alliance between them remains intact for now.

Wong discovers Foxy is a police informant, and Mad Dog brutalizes him to extract information. Alan is ordered to execute Foxy, but Foxy survives thanks to a cigar lighter he had hidden earlier. Foxy later tells Tequila at a jazz bar that Wong's armory is hidden in a vault beneath Maple Hospital.

Alan and Tequila locate Wong's vault beneath Maple Hospital and prepare to strike. Wong's men take staff and patients hostage and unleash gunfire, prompting Pang to evacuate the lobby while Teresa Chang and the Special Duties Unit rescue babies from the maternity wing. The hospital becomes a battlefield as police and gangsters clash amid the chaos.

Tequila assists with evacuations and confronts Wong's men as Alan faces Mad Dog in a brutal duel. Wong detonates bombs in the armory, igniting a raging fire that traps survivors. Tequila escapes with a baby, while Alan continues the pursuit of Wong until the climactic confrontation.

In a final standoff, Alan shoots himself to deny Wong a chance to kill Tequila and to prove his loyalty to their cause. Tequila fatally shoots Wong in the head as the hospital erupts around them, and Alan collapses, presumed dead. Pang and Tequila then destroy Alan's personnel file to protect him and avert further retaliation.

With the Triad threat neutralized, Pang and Tequila erase Alan's file and declare him dead to allow him to depart Hong Kong and begin a new life abroad. The film closes on the note that one man’s sacrifice saved others, while a new future opens far from the city’s fires and gunfire.