Contract Killer - Im Auftrag des Todes

From the cover of the movie, with Jet Li dressed up in a full Swat-like body armor, swinging in a rope, I didn't really expect much. It seemed pretty cliché if you ask me. But I watched it, and boy, was I surprised. Ok, so it was dubbed. And dubbing is always bad. But the story was quite interesting, and carried out well throughout the movie.

In the opening scene a mafia boss is killed by a hitman, along with a bunch of his bodyguards. His family puts a bounty on the hitmans head (100 million dollars, to be exact... That's alot!), and they call upon all the assassins of Hong Kong to find this hitman, and kill him.

Jet Li's character, Fu, is a rookie hitman who's low on cash. He's thrown out by his roommates for not paying the bill and is wandering the streets when he hears of the 100 million dollar award for the one who finds the killer of the mafia boss. He also finds a new friend, who finds a few hits for him. However it seems that Fu isn't really that great of a hitman. Sure, he is fast, strong and well trained in the martial arts, but he's to sensitive.

They end up getting in trouble, because everyone thinks Fu's friend is the one who killed the mafia boss, and they have to run from some of Eiji's (the badguy in the movie... But is he really bad? What did he do that's so bad? Well, its obvious that he is meant to be the badguy, anyway) assassins. The end is pretty predictable (but the identity of the killer who killed the mafia boss is probably supposed to come as a surprise. It didn't.) but all in all its a good movie. Entertaining, and much, much better than most Hollywood action movies.

I give it a 8, interesting characters, plot, fights and pretty much everything. But I suppose it could have been better on some minor points. It just doesn't feel like a 10, heh.

A HK movie which doesn't have over the top music, bad dubbing, over stylish direction or bad actors deserves to get a better mention. After watching the APPALLING "Black Mask" (directed by that unfortunately highly American influenced Daniel Lee) I didn't expect much from this. I was pleasantly surprised. Good acting all round (watch for Jet li's subtle quirks), standable music, nice sound, simple and unglorified directing (check out the fight with the guy with the lasers) good fight scenes, and a solid plot make this a good change of pace from most Jet Li movies. Don't watch it for a Martial Arts Flick, just watch it for a well made action movie and you won't be disappointed. 7.5 /10

This is a good movie that may have never made it to the American market if not for the success of Jet Li in the U.S. Eric Tsang is a very successful actor in the Hong Kong market, but has virtually no following here -- which is too bad. He may have even been listed as the star of the movie in the original Chinese version.

Eric is a Chinese blend of Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci. He can portray the wormy character of DeVito in the Romancing the Stone/Jewel of the Nile movies. And he also does a great blending of the Home Alone/Lethal Weapon Joe Pesci character. People should rent this movie to see him render his role.

As for the movie, itself, this is a little different than most Jet Li fare -- maybe because he is not the clear star. There is a little less of the martial artist and a little more of the actor. It is a pleasant change.

Jet Li (Hero, Black Mask etc.) and Erik Tsang (Infernal Affairs) star in this wire fu action flick with an identity crisis. We start in kind of Jackie Chan territory with plenty of humour with Li a bumbling incompetent hit-man and Tsang a small time crook getting involved in a multi-million dollar 'hit'. As the film goes on all the comedy moments are forgotten and we begin to move into a serious action flick involving a bit more gun play than the usual Jet Li film, in fact it comes across at times as a cross between a Jet Li film and a John Woo heroic bloodshed type affair.

The action sequences are all to the high standard expected of Jet with a few added gun play sequences. Li is very likable in the lead role and Tsang is very good in his sidekick role showing a different persona to his performance in Infernal affairs.

Overall a fairly good hong kong action flick but the differing styles clash at times 6/10

This film is unique among the Jet Li collection because, first, Jet's voice is not dubbed (i.e., viewers actually hear him speak accented Cantonese), and, second, Jet's character, Ah Fu, is rather inept, lacking the characteristic coolness common to most of Jet's other roles. Jet Li has certainly done better films than this, but Hitman is worth a watch simply because it is quite different from all the rest.