Fulltime Killer

There seem to be a lot of Japanese movies that are pure exercises in style. I tend to like highly cinematic movies, so I usually enjoy myself, but somewhere along the way I always seem to go from thinking, this is just so cool to thinking, is there some point here. Fulltime Killer is lots of fun. It is very stylish, looks nice and has some very striking scenes. But it has about as much depth as a piece of typing paper. There's not much in the way of character development, and the movie feels increasingly unconvincing as it progresses. So while there is stuff I love, like the scene with the grenades, the movie as a whole failed to connect with me on any sort of intellectual or emotional level. Still, it is lots of fun, and I was torn between giving it a 7 or an 8 (which is usually the quandary I face when rating stylish, empty movies). Well worth watching, but not worth remembering.

For those of us out there that miss the "Old" John Woo from The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorrow 1&2, Johnny To comes to pick up where Woo left off with Fulltime Killers. Now while some call that a blatant bootleg or hijacking of John Woo's style, I call it a pleasant revisit.

Andy Lau plays Tok, a flamboyant leather clad professional killer who not only takes pride in his work but also looks to put himself in the spotlight with every kill he makes. Tok is a sort of tribute to one Castor Troy of Face-Off, with his flair and his trademark smile which he flashes at all times. Takashi Sorimachi plays O, a more traditional killer with a guilty conscience, who stays in the shadows and executes his job keeping himself out of the spotlight. O's guilty conscience is the result of an innocent getting caught up in his world. O is something of a tribute to Chow Yun-Fat's character in The Killer. As a result of O's more low-key approach he is the highest ranked and most sought after professional much to the dismay of Tok. Naturally a rivalry will result between these two polar opposites in an attempt to be the top.

Acting as a catalyst to this rivalry is the lovely Kelly Lin, playing Chin, a mild-mannered video store clerk who is bored by life. An incidental visit by Tok to her video store, and a second job cleaning O's apartment begins a chain of events that puts her in the middle of these two professional killers rivalry.

Fulltime Killer provides mind-blowing action scenes and a love triangle that even guys don't mind keeping up with. A throughly entertaining movie and a throwback to the "old" John Woo puts this movie high on my list. Give it a chance, and you'll be entertained at the very least.

For the fans of the so-called "Hong Kong blood opera" -genre this movie is a must see. Great visual styling, great acting, excellent script with originality and good directing. There is constantly the feeling of great drama even in the occasional moment of stillness. When you've seen all the classics by John Woo then movies like this are where you should continue.

There's a plot in there somewhere about two assassins and a girl they both have feelings for. One of them wants to take the number one assassin title from the other. But really this film is just a exercise in style over substance. The thing is the style IS great and it's very fun to watch. Well at least it attempts to get serious. A few nice set-pieces though.

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: 25 minute Making of; 23 minute behind the Scenes; Bios for Andy Lau, Takashi Sorimachi, and Johnnie To; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "The Believer", "the Last Minute" and "Scratch"

Fulltime Killer is a movie about assassins; one's trying to live in seclusion, the other is trying to showboat his way to top to become the #1 Assassin. Andy Lau does a great job as Tok, he has a natual arrogant look to him that really filled out the character. Tok is an up and coming assassin who takes any job he can find, difficult or not, and always delivers, throwing in extra style points to make his work unique.O, or Ono; is the current top assassin. He is played by Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi, another good choice in casting. His methods are less flashy than Tok's but he is effiecient and very professional about his work. Over the course of the movie, a woman gets involved, as does Interpol, as news of a flashy killer quickly spreads across the surrounding area. The plot obviously ends up pitting the two assassins against each other(like you didn't know)and well, I guess you're going to have to watch it to see who becomes the #1 Fulltime Killer. But before I end this may I at least comment on the dialogue in the movie. I'm no expert in foreign languages but it seemed like there were 4 different languages spoken throughout the course of the movie, Korean, Japanese, Chinese(some form) and English. Like I said, I'm no expert so if they only spoke Japanese and English I wouldn't be surprised. But the dialogue between characters was well crafted, I enjoyed how the characters spoke their native language, or if they didn't, another character would inquire why they didn't. The action scenes were good, not too much physical action, but if you like guns, then this is right up your alley. Finally, I'd like to point out that this movie doesn't center around one assassin, it switches back and forth, and you really will find yourself rooting for one or the other by the end of the film. I rooted for O, did he win? Watch the movie.