Contract Killer

Wei Tung directs an entertaining film. 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' successfully mixes action, thriller and comedy. Jet Li seems to be more at comfort in most Chinese movies as I found him very wooden in his American movies. Here he gets to display a flair for comedy and he does not let his martial arts gift to overshadow his acting either. The brilliantly choreographed fights are a pleasure to watch. Gifted comedian Eric Tsang adds comic relief with great timing. Simon Yam doesn't get much scope. A charming Gigi Leung offers eye candy. The story is quite solid but at times the film does run the risk of derailing (though it quickly manages to come back on track). Overall, 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' impressed me and I'm glad to see a more humorous side of Jet Li. The actor shows potential in this genre and I wish he'd attempt more comedy. Perhaps Wei Tang can offer him more such projects in the future.

As most other reviewers have noted, this film is a surprise. Not a standard Jet Li actioner, but an amusing buddy comedy with a pretty intricate plot. Jet Li is Fu, a mild mannered and highly skilled, ex Chinese army soldier who lives in the cheap end of town (in HK, that is). He hangs around with a bunch of blowhard hoods who get hit jobs from coded requests in the personal ads (presumably Fu wants to be one of them for the money and prestige, but I thought this aspect was a little thin. Something lost in the subtitles no doubt). A high level Japanese businessman/crook was assassinated, activating his revenge fund of $100 million and attracting bounty hunters from across the globe. Fu gets wind of the job via his little network and tries to get in on it. It is here that he meets Eric Tsang's character, a fairly seasoned lowlife, who sees Fu's potential and latches on to him, becoming his sponsor or agent. Well, they make quite a pair; one an achingly polite, meek, ass kicker (!), the other a sharply dressed professional liar with a fake resume from hell.

Surrounding these two and their odd relationship is loads of wheeling and dealing as global hit squads, the police, the dead guy's grandson and those who control the estate vie for whatever they can get out of the deal. All the while rumours circulate that the job was done by the mysterious uber-vigilante know as the Angel of Death or The King of Killers. It's a multi-lingual, multi-cultural affair that really reflects our contemporary world in a way that isn't seen often enough on screen. And by the end it's clear the film has bitten off more than it can chew, not getting the most out of the power games and some characters. But that doesn't stop it being generally well acted, exciting, funny and filled with character ( a lot more than most that share the Jet Li shelf at my video store anyway)

Do check it out.

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.

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.

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.