Naked Killer

NAKED KILLER is a landmark film in Hong Kong cinema, one that was successful enough to help kick-start a whole wave of 'erotic' thrillers that would fill cinema screens for the next decade. Despite the sexiness in this one, it's more of an assassin thriller, albeit with lots of erotic interludes, near-nudity, and saucy shenanigans between the cast members.

I wanted to enjoy the film, and indeed on a superficial level it is enjoyable. However, the thing that lets it down is Clarence Fok's choppy direction. This guy's films always seem incredibly dated to me because of his over-stylised editing and the like, and NAKED KILLER is no exception. I actually enjoyed NAKED KILLER 2 (directed by Andrew Lau) more because of this, not to mention 2004's SO CLOSE.

Still, NAKED KILLER provides some things of merit for Hong Kong movie fans, not least an amusing role for Simon Yam as a disturbed cop who vomits every time he draws his gun. Chingmy Yau garners all of the attention as the impossibly beautiful young woman who becomes an assassin, and she's well supported with a knowing performance from Kelly Yao as the older professional. I also spotted Jackie Chan's bodyguard, Ken Lo, playing a sleazy businessman.

As is usual for these films, the movie is surprisingly light on nudity, with the main actresses teasing throughout but delivering little; only the unknown supporting actresses are willing to strip off. Carrie Ng has a minor role as a ruthless hitwoman. The action scenes come out of nowhere and are way over the top, with the shoot-out in the car park being a particular favourite of mine, although the ending is also fun. NAKED KILLER is certainly no classic but it passes the time for fans of this sort of stuff.

Yeah, I just finished this brand new DVD of the highly-acclaimed, sexy Hong Kong action thriller... and looking over the trailer after it was over I was thinking, "Man, I don't remember that scene... or that scene... or that camera angle..." Sure enough, I check out the running times online and it seems that the US version is 11 minutes shorter than the Hong Kong version. Which seems weird in that there is all kinds of explicit gore evident in the movie... I mean, if they can show a close-up of a fellow getting shot in the family jewels... what in the heck are they AFRAID to show? Probably just some female nudity (since there doesn't ever seem to be anyone really "naked" in this movie... just the suggestion of nudity). One scene seemed to be a direct take-off (homage? copy? ripoff?) of the famous interrogation scene in "Basic Instinct". Maybe it was a more faithful re-creation in the original cut? I guess I'll never know... since it's unlikely I'll ever want to sit thru this again. I just wish I'd had the chance to see the complete version the first time... or at least have a big WARNING on the packaging that the movie is NOT complete.

After a woman's father is killed she goes after his killer. During her escape she meets a hitman that's a woman who also later trains her to join the profession.

This is the first of a series. The next film is Naked Killer 2 aka Raped by an Angel 1 followed by 2 then 3.

The story is interesting as is the main character. The cops unfortunately are played as often they were in Hong Kong at the time as inept and mostly for some laughs. I never get the humor there. There's plenty of action which made it more interesting.

This is a Cat III film so there is nudity and sexual situations. But there isn't much compared to other Cat III films from the time. In fact the main actress does take off her clothes but conveniently is either in shadow or covering herself with her hands so technically never appears nude. It is just weird the way they did it.

Still, this is decent. I found a lot of the attempts at humor a failure. The story and action make up for those failures.

This movie has far more in commen with Charlie's Angels then Cory Yuen's SO Close (not that So close is a worser film, in fact, i consider So close a far better film even though it is tame when compared to this film). Mainly due to the fact that this movie seems to rely more on the sexiness of the actresses then the actual action scenes. However, what seperates this film from Charlie's Angels is that it is more violent and more sexy (without havng to show gratuitess nudity. Again I have seen the cut version). And when the action scenes come, they are extremly stylised and and almost fantasy-like. Again, unlike Charlie's Angels, it appears that the action choreagraphers either resisted the ich to use wire-stunts, or they were far more clever about hiding them. That ius not to say that the action scenes incredably spectacular, in fact, they seem like pale imatations of John Woo or Yuen Woo Ping as well as their being more flips and twirls then actual kicks and punches. What almost saves the action scenes though is the demented violent acts committed by the characters. What also helps is that the actresses are always carressing each other and such in between the action scenes.

note: as mentioned before this review is for the cut version. That being said, there are certain scenes that appear to be cut short (like 10 minutes had to be cut to get it down to an R-rating so one has to wonder what was done in the movie). the good thing about this R-rated version is that you can get it for a relatively cheap price, 15 bucks, under the HK classic series along with jackie Chan's CIty hunter and Hong Kong 1941 with Chow Yun Fat. However, I would reccopmend you try and get the uncut copy becuase the R-rated copy just makes you want to purchase the uncut version.

If you've been wondering what all the fuss is about Hong Kong cinema, but didn't know where to start, watch this very sexy very action packed film about a bunch of too beautiful to believe lesbian hit women. Sure, John Woo did make the best Hong Kong films around, but this is the sexiest. The female cast is mind boggling, they are so beautiful. And they are filmed so lovingly, the films colours seep of the screen. Yes, the sex/violence may worry some, but it just looks so damn fine. There is one watershed scene (for Hong Kong censorship), where a couple of women make out in a pool, after killing a guy, the bloody water spreading around them. I never said the film was subtle.