The Killer

First of all, I am disgusted by some of these reviews. Modern action has been overrun by special effects and stuntmen with death wishes (not that I'm complaining), but one must consider the time and the place. It's not the world of the Matrix or the Human-Cyborg War (or whatever it's called) in the Terminator, it's Hong Kong in the 1980's with counterfeiting, hostile Chinese syndicates. It doesn't have to be a big budget feature to be great. Clerks by Kevin Smith had a minute budget, but it made Smith famous.

I digress. Woo creates a sensitive and emotionally complex... assassin. To make him reconsider his job as a professional killing machine Jeffrey, the killer, blinds a lounge singer, Jenny. He swears to himself that he will end his career after one last job. Woo introduces us to the concept, like you see in A Better Tomorrow, that you can never leave a Triad even if you try your hardest. With an hour of attempting, Jeff realizes the horrible truth. Rarely does Woo bring in this feeling of absolute futility in his work. After losing his best friend, Jeff has crossed the Rubicon in his attempts and must end his ties to it by ending his everyone's but his own, excluding Jenny and Inspector Lee. Some people dislike the final shootout, but the doves and the Christian symbology adds a touch that drives religious and heroic bloodshed to the minds of the audience. On a personal note, I love it. The last few seconds depict a man, perhaps Lee, playing a harmonica in front of the church for reasons I don't know.

Of all John Woo's bullet-ridden action movies, this is his greatest. You see many of Mr. Woo's "trademarks" (flying doves, reflections in mirrors, very strong Catholic symbolism) that appear in his inferior American directed films (save Face Off) first in this Hong Kong cinema classic. Sure the violence is over the top, the plot only adequate, the sentimentalism a little thick. The actions scenes are filmed with such, I dare say beauty, that no Hollywood 'by the numbers' action film can possibly compete. While this film is not for the squeamish or those offended by excessive and rather graphic violence, if you are in any way a fan of action films - you mush see this movie (and many other John Woo directed films during his Hong Kong days, i.e. Hardboiled, A Better Tomorrow, etc).

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo strike again. The Killer is not your run of the mill action flick. It features characters you care about, jaw-dropping action sequences, and , best of all, Chow Yun Fat. He's always supercool. Chow and co-star Danny Lee play very similar characters but are on opposite sides of the law. It makes the film work very well. The heroes can relate to one another because they have both injured the innocent while doing their jobs. Another great actor in the film is Kong Chu in the role of Sydney, the one handed hitman. Being in the middle of the fray, he makes for an interesting character. There is a great scene involving Sydney's betrayal. Chow is so amazing with his emotions in this scene. He's not just an international action superstar, he's an underrated and incredible actor as well. That's what makes The Killer more than just another action movie. Woo's direction always helps too. The Killer boasts one of the best and most epic shootouts in film history. Woo's older films are as stylistic as they get, I mean stylistic as hell. Chow Yun Fat and John Woo make an incredible duo. Nicholas Cage is no replacement, it's high time they work together again.

John Woo's "The Killer" shows a master at the height of his powers. Woo, today working in the United States, gained fame in Hong Kong through the two "Better Tomorrow" films. He became popular and used his success to go to greater things. In fact, much of Woo's HK work is similar, including the work he did in the early 90's like "Bullet in the Head" and "Hard Boiled". But "The Killer" shows John Woo as a perfectionist, the top director of action films who can perfectly blend in over-the-top violence with emotional drama.

"The Killer" follows John (Jeff in other versions of the film), who's played to utter perfection by Chow Yun Fat. John is a hit-man planning retirement. On one job, however, he accidentally shoots a singer (Jenny) near her eyes. She survives, but her vision is blurry. John saves her from a gang of rapist thieves, and the two ultimately fall in love with each other, despite Jenny never having seen John's face. On John's case, however, is Inspector Li, hard at work, who is intent on always getting his man. Much of the movie involves John and the results of his final job which ultimately pits him up against the entire mob, who want him dead for overexposing his identity. And the rest of the film follows John catering to Jenny's needs and helping her at every moment, all the while evading Li, who's getting closer and closer to stopping him.

To make the movie the memorable film that it is, Woo perfectly orchestrates some of the best shoot-outs ever seen on film. Much of what Woo did here, he was never able to follow up. "Hard Boiled" was interesting, but its final shoot-out, over 20 minutes in length, just couldn't keep up. It got boring by the end. What Woo does in "The Killer" is give you a sample of his powers and then leave you begging for more. And that what you'll be literally doing: begging for just a glimpse of the next dude victim to Fat's two beautiful handguns.

It's only sad to see that, not so much Woo doesn't do these films anymore, but that Woo rarely does good films now.(Period) He's too busy, working on ego with top stars and killer budgets. His two films that came as far as making an impact with me from his U.S. catalog will probably include "Broken Arrow" and "Face/Off", both primarily due to just how much I like Travolta (though the former was also an early film of mine that I really remember liking, since it was different from all the Disney and kid stuff I was used to). But Woo, intent on fulfilling his dreams of making a musical and captivating audiences with his powerful style, can just show the people a screening of this film. It's quoted as being "Violence as poetry", and that's exactly what it is. With the beautiful music adding feeling and depth to the characters and the great writing and direction, this is easily Woo's tour-de-force.

9.5/10 (****/****)

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo teams up together with strong commitment to this highly melodramatic action film. The Killer was so ahead of its time especially with its signature shootout scenes and fast paced action sequences in its time of production in Hong-Kong. Without any special, visual or sound effects; it's a high achievement on both sound and vision. It's high on thematic values, but low on production values.

Woo benefited a lot from a team of action-coordinators as part of the production crew he assigned with. 20 years from its screen release, today still there are not many action films in which the sequences are coordinated as good as in The Killer. The rest of the production was standing by its plot, which becomes unbearable due to extremely melodramatic events. Woo tries to hurt our feelings as much as he can by killing and injuring innocents so ruthlessly: Passengers on a train, children on a beach, singers at a night club etc.

Lowell Lo's heart-wrenching theme and background music was one of the finest of the thematic values. Story development is also very effective that everything seems going fine at the beginning of Jong(the hit-man)'s last mission, then for he wasn't paid for his successful assassination he decides to show up back from underground with his alias: "Jeffrey". When he did, a stage singer ends up losing her sight and becomes blind from shot blasting. Jong helps her get well; she falls in love with him. He introduces himself as Jeffrey to her. No matter what romance they share together, no matter how close they are to each other; there is absolutely no accordance no chemistry between Sally Yeh and Chow Yun-Fat. Sally Yeh acts so poorly, especially while she keeps screaming needlessly every other scene.

For whoever likes this film, I strongly advise Léon to them. The same idea also works in Luc Besson's film, too: In a hit-man's life; there is no certain way to go, there is nobody to trust, there is no repentance. In Luc Besson's film of 1994, Jean Reno and Natalie Portman builds up a better harmony using emotions but not melodrama.

Additionally in John Woo's film, even though Chow Yun-Fat is not fast enough he just stands by the bullets by running, or guards himself with armchairs and seats of the cathedral which are vulnerable to bullets with the gaps between backrests. So many bullets are used... Were they shot by children or blind hitmans? How could you explain not getting shot while 4 hitmans are aiming at you running inside the cathedral and running on the beach? On the other hand, every single bullet that's used in Léon, hurts one person or another; or leaves marks, tracks and holes on walls, and in the texture of the floor. It's not an acquirement to waste 10 thousand bullets in a movie; but it's really an achievement when you configure a sub-production plan just to preview and review the bullets in both pre-production and production.