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The Killer
1989
In John Woo's THE KILLER, a hired assassin (Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally blinds a beautiful nightclub singer during what was supposed to be his last murder. When he falls in love with her and accepts another contract in order to finance her cornea surgery, the stage is set for a long and bloody confrontation. A boisterous bullet .. Read more
| Starring | Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Ken Tsang |
|---|---|
| Director | John Woo |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
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The Killer
In John Woo's THE KILLER, a hired assassin (Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally blinds a beautiful nightclub singer during what was supposed to be his last murder. When he falls in love with her and accepts another contract in order to finance her cornea surgery, the stage is set for a long and bloody confrontation. A boisterous bullet opera from Woo, tempered as usual with his fascination with the notion of the honorable killer and with the doubling of similar men whom circumstances have placed on opposite sides of the law. The film is very heavy on Catholic imagery and redemption motifs.
| Starring | Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Ken Tsang, Shing Fui-On, Chu Kong, Barry Wong, Parkman Wong |
|---|---|
| Director | John Woo |
| Studio | E1 ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 46 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
| Language | Cantonese, Chinese |
| Released | DVD: not available Production year: 1989 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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A Hong Kong gangster movie that's directed with such over-the-top verve by John Woo you're transfixed by its audacity, despite several stomach-churning scenes of violence. Chow Yun-Fat plays the assassin who decides to quit his profession after accidentally blinding a singer (Sally Yeh) during a hit in a nightclub. When he learns that her sight could be restored through an operation, he decides to fund it by doing just one more job. Of its amoral kind it's great bullet-dodging fun, but it's definitely not for the faint-hearted.
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"...Woo pushes the already gonzo conventions of Hong Kong action-melodrama into the stratosphere....It's a hellzapoppin' gunfight festival..."
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Most helpful member's review
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14 out of 14 people found this review helpful
My favourite John Woo flick
I still find it hard to believe that it took so long for John Woo to make it big in Hollywood when he was turning out films like this years ago. Anyone who hasn't seen this before will be familiar with the storyline (Hitman with a conscience vs maverick but honourable cop with similar personality traits) but consider that this came out in 1989 and was revolutionary at the time. We all know this plot has been copied again and again since then.
For me, this is the complete film. The acting is top-notch (the female lead hams it up a LITTLE bit sometimes), the story is strong, the action sequences are well thought out and don't have to dominate the film and Chow Yun Fat & Danny Lee are utterly believable in the the quiet, reflective scenes.
This film, for me anyway, rates alongside the legendary Scarface in the 'frequently copied, never bettered' genre of cinema.
OWN THIS FILM!!! -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Worthy of cringe more than anything else...
...I will start by saying that many things are well done, no doubt no-one can deny the pinnace with which the gun fights are pulled off, rivalling even modern films using modern techniques in terms of balletic beauty. Whilst modern titles with gun play show the bullet creating the exit wound in super slow motion John Woo creates all the ideas of which the aforementioned example would be an extension of.
As Woo's last Hong Kong film I thought it was worthy of seeing in a film history sense. However for all the balletic gun play, and might I add some great shots in the scenes between the violence, including a few where a gun is nowhere to be seen; one feels it is wasted. Wasted in a film full of clich?s from every film that created them and are now painful to watch. There's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in here, there's The Third Man, there's probably the kitchen sink too. It all results in a painful film watches with gritted teeth and is actually relieved to see a moment of violence.
Before I finish off this review I'd like to say the case is very similar with the sound, for the most part it is good, it is undefined and distant... not as loud as in your typical Hollywood balletic gun play flick and thus gives a general sense of distance to create a mildly surreal experience. But again it is also let down by the cheesier moments, for instance there is a singer that is key to the 'story' (what little of it there is, rather than a plot the film seems to contain an interesting yet static situation for the most part with violence predictably resolving it rather than furthering a story), but the songs she sings could be mistaken for anything out of the eurovision song contest and instead of having the affect of moving one's soul, understanding her character it makes one question when the little moment will be over.
To sum up, interesting cinematography let down by not much of a plot which would be fine were it not for the clich?s. Though the dialogue is pretty decent.
As for the DVD each section is titled with things such as 'ammunition' and 'sights' instead of 'play' and 'extras', which was rather annoying, they could have simply used sensible words with pictures behind them that convey what they do. There is a dubbed English version but I went for the Cantonese with English subtitles. -
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