The 1980s and
1990s were a golden age for Hollywood action movies, back when Stallone,
Willis, and Schwarzenegger were in their prime. Meanwhile in Asia, you had Hong
Kong director John Woo and actor Chow Yun-fat shooting their way into cinematic
greatness with action films that would end up influencing directors in the
west. The Killer (1989) was not their first collaboration, but
it heralded Woo’s arrival with its over the top and at times beautiful
violence. Here was an action movie with great acting, depth, and more bullets
fired than in most video games.
Like most foreign
directors John Woo lost a bit of his spark when he made the move to Hollywood.
By the time I was old enough to watch his movies he was making Face/Off, Mission Impossible: II, and Paycheck. Those first two are solid
action movies in their own right, but for pure undiluted John Woo you have to
go back to the early days, something I had learned through my reading of
various movie articles. While browsing at HMV back when I was studying at the
University of Sherbrooke I spotted a DVD of The
Killer released through the Dragon Dynasty label and I decided to add it to
my ever–growing movie collection. Upon first viewing I found the dubbed version
made for some rather cheesy dialogue, however I simply have to go for the pun
here: the action will blew me away.
There are many
movies about assassins going for the mythical one-last-job, but the hitman in The Killer is doing it as a way to wash
away one of his sins. During a shooting at a Hong Kong nightclub Ah Jong (Chow
Yun-fat) accidentally damages the eyes of a young singer named Jennie (Sally
Yeng). Filling a bunch of gangsters with lead is all part of the job, but
blinding an innocent woman with a muzzle flash that is something he cannot live
it. Since Jenny of course can’t identify him, he befriends her and learns an
expensive operation might restore her eyesight. He accepts a job from his
bosses in organized crime, while making it clear he is thinking about
retirement in the hopes he can walk away in the sunset with a pile of cash big
enough to pay for Jennie’s operation.
Of course
retiring from a life of killing is not as easy as announcing it to human
resources and getting a gold watch. Crime boss Hay Wong Hoi (Shing Fiu-on)
double crosses Ah Jong and tries to have him killed. Meanwhile the police are
beginning to close in with detective Li Ying (Danny Lee) becoming very
interested in Ah Jong’s actions. At first he believes he is just hunting down a
very skilled assassin, but to his surprise he is chasing a very skilled
assassin who takes the risk of helping a child who has been hit by a stray
bullet.
As the cop and
the killer cross paths, they begin to respect each other for their sense of
morality and honour. In fact in the Hong Kong crime world honour seems to be a
rare and appreciated commodity. Fung Sei (Chu Kong), Ah Jong’s friend and
contact with the mob is given the task of killing his friend. It is a duty he
has to carry out, but he really likes his friend and finds his boss is the
one who has no honour.
Everything comes
crashing down during a climactic shootout that features all of the John Woo
trademarks: white doves symbolizing peace, a church setting, a Mexican
standoff, and a ballet of bullets. Woo manages to have his cake and eat it too
by shooting this violence beautifully, but also showing violence has
consequences. It is incredibly fun to see the killer at work, but you wouldn’t
want to do what he does for a living or be in his crosshairs.
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