The Killer part 7
Film: The Killer
Directed by John Woo
Hong Kong (1989)
Action Thriller/Buddy Film
11 parts/110 mins
In Cantonese with English subtitles (default)
Please be sure to turn on the CC (closed captions) button to view subtitles
(WARNING: Film contains violence and adult language. Rated R by MPAA)
Synopsis:
During a restaurant shoot-out, hitman Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally hurts the eyes of a singer (Sally Yeh). Later, he meets the girl and discovers that if she does not have a very expensive operation very soon, she will go blind. To get the money for the surgery, Jeff decides to perform one last hit. The cop (Danny Lee), who has been chasing Jeff for a long time, is determined to catch him this time.
Review:
One of the high points of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema, The Killer (1989) is considered one of John Woo’s most spectacularly assured examinations of honor among violent men on opposite sides of the law. Woo and frequent star Chow Yun-Fat blend existential cool with the serious (and seriously violent) passion of Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, and Martin Scorsese, in a story about a hit man’s crisis of conscience that pits old-fashioned notions of goodness against modern law enforcement. The artfully choreographed bloodshed becomes a sacrament, as the endless hail of bullets and bodies, particularly in the climactic church shootout, melodramatically heightens the physical cost of Jeff’s doomed search for grace. Woo’s signature slow-motion action theatrics, face-to-face stand-offs, and two-fisted gunplay influenced numerous 1990s American action directors, most notably Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
The film is packed with awesome action scenes brilliantly directed by John Woo, the man who makes violence poetic. Remarkably fluid and clear, his camera swings and pans in rhythm with the actors’ movements; candles and pigeons add a symbolic, spiritual weight to the proceedings. Chow Yun-Fat’s excellent as the Killer. He’s both intense and cool. When he runs around with guns, he’s great, but he’s as interesting in emotional scenes. This film is totally enjoyable, from the exciting opening to the riveting showdown. There is lot of mayhem and gunfire, but it’s always motivated by the story. It’s one of the rare action movies in which you really care about the fate of the characters.
But what is it about action director John Woo which makes him more critically acclaimed than any other action director in the world? Why do critics actually like the guy if all he does is action films? Well, put simply, John Woo just knows how to make an action sequence.
John Woo is different from other action directors because his action sequences are beautifully staged, viscerally shot, and filled with lots of graphic violence of people being brutally murdered in slow motion in original and unique action sequences. His stories, seen as being corny over in the States, but are well-plotted, featuring spaghetti western-like melodrama, filled with characterization and opposition, and told with great style that is not matched by any other action director in the world.
Duration : 0:10:2
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business. Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens start dissappearing around the globe one after another. The mastermind behind these abductions is Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train these girls into professional killers. After several years of gruesome training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world’s most sought after professional killers. On a recent mission to assassinate someone in Hong Kong, however CIA agent Jack (Daniel Wu), who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens start dissappearing around the globe one after another. The mastermind behind these abductions is Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train these girls into professional killers. After several years of gruesome training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world’s most sought after professional killers. On a recent mission to assassinate someone in Hong Kong, however CIA agent Jack (Daniel Wu), who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens start dissappearing around the globe one after another. The mastermind behind these abductions is Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train these girls into professional killers. After several years of gruesome training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world’s most sought after professional killers. On a recent mission to assassinate someone in Hong Kong, however CIA agent Jack (Daniel Wu), who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens start dissappearing around the globe one after another. The mastermind behind these abductions is Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train these girls into professional killers. After several years of gruesome training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world’s most sought after professional killers. On a recent mission to assassinate someone in Hong Kong, however CIA agent Jack (Daniel Wu), who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.
A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty preteen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadliest assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begins to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens start dissappearing around the globe one after another. The mastermind behind these abductions is Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train these girls into professional killers. After several years of gruesome training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world’s most sought after professional killers. On a recent mission to assassinate someone in Hong Kong, however CIA agent Jack (Daniel Wu), who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.