Hitchcoc I won't spend my time dissing this film. Because I saw it on a list of significant films, I decided to order it. I knew quickly, it wasn't my kind of movie. It takes violence to the nth degree and is almost cartoonish in its efforts. Boy these guys can shoot. But this is a fan movie and I'm invading someone else's turf. If I watched the best of the "Fast and Furious" movies, I would find it ridiculous, but that doesn't mean they aren't well made and fulfill the wishes of their fan base. So once I put aside the fact that none of this could possibly happen, I sat back and watched. I can at least say that I have seen a John Woo film and have some understanding of his art and the Hong Kong school.

Anssi Vartiainen Probably one of the best solo films you should watch if you're interested in finding out what John Woo is all about. The Killer is one of the best known and most highly regarded Hong Kong action films and helped to put John Woo on the map, as well as working as an inspiration for film makers such as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. And you can definitely see how they have drawn influences from its stylistic carnage, cool under pressure characters and just from its general modern day as inhabited by people larger than life setting.The story goes that Ah Jong (once again played by Chow Yun-fat) is an assassin, who during his supposed last job permanently injures a beautiful singer (Sally Yeh), rendering her almost completely blind. Wrecked by guilt, he appoints himself her protector, but things get complicated when his former boss wants him permanently dealt with and he also has to do one more job to get enough money to get her eyes fixed.The story is not overly complicated, but it has enough substance that we get a few good character scenes and dialogues from it. But what really makes this film worth watching is its action scenes. John Woo is a fantastic action director and his gun battles are some of the best in cinema history. You feel each bullet hit, the sounds the guns make are fantastic and the scenes are choreographed beautifully. Definitely a feast for your eyes, if heavy fatality massacre is your thing.And that's about all that can be said about the film. Could the story have been better? Yes, definitely, but that still makes the film "merely" good instead of great. Perhaps you won't remember any of the characters all that clearly after some time, but you will definitely remember the action scenes and all the creative ways people get shot and slaughtered. And sometimes that's enough.

BA_Harrison Honourable assassin Ah Jong (Chow Yun Fat) accidentally blinds pretty club singer Jenny (Sally Yeh) while carrying out a hit, but tries to make amends by taking one last job to pay for a cornea transplant for the injured girl. After Ah Jong is double crossed by Hoi, the triad boss who hired him, he finds himself forging an unlikely friendship with Li Ying (Danny Lee), the reckless cop who has been pursuing him.During the late '80s/early '90s, I attended several round-the-clock horror movie events at The Scala Cinema in King's Cross, London. One year, between movies, they screened an excerpt from a Hong Kong action flick that was so insanely violent that the usually rowdy crowd of gore-hounds fell silent in awe. The clip was from John Woo's The Killer, and it was my introduction to the glorious world of heroic bloodshed, where the line between hero and villain becomes seriously blurred, friendship, honour and redemption are common themes, and every bullet hit results in a bright red gout of blood!Featuring standout performances from Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee, and superb direction from Woo, whose handling of his movie's emotional drama is as assured as his hyper-stylised hi-octane action scenes, The Killer remains one of the undisputed highlights of the entire bloodshed genre. The gun-play might be preposterous but it is brilliantly choreographed, with the frantic finale inside a church, which sees Ah Jong and Li Ying shooting it out against countless bad guys, bringing together all of Woo's trademarks: religious icons, balletic ballistic action, white doves, slow motion, and lots and lots of dead bodies.The film ends on a surprisingly downbeat note, which makes it an all the more powerful experience overall, one that would get full marks from me, if only I could understand how Ah Jong loses both his eyes in the final gunfight: tragically poetic it might be, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense (if he was shot in both of his eyes, wouldn't the bullets have taken off the back of his skull?).9/10 (until someone can adequately explain Ah Jong's ocular trauma).

morrison-dylan-fan After having been told by a friend for months about film director John Woo and a movie sub-genre called Heroic Bloodshed,I decided that due to a poll being held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best titles of 1989,that I would finally discover how heroic the bloodshed could really be.The plot:Sitting in a church,a Triad hit-man called Ah Jong is given details by a fellow Triad, (and close friend) called Fung Sei over an assassination that he has been ordered to do,the target of which is going to be visiting a night club later that night.Entering the club,Ah finds himself feeling an unexpectedly strong connection with the vocal delivery of the singer at the club,called Jennie.Getting the sudden urge to keep Jennie safe,Jong carries out the assassination on the target,and then pushes Jennie on the ground,so that she is out of harms way.Sadly Ah's plan is ruined when one of the target's bodyguards begins shooting at him,which leads to Jong firing a shot which accidentally scratches Jennie's eyes,and causes serious damage to her sight.6 Months later:Finding the image of Jennie losing her sight to be an image that's unable to leave his mind,Ah starts visiting the club and sitting in the back,so that he can hear the hauntingly beautiful voice of Jennie, (who along with not being able to spot Jong due to her blindness,has also been told by DR's that there is a long waiting list for the operation that save her sight)perform.Walking back from the club one night,Ah suddenly spots 2 thugs attempting to attack Jennie.Beating them up into a bloody pulp,Jong tells Jennie that he will walk her the rest of the way home.Being invited in to the flat by Jennie,thanks to saving her from being attacked by the thugs,Jong is sicken to see the full extent that his mistake has had on Jennie's life.Talking to Jennie,Ah finds out that whilst there is a long waiting list for her operation in Hong Kong,that there is a much shorter waiting list for the same operation in other countries.Desperate to make up for his fatal mistake,Jong tells Fung that he is going to do 'one last job' for a high price,which will allow him to use the cash to send Jennie abroad for her operation.Expecting this killing to be his final task,Ah Jong soon discovers to his horror that the killer may be about to become,the killed.View on the film:Opening with a blistering assassination,writer/director John Woo reveals a startling eye for stylisation,with Woo keeping away from delivery the bloodshed action in short,sharp shots by slowing every bullet shot down to a tenth of its actually speed,which along with showing to the viewer the full impact that each shoot-out has on the character's,also allows Woo to give the action (which Woo claims was not storyboarded,but in fact made up on the day of filming!)an unexpected poetic quality,as each of Ah Long's target's fall down in a ballet like manner.Along with slowing the pace of the action down,Woo also uses tightly coiled close up's to reveal the fear and adrenaline rush that the violence feeds into the character's.Making sure to keep away from making the non-violent moments in the title 'filler',Woo displays a real skill in showing both sides of Ah Jongs conflicting personality,with Woo making a brightly lit,dove filled, (a motif that would become one of the director's trademarks) church Jong's unofficial home,as Woo shows Long to find a sense of peace and healing in the building,which inadvertently leads to Long experiencing a harsh twist of fate,as the shadow of the high church covers him.Despite the post-production period of the title being a complete nightmare thanks to John Woo and producer Hark Tsui, (who along with wanting to completely change the plot so that Ah Long would become a supporting character,decided to celebrate the movies hit opening weekend,by allegedly chucking his furniture out of the office window!) never being able to get on,Woo builds a strikingly intense atmosphere by combining the grim atmosphere of the Film Noir and Italian Crime genres,with a burning passion that gives the Heroic Bloodshed genre a distinctive soulful side.Showing Ah Jongs relationship with Jennie to be something that desperately makes him want to leave their dark world behind,Woo show's Ah Jongs 'Heroic' Bloodsheeding morals to be ones that are getting burnt up from the world he inhabits,thanks to Woo filling his primary colour- draining world with gangsters,thugs and corrupt politicians who have made a decaying city where any sense of morals are to be shot dead.Taking on the title role,Chow Yun-Fat gives an excellent performance as Ah Jong,with Yun-Fat avoiding the easy option of making Jong a heartless thug,by showing the pain that Jong experience's from the effects that his 'job' has on his few friends and Jennie,whose singing haunts Jong to remember what he almost destroyed.Giving the movie a shot of glamour,real life Pop star Sally Yeh gives an excellent performance as Jennie,with Yeh giving the title some strong operatic vibes from the pain that Jong accidentally inflicts on her,to showing Jennie developing a warming heart towards Jong.Joining Yun-Fat and Yeh,Danny Lee gives a brilliant performance as Insp.Li Ying,as Lee show Ying struggling with the very real idea that he might be the other side of the coin to Jong's assassin,whilst Kong Chu gives an amazing performance as the warn down gangster Wong Hoi,who discovers,that despite wanting to leave this life behind,that in this city,killing is everybody's business,and that business is good.