THE KILLER

"Haunted by guilt, driven by the need for vengence..."

From its explosive opening to its darkly comic ending, The Killer is an emotional gun-toting masterpiece from the master of action cinema, John Woo. The story centres on Jeff (Chow Yun Fat) a hired killer who swears that his next job is his last. But during his job assassinating a gang boss at a nightclub, he accidentally blinds a night club singer named Jenny. He watches her over the next few months, keeping an eye on her. Eventually helping her when she is in distress, they become closer and form a relationship but she does not know his real identity. Chow says he must take one more job to pay for Jenny’s eye operation in America, the assassination of crime boss Tony Weng, arranged by his power hungry nephew. The killing goes perfectly until gangsters attack him when he thinks the coast is clear. It turns out that the nephew of Tony Weng wants Jeff dead as well.

Jeff and Lee stand off

On the case of Chow the entire time is a cop, Lee (Danny Lee) and his partner Randy (Kenneth Tsang). Lee and Jeff form a bond also, slowly realising that they’re a lot a-like, even thought they are from separate sides of the law. This all leads up to one of the best action set pieces in cinema history, the now infamous church shoot out finale. The direction of the finale is amazing with heavy religious symbolism that calms the violence down then pipes it back up again at full speed. The most unsettling is when the violence stops and a statue of Mary begins to cry, a real shivers down the spine moment. Chow Yun Fat gives a career best performance as the killer with a heart, guilt ridden by the terrible accident with Jenny. While Danny Lee’s maverick cop is also tremendous, a great scene near the beginning of the movie involves Lee involved in a under cover deal that goes wrong, eventually chasing a criminal onto a bus where little sound is used to create tension with the viewer

Chow Yun Fat, Cooler than cool.

Japanese Promo poster for The Killer

It’s only a pity that John Woo doesn’t make films of this calibre any more, most fans will tell you that his golden period so to speak are his late eighties, early nineties Hong Kong made masterpieces. A BETTER TOMORROW A BETTER TOMORROW 2 (Which woo himself hates but it’s still great) THE KILLER BULLET IN THE HEAD HARD BOILED Another worth checking out is an early seventies Kung Fu Flick, HAND OF DEATH, starring a young Jackie Chan. Also check out Chow Yun Fats other Hong Kong work GOD OF GAMBLERS RETURN OF THE GOD OF GAMBLERS FULL CONTACT CITY ON FIRE (Which inspired Resivour Dogs and is in many ways far superior) All in all the killer is a must see is you have any interest in cinema or action movies, you really can’t beat John Woo for superbly crafted action set pieces. JEFF – CHOW YUN FAT JENNY – SALLY YEH LEE – DANNY LEE RANDY – KENNETH TSANG DIRECTED BY JOHN WOO

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