THE KILLER

Reviewed by: Will Graham Review Date: March 26th, 2003

(((POSITIVE, NO SPOILERS)))

Chow Yun Fat plays Jeffrey, an assassin who accidentally blinds an innocent woman while taking out some gangsters. Feeling guilty for blinding her, he goes to the bar where she sings for a living and finds out that she can still see slightly. The woman is able to see things in bright light but they are very blurred and her eyesight is getting much worse. Because of this, Jeffrey decides to do one more job for the Yakuza (Hong Kong's mafia) so that he can pay for an operation that would bring back the woman's eye sight.      Meanwhile, a cop named Li (Danny Lee) is in the black list for cops after an undercover job goes wrong. His new job was looking after a bent politician who is Jeffrey's next target. Jeffrey kills the politician, but after it's over he finds out that the Yakuza want him dead as well. Jeffrey not being happy about this starts a war against the Yakuza to get the money he is owed and can escape Hong Kong with the woman.      Tracking down Jeffrey other than the Yakuza is Li who, after seeing Jeffrey rescue a girl during a shoot-out, realizes that he has a heart and isn't a cold blooded killer. Soon a special bond happens between the killer and the cop while still being enemies and they join up with each other to take on the Yakuza.      First off, I have to say that I saw the film in its original language without any subtitles, so the story might be a bit off. Second, in my opinion, this is the greatest action movie ever made!!! Director John Woo is able to keep characters three dimensional throughout the whole film even when the action becomes hot, something that only Woo can do with action films. The bond between Jeffrey

and Li is brilliant and very believable. While the action is not as explosive as in John Woo's American films, it is far more superior and has more style to it. It is a shame that so many people that loved Woo's 1997's Face / Off have not seen this or any of his other Hong Kong efforts before heading to America. There is so much that is great about this film from the music, to the editing, to the action. My only complaint with The Killer is that after seeing it in 1999, all of the other movies that decided to use the John Woo style just comes off as well, crap! (Yes, even The Matrix) I don't know what else to say about this film except that you should see it as soon as possible.