The Killer (1989)

Fresh and Exciting

A Masterpiece!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

It's considered John Woo's masterpiece but boy, oh boy, I had a tough time sitting this one out to it's conclusion. It epitomizes all the things I find wrong with action movies in which good guy guns never run out of ammunition and the gore flows like water in a never ending display of bullet riddled bodies. And speaking of which, just how many times does one have to shoot the same guy before figuring he must be dead by now? Fortunately there's some semblance of a story here and the assassin/hero Ah Jong (Yun-Fat Chow) tries to do the right thing by the woman he blinded during a hit job that opens the picture. There's a double cross involved as well, and when Ah Jong is targeted by the mob instead of getting paid for a rub out, well it's off to the races to get his revenge before both the bad guys and the police put an end to his career. Maybe it was just my frame of mind while watching the picture, but I just can't relate to the effusive praise for the picture that I read from the other viewers here on IMDb. For many, it sounds like this film set the bar pretty high for Hong Kong actioners way back in 1989, but after almost thirty years as I write this, it comes across as an ultra-violent display of bullets and blood that doesn't merit it's accolades. I'd give it another try if I thought it would make a difference, but for right now, I'd have to say once was enough.

It's the kind of movie where I like some aspects of it, but as an overall package, I didn't think it was very good.What I liked was the story - reasonably good there. The action as well was great, a bit over the top and not exactly the most realistic but it is exciting and fun to watch for sure. The music was pretty good. The characters are good as well, the main ones are all quite likable. Although the villain was a bit comical.What I didn't like? To be honest, I wasn't fan of the directing, I felt everything was rushed, almost felt like the movie was on a fast forward. There's little build up or tension or even moments where you can appreciate and absorb what is happening, it jumps from one scene to another very quickly after bits of dialogue and it got annoying fast and made me care less about what was happening.The sound as well, now I don't know the reasons behind it or whether it's only the version I was watching but the characters were all dubbed/voiced over (I'm talking about the Chinese version) which I didn't like at all.Those are my two main problems but it really took away from what I think could have been a better movie.

The Killer (1989) is in my opinion John Woo's masterpiece and one of the best classic action films from Hong Kong I have ever seen. It is one of my personal favorite John Woo action movies. This film has everything, it has even a sad ending, which neither one action movie has that kind of ending. Chow Yun-Fat gave us one of his best performances ever, Danny Lee was outstanding as Hong Kong Police officer. The action, the gore, the violence, the gun play everything is in this movie. The final showdown in the church was one the best action scenes ever made in a film. It is my fifth favorite John Woo film! The first four will be Hard Target (1993), Hard Boiled (1992), Broken Arrow (1996) and Paycheck (2003) this is the fifth John Woo favorite action film of mine that I love to death. Chow Yun-Fat's character Ah Jong was well written and well done, but it isn't close as is his character Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen from Hard Boiled. This is was the first film with John Woo as I have saw when I was 10. years old, I think I was 12 or 13 when I first time saw Hard Boiled, but still I had no Idea both of the movies are from same director with the same actor. I love this movie to death and it is one of my favorite action movies.Plot: Chow Yun-Fat stars as an expert assassin who finds himself conflicted with his work in his one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss. Danny Lee co-stars as the Hong Kong Police Force inspector determined to catch the assassin and take down the organization that employs him. These two guys from the opposite worlds end up becoming friends and working together to bring down their bigger enemy.The Killer gained numerous international accolades for Woo and its influence can be seen in countless action films in the following decades including in the movies directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The action is, as always with a John Woo movie, spectacular but the characters are well developed and the story is very engaging. It's not quite as big in scale as Hard Boiled but it's still very well paced with plenty of great action. What is it about Hit men in movies that they are always so damn cool? Like Hard Boiled, the music is pretty cheap and forgettable sounding but it doesn't detract from the action. We get the doves, the slow-mo and the religious imagery aplenty in this film and as with Hard Boiled there is little to find fault with.I still love Hard Boiled better than The Killer because Hard Boiled has happy ending and The Killer has not a happy ending, but still I love this movie and it is an action Classic and John Woo directing this movie did the best job ever as been the director and a writer the same time. This man John Woo is outstanding and the actors are just amazing, the characters are well written and the chemistry between Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee is well written and are making a great due as the opposite team. You know Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang and Walter Hill should all take a school of action movies from John Woo's The Killer, because those three American guys sucked at making an action film in 2012 Bullet to the Head failed and it sucked ass. Sylvester Stallone and Sung Kang as a hired hit-man and a police detective had no written chemistry working together and they both suck! Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee are the real team as hired professional hit-man and a Hong Kong police officer. Those two guys are the real team, I will rather watch this movie than Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head! This movie it is a perfect 10, it takes the vision of one of the most creative intelligent action directors in HK cinema eve! The film is filled the most explosive showdowns in cinematic history. It is loaded with some with the most outrageously choreographed action sequences ever committed to film and an absolute hailstorm of bullets. It is fast paced, better more choreographed stylized action. The Killer is a perfect action film as one could ask for.Overall: I think The Killer is on par with Hard Boiled but there's maybe a little more focus on the story than action....but the action in that delivers too. A pair with Hard Boiled is a it's truly bad ass. My favorite action movie with Hard Target and Hard Boiled! I love them to death it get's a perfect 10!

From the plot outline and the film's immediate aesthetics, you could be forgiven for thinking The Killer is just another 80s cop thriller. But there's something about the film that both perfects and transcends that genre -- while it hits all the beats of a thriller, there's a kind of mournful and contemplative tone that makes it impossible to really be thrilled by the violence that explodes across the screen. Instead of taking pains to guide the viewer through the plot, Woo lets most of the details and character motivations take place unnoticed in the background, creating a sense of unmoored and directionless violence enveloping the world. This is especially true of the daring and unforgettable opening scene. The heroes, if they can be called that, are full of remorse and regret, but are unable to do anything but stumble forward bleary-eyed into another shootout.And yet it's also impossible not to be thrilled by the action. I've always been somewhat bored by gunfights in movies, especially when compared to the bodily performance of a martial arts showdown or the spectacle of a sci-fi battle. But Woo's gunplay is just as kinetic and brilliant as it's famous for, playing fast and loose with probability and physics in order to create a breathtaking ballet of violence. He also shows a hand for comedy at unexpected moments. So The Killer has its aesthetic pleasures, which are necessarily guilty ones.This is the tension that most action films struggle through -- our reluctance to endorse violence and our inner desire to see it play out. Usually you just get mass carnage tacked onto a superficial anti- violence message, or incoherent speeches about "fighting for peace". But Woo presents the problem for us in full -- the beauty of violence, the horror, and the inescapability. It's ultimately a pessimistic message, and not one I entirely agree with, but in the world Woo sketches it's more undeniable than gravity.