The Killer

I can't help but be impressed by this film. Yes, it's a massacre, no question about it. It also manages to project emotion quite well. But having seen both episodes of A Better Tomorrow, you'd think that this has been here before. It's bloody, no doubt about that, and those slow-motion shots are at their peak here. I'm not completely sold on it, but still, it's a great action flick. (2014-02-05)

Another great action classic, which I liked even a little bit more than Hard Boiled, but a little bit less than Full Contact, but all of them star the great Chow Yun-Fat, who is undoubtedly the action hero of Hong Kong. The action consists only of gunfights, which are very decent for their time, the opponents drop like flies, blood spurts quite decently and the ending in the church is a definite highlight. But this is not just about action it also has a nice story and some depth, so I definitely recommend it. A proper classic, the quality of which I can only confirm. 75% (2015-03-29)

Where can I find John Woo with some screenwriting quality? It is true that when listening to dialogues, there is a serious risk that characters more subtle and more prone to the aesthetic beauty of language will start spewing nonsense, but let’s be honest, it’s just a matter of connecting more and more phenomenal "one/two people against thirty or more" action scenes. If I take out the dialogues, then everything else works 100%, and even the characters were done quite well. The Killer has a typical atmosphere of heroic bloodshed, a bittersweet, melancholic, sweetened "casio-soundtrack", which seems to want to be inspired by the urgency of Ennio Morricone. Of course, it turns out how it has to turn out, i.e., poorly from the point of view of a nitpicker and perfectly adequate from the point of view of a satisfied viewer. The crazy music hits the turbo tempo of the story and the naive venting of emotions. The Killer flows perfectly, everything is in good proportions - the naivety and the bittersweet aspects. The choreography of the shootouts during the 111 minutes show everything that action-packed Hollywood provenance lives on even today, several dozen bastards will die, heroes from both sides of the law will talk about friendship and finally show side by side what the bloodshed is all about from their own veins. Do you like Hong Kong? Then you have to love The Killer. (2006-09-01)

In a direct comparison, a full class better than Hard Boiled. John Woo replaces the endless (although effective) shootouts with shorter but more impactful fights, with a simple but thankfully strong storyline. Besides, Chow Yun-Fat is better as a tough killer than as a tough cop. (2006-08-31)

The Killer is mainly a timeless action romp that is hard to compare with anything. Unlike the action-packed Hard-Boiled, John Woo here places more emphasis on the characters and their personalities. The direction is different, but the outcome is similarly good. (2005-02-20)