The Killer (1989)

Dip huet seung hung

John Woo's The Killer is a Hong Kong movie among those taking Hong Kong to the world. Yun-Fat Chow stars as a disillusioned assassin, and he's been in a lot of John Woo's movies. In fact they were the duo behind the first Hong Kong movie I ever watched, Hard Boiled (1992).

The Killer was an earlier work, but not the first they cooperated in. To me they are one of the great duos of directors-actors. No-one popularized Hong Kong movies like John Woo, but he's lost some of his excellence in his Hollywood productions.

The Killer is made with a lot of heart. An innocent girl is blinded during an assassination by our leading killer, and he feels guilty and connects with her. You can feel the bond between the injured girl and the assassin, as well as between the assassin and the police inspector trying to catch him. There's a lot of subtle and not so subtle interactions going on.

The action sequences doesn't ever try to come off as realistic, but they are in good old fashioned Hong Kong style trying to entertain. I sure was entertained by this movie, and as it's been many years since I last watched Hard Boiled I think it's about time I check it out again as well.

The Killer is among the very best, if not the best, the genre has to offer.