The Killer
[Die xue shuang xiong]
1989
* * * 1/2
In the midst of a gunfight, a hitman (Chow-Yun Fat) with a code of honor accidently blinds a club singer (Sally Yeh). Guilt-ridden, his life changes, and he does all he can to try and save her vision and her. Unfortunately, not only does he have a cop (Danny Lee) following him, but a whole horde of bad guys who have been paid to take him down. This movie absolutely rocks. I can't say it much better than that. Director John Woo seriously knows how to set up action sequences; these are stylish and spectacular. These scenes are absolute knockouts; they make normal action films look pathetic. On $2,000,000 bucks, Woo accomplished more than most directors do today on twenty times that. But that's not what makes this film great. It?s the characters and story that make this a classic. It's not believable, of course, but the characters are complex individuals and the story is genuinely powerful. Yeah, it's melodramatic, but it works. And Woo moves it along at an unbelievably fast pace. Now, I saw it on an old, poorly subtitled, chopped-up videocassette, and I still loved it. Unfortunately, it was obvious an American studio had gotten hold of it and messed with it, because there were times when a shot or two was clearly cut out. But it was still a dang cool flick. A warning: it's a bloody, over-the-top, all-out testosterone flick with a body count higher than most war movies. Heck, the body count here is higher than most entire horror film series rack up.[1] As far as that goes, this is about as good as it gets: extraordinary action sequences, a powerful story, and good characters. But it is a guy's movie in every sense of the word. Of course, being an 18-year-old guy, I absolutely loved it, and so does pretty much every guy looking for a seriously awesome action flick, because this movie delivers. Just don't watch it if you don't want to see hoards of bad guys mowed down bloodily (and spectacularly).
[1] Just for comparison, the Friday the 13th series has 127 combined (not including all 517 times Jason Vorhees has died and come back), Nightmare On Elm Street is about 30, I think the Halloween movies are around 40 or 50, George Romero?s Dead films are probably around 60, nor including zombies who get whacked. In action flicks, The Terminator has about 25, Terminator 2 has a lot more or a lot less, depending on how you count kneecaps. The first Rambo only has 1, the second has about 40. This film equals the entire Friday the 13th series with 127 dead guys.
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