A must have
Summary
The Killer isn’t quite as large in scale as Hard Boiled, but the characters are engaging and there are plenty of squib-fuelled shoot-outs to keep things moving. I wasn’t blown away by the picture/sound but I think that’s more my system. The special features alone make this worth adding to the collection.
Plot: A Hong Kong hitman (Chow Yun-Fat, Hard Boiled) accidentally blinds an innocent woman during a hit. He is determined to get her surgery to help her regain her sight but he needs to complete one more hit first. He completes the job but then is ambushed as he tries to escape: someone wants him dead. Meanwhile a resourceful, unorthodox police detective is hot on his trail.
Review: The latest John Woo classic to get a 4K upgrade is The Killer which to this day remains one of his finest hours. If for some reason you’ve never seen this movie I go into spoilers, so read no further.
Chow Yun-Fat plays an assassin called Ah Jong hunted by Inspector Li Ying (Danny Lee); Ah Jong may be a killer but he is not without a conscience; during one of the many shoot-outs in the film a singer called Jennie (Sally Yeh) is injured in the crossfire with permanent damage to her eyes. Ah Jong vows to restore her eyesight with his earnings, but is then double crossed by his boss and events begin to spiral out of control.
Danny Lee’s cop Li Ying is obsessed with catching Ah Jong, but when he sees him looking after Jennie and saving a young girl who has been injured he realizes this is not your typical cold blooded assassin. The two slowly form a bond and become friends battling against Ah Jong’s former employer, Wong Hoi (Shing Fui-On).
It had been a few years since I last watched the Killer and I forgot this movie leaves you with absolutely nothing; I think that’s why I watch Hard Boiled more often as it has a mostly happy ending. The entire story here is one big tragedy where nobody really wins in the end.
When I was younger I remember watching a dubbed version where Danny Lee calls Ah Jong ‘Mickey Mouse’, but I think ‘Shrimp Head’ is a little better and yet still a little bizarre.
The action isn’t as large scale here as Hard Boiled, but there are still regular shoot-outs, a few explosions and awesome squibs too.
I’m not sure The Killer really benefits from a 4K upgrade as it never looks quite as sharp as Hard Boiled and the music still sounds cheap. I do like the main theme tune though and this is still the best the film has looked.
The plethora of special features alone makes this work picking up:
- 4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
- Presented in Dolby Vision
- Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated for this Release
- Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Film Journalist Drew Tayler
- Audio Commentary with Critic and Author David West
- Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Producer Terence Chang (Recorded by the Criterion Collection)
- The Hero of Heroic Bloodshed: A John Woo Documentary—Feature Length Documentary on the Cinema of Hong Kong’s Iconic Director, Featuring New Interviews with John Woo, Stuntman Bruce Law, Producer Michael Colleary, Writer Mike Werb, Producer Lori Tilkin de
- A Bullet Ballet: Interview with Director John Woo
- My Kind of Hero: Interview with Producer Terence Chang
- Editing the Killer: Interview with Editor David Wu
- Hong Kong Confidential: Inside The Killer with Author Grady Hendrix
- Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Trailers
- Image Gallery
Special Features
- 4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
- Presented in Dolby Vision
- Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated for this Release
- Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Film Journalist Drew Tayler
- Audio Commentary with Critic and Author David West
- Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Producer Terence Chang (Recorded by the Criterion Collection)
- The Hero of Heroic Bloodshed: A John Woo Documentary—Feature Length Documentary on the Cinema of Hong Kong’s Iconic Director, Featuring New Interviews with John Woo, Stuntman Bruce Law, Producer Michael Colleary, Writer Mike Werb, Producer Lori Tilkin de
- A Bullet Ballet: Interview with Director John Woo
- My Kind of Hero: Interview with Producer Terence Chang
- Editing the Killer: Interview with Editor David Wu
- Hong Kong Confidential: Inside The Killer with Author Grady Hendrix
- Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Trailers
- Image Gallery
A Bullet Ballet is a 45 minute interview with John Woo where he discusses how the film came together as well as having problems with Sally Yeh who kept going off to Switzerland with her boyfriend to ski. He had to rewrite the script which was initially going to be more of a love triangle, but due to her not being available he changed it. He also didn’t have a script before shooting so they just made it up as they went along; it’s amazing the film turned out as well as it did.
The Deleted Scenes give more details on the love triangle as one of the scenes has Danny Lee beating up the thugs who try to rape Jennie rather then Ah Jong doing it. I’m glad they changed it as the final cut makes him more sympathetic. The Hero of Heroic Bloodshed is an hour and 14 minute long featuring interviews with John Woo as well as people like Roel Reiné and other filmmakers and critics discussing the Heroic Bloodshed genre.
Overall, The Killer is still one of John Woo’s best films; it may not have the scale of Hard Boiled, but it has a more emotionally charged story while still giving us plenty of shoot-outs. This 4K has enough special features to warrant being added to the collection making this another essential purchase.