| |
Jeff
(Chow Yun Fat) is a hired killer who accidentally blinds a nightclub
singer (Sally Yeh) in a hit gone wrong. Unable to live with himself
Jeff takes her under his wing and undertakes one last job to pay
for her cornea operation. His clients however, want him silenced
in order that their identity will not be discovered and Jeff no
longer knows who he can trust with both them and the police on his
trail...
This is probably the most widely seen of the Chow/Woo collaborations
and the hype has overshadowed the fact that it is extremely well
structured film. Chow gives an excellent central performance and
Lee is also very effective as Chow's less charismatic alter ego.
Much analysed for it's homoerotic undertones 'The Killer' certain
does play it's male bonding a bit too far but then this is necessary
to make the end shoot-out possible. By the making of this film Woo
had his trademarks down to a tee and this film shows how confident
he is with the camera. Jam packed with suspenseful moments, jaw
dropping gun scenes and well conceived characterization Woo and
Chow really are at the top of their game. The ending also is a classic
piece of film history. The perfect film to convert anyone to Hong
Kong movies and there were even talks of a Hollywood remake. However,
no-one could match the sheer charisma of Chow or the orchestration
that Woo exhibits in his action scenes. Rumours say that Tsui Hark
and John Woo split company over this film and Tsui only gets producer
credit. He is adamant to this day that he wrote it but it does look
more like Woo's film than his. Perhaps he was there to oversee production
and mise-en-scene as he did so well on 'Iron Monkey'.
In my opinion this is the best Chow/Woo collaboration yet and it
is obvious that Woo reused a lot of it in his hit Face/Off, such
as the blurring of the lines between cop and killer and the end
boat and shootout scene in the church. If you like Hong Kong films
and you haven't seen 'The Killer' then you're doing something seriously
wrong!
|
|
