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THE
KILLER
AKA:
The Assassin
Year:
1989 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
'The
Killer' is the story of Jeff (Yun Fat), a hitman for hire who
accidentally blinds night club singer Jennie (Yeh) during his
final hit. Consumed by guilt, he befriends the girl and
discovers she needs an expensive cornea transplant to repair
her sight. To pay for her operation he undertakes one
last job that will take the two of them away from this
lifestyle but Detective Lee (Lee) has other ideas. As
Lee gets closer to Jeff he realises that they are not so
different after all and a strange friendship is fused between
the two sides of the law. Sadly in this world, no amount
of repentance can save you and death is always just around the
corner.
This
movie remains one of the all time greats within the heroic
bloodshed category and even on the first viewing it's easy to
see why. Woo seamlessly blends his extraordinary talent
for bloody shoot-outs with characters that contain realistic
personalities, building a deeper connection between the
audience and the action on the screen. Betrayal, guilt,
vengeance and redemption are all expressed through the use of
realistic violence, allowing for a completely original way of
forming a bond between two such charismatic leading actors.
This
film (along with 'A
Better Tomorrow') firmly established Woo's trademark slow
motion shoot-outs that actually made gunplay look as graceful
as an acrobatic kung fu flip. By employing certain
camera movements and slowing the action down at exactly the
right point, Woo offers such poetic imagery that it has been
the cause of countless imitations to date. It is also
ably assisted by the arsenal from hell as our heroes (or
anti-heroes as it may be) arm themselves to the teeth with
everything from dual pistols to sniper rifles, allowing them
to wreak havoc on their enemies.
In
my opinion, this still remains Woo's (and perhaps Yun Fat's)
finest hour to date thanks to some superb shoot-outs,
outstanding leading actors and a genuinely engaging story that
employs true to life characterisations. If you call
yourself an action movie fan then you are bound to love this
but if you don't then maybe you should stick to another
'Police Academy' movie instead!
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