Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

rodrig58 I wanted to see a film at the height of Le Samouraï (1967), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. I was hoping to have the atmosphere and feelings of the masterpiece with Alain Delon. And this The Killer by John Woo seemed very promising at first. But in fact, after the first 5 minutes, the film becomes just an endless series of shootings, explosions and stunts. Many are even hilarious if not ridiculous. All guns have an endless number of bullets, pull indefinitely, without changing chargers. Among shootings and leaps forward, jumps back, tumbles and falls from height, many more gasps, moaning, sighs and groaning of the blind heroine or of those mobsters who are shot. Each one, many many times. Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee are both two nice, beautiful guys, with a lot of charisma and personality. But their stature and beautiful smile does not save the film from the mediocrity that makes me think of Bollywood melodramas type. The melancholic music, actually, the same few notes repeated throughout the film, also contribute to that. Some consider it a masterpiece and a cult film. I do not. The classics with James Cagney, Paul Muni, Lee Marvin or Jack Palance, are much better. Because they look more realistic!

Leofwine_draca A great Hong Kong action movie which I would consider to be John Woo's near best – unlike HARD-BOILED it also has a story and strong characters along with tons of his famous gun-fu action. Forget Woo's later attempts at a career in Hollywood (a path which yielded some great movies, but none as intense as this), THE KILLER shows him at his best, simultaneously offering us a career-best Chow Yun-Fat as an all-too-human hit-man who suffers a crisis of conscience after accidentally blinding a nightclub singer during a hit. The plot is simple but layered in characterisation and emotion; Woo contrasts the endless violence with touching scenes of romance and heartfelt feeling. The entire cast put in wonderful performances, whether it be Sally Yeh as the fragile blind girl or Danny Lee as the unorthodox cop whose life parallels Yun-Fat's. Add in a brew of nasty over-the-top villains and you have the elements which make up a great film.Obviously the main reason for male viewers to watch this film is the much-hyped action choreography; let me say simply that it doesn't disappoint. The otherwise fairly slow plot is punctuated by tons of hard-hitting shoot-outs, usually involving Yun-Fat battling against dozens of hired killers and assassins out to get him. Stunts, violence, and explosions combine to make a truly exciting viewing experience which just gets better as it goes on. Once the gang of white tracksuit-wearing bad guys show up towards the end of the film, Woo lets rip with some incredible set-pieces in which the violent shoot-outs go on forever; death has never been painted as artistically as this before. Little touches emphasise the violence, like the church setting of the finale or Yun-Fat's white suit which gradually gets drenched in blood. Woo reminds us of the futility of violence with a bleak and tragic ending which actually leaves you a little shell-shocked. For me, THE KILLER is close to the best on-screen realisation of Woo's career, a re-watchable masterpiece of action and drama, cleverly intertwined and always edge-of-your-seat material. Only HARD-BOILED beats it thanks to THAT hospital set-piece.

sharky_55 At times John Woo's The Killer has segments that seem directly lifted from those Chinese karaoke videos that my parents and their friends used to crowd around. They share the same dreamlike qualities - random flutterings of doves meant to be symbolically relevant, a hazy background that seems perfect for the haunting vibraphone score, slow motion for the most emotionally tense moments and so on. It is problematic because throughout the film Woo piles on these elements, combined with the shoot-outs upon shoot-outs that seem to last an eternity, and it is difficult to know whether to laugh or not. When Detective Li Ying storms up towards Ah Jong's hideout in fury after the death of his partner, he cocks his gun and right before climbing over the wall, does a forward roll for seemingly no reason. Later, two of the white suited goons of Frank's hire execute a similar manoeuvre as they drive up to assault the house. There are good characters, and there are terrible characters. The latter is firstly Frank, who Woo seems to think can be made menacing merely by suiting him up and placing Ray Bans on his head. This does not make for the deadly assassin that he is stated to be. It is funnier yet when his apparently deadly methods include sending endless hordes of gunmen at the target and in reality just providing fodder for yet another shoot-out. There is also the object of Ah Jong's desire, Jennie, who falls in love with him pretty easily. Their initial encounters evoke a rather neo-noir aesthetic with the grimy neon signs of the karaoke bar, and the glistening asphalt in the back alley. Magical and slightly surreal, but her character itself is bland, displaying no distinct qualities apart from being the voice of innocence which shouts out (okay well she's quite meek really) plot points and warnings. Why is the room so dark, she inquires, right before the dark dramatic shoot-out which will end with her lover's death. There is one moment of saving grace, where she fires a gun then immediately collapses into tears at what she thinks she has done, which highlights exactly how the average civilian might react to such events. Both Ah Jong and Li Ying are portrayed quite well, and manage to create real emotion from the rather oddly paced script. You can almost believe the tears of rage at the end as Li Ying succumbs to his anger and murders the triad boss, renouncing his former morals. Maybe they aren't so different after all. The best character however has to be Fung Sei, Ah Jong's close friend who encounters and struggles with several dilemmas involving friendship, honour and betrayal. Here is a man who has long given up the assassin life but who still has vestiges of pride and commitment to long term friendship left in him. Woo builds up his heroic escape, and then makes him misfire literally by miscounting the number of bullets in his gun, a great moment of characterisation using a dialogue callback.But it still remains impossibly hard to root for these characters when Woo seems to prefer the endless shoot-outs and their dramatic role. They are used to build character and resilience, but very early on they blur and become all too repetitive, and trivial, because although our main characters take hits, they seem to be fine moments later. The first infiltration by Ah Jong is quite well choreographed and edited, but after that point The Killer seems to descend into repeated massacres. I can acknowledge the gun-fu influence on similar Hollywood type action scenes (The Matrix, Tarantino, Rodriguez), but even so The Killer's action sequences are horribly disjointed and chaotic. Hordes of nameless and faceless goons seem to stumble and teleport into the frame, their lifeless bodies spasming onto the ground before we are even aware of what has occurred. Do not fret however, for the most gory and vital bits always seem to be emphasised via this self-important slow motion. This does not build tension, but sentimentality. Sometimes, like when the Triad boss shoots Ah Jong from outside the church and around the door, the action will not make logical sense. Other times, the action is put on pause altogether for moments of melodrama; after Fung Sei is shot within an inch of his life, the goons suddenly stop storming the church to allow our dear friends to say goodbye. Woo seems to lean onto these elongated action sequences as if they are the most important moments for the main characters. After the trio escape from yet another ambush, there is a chance to reflect or simply bask in the reluctant alliance they have been forcibly pushed into. But Woo cuts to that dramatic confrontation where they both refuse to kill each other, and then cuts again rapidly to them tending to each others wounds. Where is the meat? My favourite little tidbit is when Li Ying infiltrates Ah Jong's apartment, sits in his chair and slides over to the doorway, imitating the same shooting action as Ah Jong when forced to defend his home. A bit of subtlety in visualising how they are not so different from each other, both armed guns shaped by larger, uncontrollable forces. It's all very sad of course, but Woo cannot wrap it up. The end of the film has perhaps the most karaoke-like scene of them all, a wistful Chow Yun Fat solemnly playing the harmonica beside the window. Surely we are not meant to take this seriously?

bryan-mconnor Now going into The Killer I expected a good movie considering it's a movie with Chow Yun-Fat movie directed by John Woo. Like any other Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo collaboration, the movie ended up being great.A disillusioned assassin (Chow Yun-Fat) accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss. I found the story to be well paced, but some will probably complain how it's not evenly spaced out between action and drama, but they won't mind it once the movie shift into full gear and delivers the goods on it story. The story is masterfully told in my opinion and doesn't suffer from having to much action either. Even though I saw the dubbed version, I can tell you the movie still had some great lines. I got more into the story when it showed that our killer was sympathetic and caring giving him depth instead of just making him look like a cold heartless killer like other movies.The action is nothing short of spectacular as you would expect with any movie directed by John Woo. It's beautiful to watch, it's intense, it's enjoyable, and has a purpose with the story. I have to praise to Woo for his good camera work in this movie and writing what I consider to be one of the best action movie ever made. Beside the acting, I want praise the music in the movie, while it may pass viewers as they get entertain by what they see, I want to say that adds to the greatness and entertainment value for this movie.The Killer is amazing experience I would recommend for anyone. It's a great action movie that delivers the goods on the story with some of the best action sequences ever filmed. The Killer is by far one of the greatest action movie i've ever seen.