Regular Price $29.98

Starring: John Woo,  Chow Yun-Fat,  Danny Lee,  Sally Yeh,  Kong Chu, 
Directed By: Chung Lam, 
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 1990-09
Studio: Fox Lorber
Format: Color,  DVD-Video,  Letterboxed,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about The Killer

Amazon.com essential video
This 1989 rouser is apocalyptic pulp--the bloodiest, showiest, most shamelessly sentimental specimen of Hong Kong's gangster melodramas. A torch singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) is accidentally blinded during a slaying in a night club, and Chow Yun-fat's sad-eyed Jeff, a self-lacerating assassin, drags himself out of retirement to take on one last job--rubbing out a major mobster for major bucks--so he can pay for the singer's cornea transplant operation. But Jeff pauses to ferry a wounded child to the hospital during this final outing, and because of this a cop finally gets a good look at him: "He was seen on the job," snarls a saturnine Mr. Big, "and I want him wasted." Armies of thugs converge on the saintly slayer. Some of writer-director John Woo's flourishes are kitsch classics (doves flying upward in a candlelit church), while the action sequences are rapturous. "Life's cheap," a character opines. "It only takes one bullet," but in this case it actually takes about a dozen spewing bullet hits to kill anyone, as soulful triads in mirror shades and duster overcoats blaze away with high-tech weaponry. (A favorite trick involves grasping an enemy by the lapels, pulling him into a waltz embrace, and pumping several slugs into his duodenum.) Danny Lee, Chow's costar in City on Fire, is the intense, young officer who fixates on the killer's contradictory personality. --David Chute

Customer Reviews for The Killer

Not just dead bodies
This film has been categorized as an action movie with a great deal of bloodshed. Superficially this is true but Woo's masterwork can easily stand beside Once Upon a Time in the West as a beautifully shot, highly stylized film that reaches far beyond the confines of a mere genre film. The acting is superb and the editing is Academy Award level. Only the score does not quite come up to the level of Leone's films. Don't hesitate to view this movie because of it's violent reputation. It is so much more than that.The Killer

For those who don't "get" the violence in Woo's films
John Woo is a director who uses a style known as Heroic Bloodshed. The messages of the movies are always in the symbols, not in the story. The movie isn't designed for those who can't look past the violence. The movies are also heavily laced with Protestant Christian themes concerning the souls of his characters, usually exagerrated for the purpose of making them larger than life. For Example: Inspector Tequila in Hard Boiled. He kills, yes. He kills a lot. But the overall message is not the violence, it's that the hero has to do what must be done, that he values the righting of wrongs done to a weaker character. You have to read into Woo films before you can say that they are "Garbage", because if you understand him, they're really not. I'm sorry more people can't enjoy his movies, but sometimes you need to look past the attitude that violence is never the answer. While killing is bad, being dead and allowing others who are above the law (a problem almost alien to the modern Western World) to exploit those who can't help themselves is worse.The Killer

Absolutely Horrible!!!
I found this movie absolutely horrible--overloaded with gratuitous violence, violence for violence sake. It's for people who enjoy watching people murder people. There were no real characters in this monstrousity of a movie--only killing machine people. No one, that's right, no one was believable. Even the so-called story line--a hitman killing to raise money to enable a blind woman, whom the hitman accidentally blinded, to see, was a farce. Movies like this only raise the potential level of violence in society, make it glorifiable, without the slightest redeeming virtue. This piece of junk is strictly for the serial killer who's looking for inspiration for his next hit. I trashed my copy--I wouldn't even give it to charity because of what it stands for. Do yourself a favor--don't buy terrible heap of garbage!!!!!The Killer

The best!
I can't even count how many times I've watched this movie. The action is great, but it's the storyline that just blows me away. It's one of my favorite movies of all-time and I totally recommend this to anyone and everyone. If you haven't seen it, make it a priority to check it out at your earliest convenience. I've seen thousands upon thousands of movies and this one definitely sticks out as a killer. ;)
The Killer

I Believe In Justice
John Woo:you either love him or hate him but there is no way of looking at him except as a force of nature. The Killer was one of Woo's greatest Hong Kong features; long before he came to America and made films such as Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2.

Made on a small budget this film is an homage to the classic action directors of Hollywood. There are shades of Peckenpah and of Scorsese. The films grainy look makes it almost perfect for this genre.

The story of a killer with a penchant for justice and loyalty has been done many times before but Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee make it their own as the killer and the renegade cop who follows him.

Many have complained about the violence in this film. The film is extremely violent but the violence comes off as campy rather than as serious. When you have two men fighting hundreds it is hard to take anything too seriously.

The disc that I reviewed was the Criterion Collection edition. This edition gives a pristine transfer of the film and has a decently subtitled audio. Beware of editions that have any English dubbing since these editions tend to heighten the camp elements of the story rather than give a true translation of the dialogue. Also note that the Criterion Edition is expensive but you get what you pay for. Some of the lower priced editions of this film are known bootlegs that should be avoided.

The disc contains a commentary track by Woo and producer Terrance Chang and five deleted scenes.

If you can find or afford it this is essential viewing for action genre fans and for fans of purist Hong Kong cinema.The Killer

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