The Killer (film)
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| The Killer | |
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| Directed by | John Woo |
| Produced by | Tsui Hark |
| Written by | John Woo |
| Starring | Chow Yun-Fat Danny Lee Sally Yeh Chu Kong |
| Distributed by | Golden Princess Film Production Limited |
| Release date(s) |  July 6, 1989 January 1990 |
| Running time | 111 min |
| Language | Cantonese |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Killer (Traditional Chinese: 喋血雙雄, Simplified Chinese: 喋血双雄; Cantonese IPA: [tɪp22 hyt33 sœŋ55 həʊŋ11], Jyutping: dip6 hyt3 seong1 hung4; Mandarin Pinyin: Diéxuè shuāngxióng; literally: Bloodshed of Two Heroes) is a 1989 Hong Kong thriller starring Chow Yun-Fat as the hitman Ah Jong, Danny Lee as the cop Li Ying and Sally Yeh as the singer Jennie. John Woo directed the film, which brought him wide-spread recognition in the West. The film was produced by Tsui Hark.
The Killer is considered a classic of the Asian heroic bloodshed genre of action cinema.[citation needed] It is a very popular and well regarded film, not only for its stylised violence, but for its themes of honor, love and friendship, which, coupled with the religious motif of salvation (not uncommon in the heroic bloodshed genre) is used to evoke powerful emotions. The film also asserts a higher morality that is above the law of man, which makes the cop question his motivations.[citation needed] The film is notable for its tense Mexican standoffs, a trademark of Woo.
A Hollywood remake has for many years been in development, but various factors have kept it in development hell.[citation needed]
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[edit] Synopsis
The Killer revolves around the character of Ah Jong (Chow Yun-Fat), a professional killer. During a hit in the opening act, Ah Jong accidentally blinds a young nightclub singer (Sally Yeh) with the muzzle flash from his pistol. Driven to help the now near-blinded woman by securing money for a sight-saving corneal transplant, he agrees to carry out another hit. During his escape he is pursued by Li Ying (Danny Lee), a cop who is investigating his crimes. Ah Jong then finds himself being hunted by his employers who want to get rid of him for being seen "on the job".
After witnessing Ah Jong save a dying girl and learning about Jennie's operation, the cop realizes arresting this hitman would not set things right. Together they fight the Triads through amazing action sequences which ultimately climax in an explosive shootout at an abandoned church. There, Ah Jong has Li Ying swear to donate the hitman's eyes to Jennie if something were to happen to him.
The ending is tragic, in that Ah Jong dies, his eyes shot out by the Triad boss, Wong Hoi. Jennie is left crawling for him in the dark, her operation unrealized. The boss flees to police custody, but Li Ying chases after him: Li Ying realizes that the law could never give someone like Ah Jong justice, so he acts under his own sense of right and wrong and shoots the boss in cold blood.
[edit] Alternate versions
In one scene, Ah Jong and Li Ying are in Jennie's flat, holding each other at gun point; in order not to worry the blind girl, they pretend to be childhood friends and give each other silly nicknames: Ah Jong becomes 'Shrimphead' and Li Ying 'Runt'. Western releases of the film change the nicknames to "Dumbo" and "Mickey Mouse". The UK DVD release is currently the only English subtitled version to render the nicknames correctly.
[edit] Influence
The plot is similar to the 1954 Hollywood movie Magnificent Obsession starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman.[citation needed] In that movie, Rock plays a playboy who accidentally blinds a young woman, and through newly found Christian ideals and pity that eventually turns to love for the blinded woman, he befriends the woman and tries to raise money for an eye operation, all the time not revealing his identity.
The Killer was heavily influenced by French director Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 cult film Le Samouraï. Some of the plot is borrowed (the female pianist in Melville's film is replaced by a nightclub singer), and Chow Yun-Fat's character was obviously inspired by Alain Delon's Jeff Costello.[citation needed] In what may be an acknowledgement of this, Ah Jong is called 'Jeffrey Chow' in the English subtitled versions of the film.
[edit] DVD Versions
 A Hong Kong poster. |
 The Criterion DVD (now out of print). |
 The very first DVD release of The Killer from Hong Kong during the early days of DVDs. The companies releasing it together were Media Asia and Universe who temporarily held the rights to the film. The copyright has since returned to the original owners. |
 The Fox Lorber/Win Star Region 1 DVD release (mid 2000 or early 2001), released after the Criterion edition went out of print. |
[edit] Box Office
The Killer grossed $18,355,083 HKD in Hong Kong.
[edit] Music Cues
Several music cues are taken from other films, most notably Red Heat, and Hero and the Terror. The songs:
"Russian Streets" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988)
"Victor Escapes" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988)
"Bus Station" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988)
"Breakout" Composer: David Michael Frank (credited as David Frank) From: Hero and the Terror (1988)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: A Night To Remember |
The Criterion Collection 7 |
Succeeded by: Hard Boiled |
