Product Details

• Actors: Yun-Fat Chow, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu, Kenneth Tsang
• Directors: John Woo
• Writers: John Woo
• Producers: Hark Tsui
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• VHS Release Date: October 3, 2000
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302989809
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,519 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Apex, May 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Killer (DVD)

As the popularity of Chinese cinema begins to spread in the US, two men must be noted for their contributions - Director John Woo and Actor Chow Yun-Fat. Their names are synonymous with action in Hong Kong cinema. Both have had projects that were successful (Face/Off and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, respectively) and some that were not so (Hard Target).

The Killer, however, is the apex of both their works.

It is possibly the best movie that very few people know about, and upon seeing it, it has become my mission to ensure that it becomes more widely viewed. John Woo's cinematic stylings and breathtaking action sequences are his trademark, and are often mimicked (but never duplicated) by more accessible works. Those who believe that action began with Desperado, Resevoir Dogs or The Matrix need only look to John Woo to find the obvious inspiration for these works.

Of course, as much as a gun is a weapon in action movies, Chow Yun-Fat is John Woo's weapon. Entire tales can be told simply with Yun-Fat's expressions - the ability to "act" without saying a word is sometimes underrated, but I would say that Yun-Fat challenges even DeNiro in his method-acting abilities. His on-screen charisma is electric, and no other actor in Woo's stable has been able to produce the kineticity required of a John Woo hero figure.

The two have joined forces for a number of movies, but none better than The Killer. Besides the afforementioned qualities of each individual, The Killer brings with it a story of "Real Men" in a world where honor is a dirty word. The Killer belongs with the great mafia dramas of Hollywood Cinema and with Kurosawa's samurai epics. The Killer is listed in the guidebook, "The Top 100 Movies No One Has Ever Seen." The latter half of that statement needs to be changed.

34 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING!, August 24, 2002

By 

Deviation (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killer (DVD)

Warning, this is a seriously BUTCHERED version of the film. Disny, in all of it's wisdom, has decided to cut over 6 minutes of the film. Do yourself a favor and get ahold of the fox lorber/winstar release, orif you've got the cash, pick up the criterion edition.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heroic Bloodhshed and Cool Charisma - John Woo`s "The Killer, June 10, 2000

By 

Andrew MacAskill (Australia (currently living in Japan)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killer (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Anybody who enjoys furiously paced action mixed with superb drama and almost balletic violence should see this film. Probably Woo`s finest and most popular "heroic bloodshed" piece, it details the life of a hitman, Chow Yun Fat, and his policeman rival, Danny Lee. Woo tells his tale in typical flamboyant style, blending incredible action sequences with slow motion and stills. At times the beauty of the violence amazed me. As Chow Yun Fat is pursued by both the mob and the police he manages to present a likeable hero in a tragically difficult situation. The fascinating relationship (and obvious similarities) between the two leading men is brilliantly drawn out through the use of many interesting "gaze" shots, long trakes and close ups. As intense drama, friendship and tragedy unfold in the midst of a terrifyingly brutal world the pace of the film is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat right until the magnificent climax. Without spoiling, let me say that the finale is one of the greatest action sequences that I have ever witnessed on celluloid. This film is an absolute masterpiece and one of my all time favourites. As the SBS film reviewer said "For those of you who are about to see this film for the first time, I envy you". Enjoy.