"The Killer" was one of the few films in American cinema history to receive an "X" rating for violence alone on its original release; this at a time when Director Woo was seriously considering moving to America.
This film is both a farewell to Hong Kong, and a bite-back at the critics of The Killer. It is about why Hong Kong is no longer a decent place to live (from Woo's point of view) and also a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the very violence that his critics so abhorred.
It is the best written of Woo's Hong Kong films, the best edited, the best acted, and, yes, the best directed. It is unabashedly 'take-no-prisoners' in its attitude to action - Chow Yun Fat's non-James-Bond performance as an unstoppable cop pretty much out-does every other action Hero in film, except, maybe, Sean Connery's Bond in "Doctor No". The film starts with an over-the-top gun battle in a Hong Kong eatery, and ends with a WAY-over-the-top all out war between cops and robbers in a hospital - all with smart attitude, smart looks, smart direction. Believe me, the bodies can't be counted, but you never have time to worry about it.
Yeah, there is the usual Woo sentimentalism, and Tony Leung's performance is a bit heavy-handed; but the positives are so positive - for gun-play action film fans, anyway - that the negatives are easily discounted and forgotten.
Put your brain on hold and get ready for a wild ride - Woo knows we want the real deal, and he delivers.
This film is both a farewell to Hong Kong, and a bite-back at the critics of The Killer. It is about why Hong Kong is no longer a decent place to live (from Woo's point of view) and also a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the very violence that his critics so abhorred.
It is the best written of Woo's Hong Kong films, the best edited, the best acted, and, yes, the best directed. It is unabashedly 'take-no-prisoners' in its attitude to action - Chow Yun Fat's non-James-Bond performance as an unstoppable cop pretty much out-does every other action Hero in film, except, maybe, Sean Connery's Bond in "Doctor No". The film starts with an over-the-top gun battle in a Hong Kong eatery, and ends with a WAY-over-the-top all out war between cops and robbers in a hospital - all with smart attitude, smart looks, smart direction. Believe me, the bodies can't be counted, but you never have time to worry about it.
Yeah, there is the usual Woo sentimentalism, and Tony Leung's performance is a bit heavy-handed; but the positives are so positive - for gun-play action film fans, anyway - that the negatives are easily discounted and forgotten.
Put your brain on hold and get ready for a wild ride - Woo knows we want the real deal, and he delivers.