Cast:
Chow Yun Fat
Danny Lee
Sally Yeh
Ken Tsang
Director:
John Woo
The Killer is one of the finest Gangster movies ever made, the movie is filled with high impact action sequences only John Woo can bring, add Chow Yun Fat into the movie and its a must see for any fan.
PLOT
Chow plays the assassin Ah Jong, who accidentally damages the eyes of the singer Jennie (Sally Yeh) during a shootout. He later discovers that if Jennie does not have an expensive operation she will go blind. To get the money for Jennie, Ah Jong decides to perform one last hit.
OVERALL
This movie didn't really take off right away at the Hong Kong box office, but had a big audience around the world and remains till this day one of the finest Gangster movies ever made. From the opening scene to the final scene, this movie as it all, top notch action, great characters, good story line, i also like the relationship between Chow Yun Fat and the female lead of the movie Sally Yeh. One of my favorite scenes is the excellent shoot out in the abandonded church as they take on triads in a bloody ending.
It is a brutal movie from start to finish, incredible violence that we came to expect from John Woo and lets face it, he is one of the best at doing so.
This is an all time classic.
The Killers Influence
The Killer was also influential on hip hop music. American hip hop artist, and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon released his critically praised debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995) that sampled numerous portions of dialog from the film. In 2005, Vibe magazine placed The Killer at number 20 on their list of top fifty films that shaped hip hop. This movie as inspired film makers around the world, this brought us future movies such as Nikita (1990) and Léon (1994) directed by French director Luc Besson. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, Director Quinton Tarantino developed these movies after watching The Killer.
The movie is also being lined up for a Hollywood remake, with John Travolta in the main lead and John Woo will produce the movie.
Source:Wikipedia
The Killer was the first Asian gansgter flick I ever saw, for me it is the quintessential example of it’s genre, and reamins to be my top favourite. So signature John Woo, it will be really interesting/exciting to see what greatness Woo brings to the screen in the next version!
Why a picture from Hard Boiled for an article about The Killer ?