REVIEW: John Woos THE KILLER may be overrated AND a bit dated, BUT if you like gun play - GET IT NOW!
THE KILLER
John Woo's ode to violence featuring the great Chow Yun-fat!
Written & directed by John Woo
Cast ... Characters
Chow Yun-fat ... Jeff (hired killer with a heart)
With:
Danny Lee ... Insp. Li (rogue detective)
Sally Yeh ... Jennie (singer-pianist)
Chu Kong ... Sydney (Jeff's best friend)
Tsang Kong (aka Kenneth Tsang) ... Sgt. Randy Chang (Li's partner)
Shing Fui-on ... Johnny Weng (the new Boss)
3 stars [Die xue shuang xiong/(1989)Hong Kong/Film Workshop-Magnum] - (1 hr. 51 min.)
Review:
If you've seen John Woo's later films like "Face/Off," and you're wondering where a lot of those images and set pieces came from, then this film should bring back a lot of memories. The Church, the cop becoming the killer theme, etc. can all be found in "The Killer."
Luckily, Woo did not bring composer Lowell Lowe to Hollywood because his score for "The Killer" is one of cheesiest I've ever had the misfortune of listening too. I HAD to listen to it too since I caught the film at a midnight showing (in 2004/15th Anniv.), but those of you watching on DVD (with "equalizers" built into your home theater) might be able to amp up all the gunshots and explosions and tone down the tinny music.
The Shaw Bros. films of the 50's have better sounding background music. I still find it hard to believe anything recorded in the late 80's could sound so bad.
My only other complaint is the '1000 bullet' pistol theory in which the killer/'Jeff' (Chow Yun Fat) is able to shoot almost continuously for dozens of shots before changing guns. But that's still a minor quibble compared to the (yes, again) additional music in this film.
On top of the score, the killer also plays the harmonica (a la "Once upon a Time in the West"). And the songs that are sung in the film are pretty forgettable too. It would be interesting to see how much better "The Killer" would be if all the non-dialogue/non-sound effects sound were removed completely (kind of like "Blade Runner" with the narration taken out in the superior Director's cut).
I had to knock my rating down for the score alone, that's how much damage it does. Still a MUST-SEE for genre fans with its classic gunplay bits galore. You can easily see how "The Killer" has influenced all cop-movies since, but NO ONE has imitated that score!!!
Producer: Tsui Hark (exec.)
Camera: Wong Wing-hang & Peter Pau
Editor: Fan Kung-ming
Music: Lowell Lo*
Art Director: Luk Man-wah
Supporting cast ... Characters (aka 'the soon to be dead')
Wing-Cho Yip ... Tony Weng (old Boss)
Fan Wei Yee ... Frank
Barry Wong ... Chief Insp. Tu
Parkman Wong ... Insp. Chan
Siu-Hung Ng ... A killer
Sing Yeung ... Bodyguard A
Siu Hung Ngan ... Bodyguard B
Kwong Leung Wong ... Wong Tong/Eddie Wong
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John Woo's RED CLIFF is on DVD now in the USA!!! (2 part epic or shortened version)
RED CLIFF
Directed by John Woo
Source: Chinese Novel, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
[Chi bi/(2008)China/2009 USA release/Magnet/Rated R/**146 min]
Cast:
General Zhou Yu ... Tony Leung
Emperor Han ... Wang Ning
Prime Minister Cao Cao ... Zhang Fengyi
Liu Bei ... You Yong
Zhuge, Liu’s military strategist ... Takeshi Kaneshir
Sun Quan ... Chang Chen
Synopsis: In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever.
**NOTE: At nearly five hours in length, the original "Red Cliff" was divided in two parts for theatrical release in Asian markets. The American release will be in ONE PART, a condensed version of these two parts. The reason given was that the Asian viewers are more familiar with the characters and their exploits while the western viewers might be confused with the numerous characters and their similar names (therefore keeping it simple for the US market). [Courtesy of IMDb.com]
MOVIE website-http://www.redclifffilm.com/
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