John Woo’s The Killer (2024) Is No John Woo’s The Killer (1989)

As a lifelong connoisseur of cinematic masterpieces who has witnessed the evolution of action films from the golden age of Hong Kong to the current era of Hollywood, I must say that John Woo’s remake of his iconic film, The Killer, is a delightful surprise. It’s not the grandiose, emotional rollercoaster ride of the original, but it manages to carve its own niche with a breezy modesty that is both fun and ridiculous in equal measure.

At long last, John Woo has brought out the American remake of The Killer, a project he’s been working on since its original release in 1989. Woo’s initial production, featuring Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee, was instrumental in bringing Hong Kong genre cinema to the attention of western film enthusiasts. Now, it stands as an imposing monument, a testament to a cinematic achievement that seems almost unimaginable in 2024. It’s a grand action drama brimming with intense emotions and excessive violence, pushing every conceivable boundary. One of its poster slogans read, “One Vicious Hitman. One Fierce Cop. Ten Thousand Bullets.” In truth, that count might have been an understatement. To create the same film today, one would likely need to redesign humanity itself.

Essentially, it’s unlikely that 77-year-old director Woo, who made a comeback with last year’s film “Silent Night“, which I enjoyed but was not widely appreciated, would attempt to create the same movie again. Thankfully, he hasn’t. The new adaptation of “The Killer“, set in France and featuring Nathalie Emmanuel as the skilled assassin and Omar Sy as the relentless cop chasing her, follows a similar storyline but presents a completely different tone. Instead of the overblown romanticism, heavy atmosphere, and epic myth-building, it embraces a lighthearted, almost comedic simplicity. It’s entertaining, absurdly violent, and wildly so in its own right.

The film “The Killer” is set to debut directly on Peacock streaming service, and surprisingly, it might just be the ideal platform for this movie. For years, streaming services have been offering us overblown, unoriginal action films devoid of creativity or originality. However, director John Woo still manages to infuse his action sequences with a unique flair, even if he’s revisiting some familiar moves. Some actions in the new film are reminiscent of the previous one, while others appear improvised. The lead character, Zee (played by Emmanuel), is not just skilled with firearms but also with her hands and thighs. In a scene that exemplifies this, she assassinates an entire nightclub full of thugs using a carbon-fiber samurai sword hidden within pieces inside her tight black dress, which she assembles while dancing seductively on the dance floor before killing the man she’s about to disembowel. The film contains plenty of violence, but Woo also incorporates his signature grisly poetry, with one death scene involving red flower petals instead of gore, and another featuring a champagne bottle bursting like crystal.

It’s broken glass fragments that inadvertently cause Jenn (Diana Silvers), an apparently harmless singer, to lose her sight, as she unluckily finds herself present when Zee carries out one of her missions. Previously established, Zee, despite her ruthless occupation, follows a moral guideline: After each kill, she lights a candle for the deceased and questions if the target deserves death. Finn (Sam Worthington), who delivers his lines with a delightful Irish accent, is Zee’s boss and appears to be enjoying himself immensely. When Finn assigns Zee to find Jenn in the hospital and complete the task, she experiences moral turmoil. This encounter also introduces Sey (Omar Sy), who seems to sense that there is more to this woman than meets the eye. Woo draws inspiration from Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita (1990) for Zee’s origin story, with Tchéky Karyo, known for his role as Bob, the cool-as-ice handler in that film, making a cameo appearance here. (La Femme Nikita was remade in Hong Kong in 1991; there was a strong exchange of influences between Hong Kong action cinema and France’s “cinema du look” movement during that time.)

In our conversation some years back, Woo shared with me his unique skill: he has an uncanny knack for making actors shine. He explained this ability as his talent for discovering the ideal perspective to bring out their beauty. Indeed, it’s one of his exceptional talents that led him to transform Chow Yun-fat into a Hong Kong version of Alain Delon and Ken Takakura with hints of Clint Eastwood. For Emanuel, he chose to emphasize her restraint initially and later her physicality without putting in much extra effort to make her appear stunning. In the case of Sy, he filmed from low angles to accentuate his towering six-foot-three stature, yet also captured the amused expression on the actor’s face, suggesting Sey was appreciating Zee’s knack for evading him. Immediately, they formed a connection as equals; the fact that the other cops seemed corrupt only added to their camaraderie. Their interplay between the gigantic cop and the sly, elusive criminal became an entertaining cat-and-mouse chase. Keep in mind, this is The Killer, so we know they will eventually team up to safeguard Jenn and ultimately each other.

Returning to the main topic, the success or failure of any “Killer” film hinges on the intricacy of its portrayed violence. This latest “Killer” is filled with exhilarating action scenes that never come off as forced or routine. Similar to the “John Wick” series (though this movie has a more humorous tone), each scene seems meticulously crafted to highlight diverse abilities, props, and settings. Yet it all feels organic, not mechanical. Just like in the era of Hong Kong cinema known for “heroic bloodshed”, Woo and his peers would create chaos as they filmed, often improvising move after move, shot after shot, angle after angle, drawing inspiration from what had just occurred for the next sequence. This improvisation was the essence of their artistry, and it’s why Woo stands out among those who made the leap to Hollywood; he was granted the freedom (in some projects) to work in his unique style. It seems that Woo has found a way to recapture that sense of artistic liberty. By the time the grand finale unfolds in “The Killer” (as with the original, it’s set around a church), we find ourselves eagerly anticipating what fresh, ingenious method of violence will be displayed next. Woo delivers on this promise.

2024-08-23 22:54

John Woo’s The Killer (2024) Is No John Woo’s The Killer (1989)

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