The Killer 4K 1989

For those who are slow on the uptake, let me explain that ‘The Killer’ is a film about a man who kills other people for money. In this case, the other people are several hundred Chinese citizens. This magnificent cinematic epic was created by a crazy Chinese man known throughout the world by the nickname John Woo. This venerable narrow-eyed man has made such masterpieces as Hard Boiled, Bullet in the Head, Face/Off, and a bunch of other nonsense. As in all his other films from the Hong Kong period, John Woo cast Fu Yao Chun in the lead role, who is also the best Chinese actor in the world of cinema. In general, the team that created this masterpiece commands nothing but respect.

From the beginning of the film, it becomes clear to all sophisticated viewers and even the simplest observers that Chow Yun-Fat plays the role of a simple Chinese guy named John, who is asked to kill another Chinese man, since there are more than a billion of this subspecies of earth's inhabitants, and no one feels sorry for the poor man who has been ordered to be killed, one more, one less. Consequently, Chow Yun takes his guns and heads off on his mission. Here, I would like to pause for a moment to talk about the actor. If you have not yet seen this Chinese actor in action, then you can consider your life to have been wasted, because this comrade shoots two guns as if he was born with them, and no one can compare to him in this regard. So, John, a simple Chinese guy, walks into a restaurant with live music and heads for his target.

Many educated people will certainly be outraged when they see what happens next, as Chow simply walks up to the door behind which some unsavory characters are playing cards and knocks on it. After the unsuspecting gangsters open the door, the Chinese man simply jumps in and kills them all. His fatality is very funny. Usually, they always finish them off with a headshot, but here, on the contrary, the first shot is to the head, and then a couple more bullets to other parts of the body. He's a sadist, apparently. And everything would be fine. After causing trouble as usual, the Chinese man would hide in the window, and the movie would end, but live music accidentally got in the way of the gun. It's clear from the beginning of the film that this killer only destroys bad Chinese people, and in the eyes of an ordinary decent person, this is equivalent to petty hooliganism at most, but here an innocent live sound got caught in the crossfire.

The Chinese man was clearly very upset about this, and since the live sound simply lost its sight and turned out to be a lady, apparently quite attractive to the ordinary Chinese man, he decides to flirt with her in order to feel less guilty, which is quite honorable. Not only does the guilt not cut so deeply, but there is always a woman at hand who cannot see him and does not understand that he is the very hooligan who blinded her. In general, the love line is very decent and interesting from all sides.

In order for the film to feature not only commoners referred to as bandits, a police officer is inserted into the narrative who, while hunting our killer, also realizes that he is just a hooligan and, as a result, develops a great deal of sympathy for him. Everything could have ended quite well, but some bad guys decided to put an end to such hooliganism and sent hundreds of his ilk to destroy the Chinese man.

In general, the film is incredibly exciting, with simple but stunning music, excellent actors, and a certain soul. There is nothing like it in ‘The Killers’, ‘The Jackal’, or even ‘Leon’, although it is the only one that comes close, the rest are all very far behind. John Woo made his best film, made it so that at some moments even dry people like me reach for a handkerchief because it touches the soul in a way that no ‘Titanic’ can.