The Killer (Dip Huet Seung Hung, 1989)
This John Woo classic has all the elements that made him famous. Bullet ballet? In spades. Blood and guts? All over the place. Melodrama, sappy music, and plenty of brotherly bonding? Yes, yes, and DEFINITELY yes.
Chow Yun Fat is the title character, a smooth operator who wants to quit the business after accidentally blinding an innocent woman during a hit. He takes on one last mission, is successful, but manages to attract the attention of cop Danny Lee, who then becomes rather...obsessed...with the assassin. Because his identity was revealed during the hit, the boss who hired him wants Chow dead. By the end, Lee has stopped chasing Chow and the two team up to exact revenge in classic John Woo night-of-a-thousand-bullets style.
While it takes a while for the slashiness to kick into gear, once it starts it's pretty damn well overwhelming. Danny is just a slash magnet, as is Chow. The scene of Danny sitting in his room, surrounded by drawings of Chow with sappy Cantopop playing on the soundtrack is just too much. Nothing is subtle here, but that's okay. As long as you can stomach some over-the-top violence, this film is a must-see for a slash fan and for anyone interested in Hong Kong cinema in general.
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: A A classic.
Droolworthiness: A Danny could use some better suits but he's still cute. And Chow is the master of cool sexiness, as always.
Slashiness: A- Classic adversaries-turned-friends dynamics with plenty of subtext to spare.
Action: A The John Woo bullet ballet may be a cliche by now, but he still does it best.
 | Chow and Lee face off. |
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