The Killer2024.
Director: John Woo.
With Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington, Diana Silvers, Éric Cantona, Saïd Taghmaoui, Tchéky Karyo, Grégory Montel, Angeles Woo, Aurélia Agel, Elie Haddad, Hugo Diego Garcia, David Clark, Guillaume Kerbusch, Michaël Erpelding and Fabrice Scott.
SUMMARY:
An assassin tries to make amends by restoring the sight of a beautiful young singer.
The remake of legendary director John Woo The Killer is worse than its 1989 original in every way, but still puts most Hollywood action movies to shame. It also makes you wonder what the point is of remaking one of its most acclaimed films. A striking shot in which the mirror images of a murderer and a cop are stacked on top of each other as if they were one and the same might have something to do with it. Aside from similar characters and locations for action sequences, it’s surprising how different this version is from the original. In some ways it amounts to disappointingly glossing over the violence (don’t expect bullet-riddled bodies and oodles of blood or blatant toughness), but there’s also an interest in reworking the story, for better or worse (some of the choices here seem to have been made to turn this into a more accessible version with some optimism and cheeriness).
However, John Woo can still construct an elaborate action sequence, cleverly using the environment and geographical space of a location for movements and stunts that seem as poetic as his typical melodrama. Some of these stunts and action sequences also come in the form of a greatest hits package of memorable, stylistic, action-packed imagery (not to mention an excessive amount of white doves), now in France. It’s also difficult to call any of this lazy, as the hard work of the cast and crew with practical effects and the aforementioned stunt work is on full display. It’s exciting that John Woo is still making movies (though the quality has admittedly dropped), but also refreshing that he’s making them in a way that they just don’t often make movies anymore.
Working with screenwriters Brian Helgeland, Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken (that team’s overcrowding factor is certainly noticeable during a drawn-out metal passage that probably could have been trimmed down a bit, especially since this version is about 15 minutes longer than the original and also features plot lines that might be considered overly cliched in 2024), John Woo stays true to the basic plot framework of a killer with a code who becomes embroiled in a young singer (Diana Silvers) losing her eyesight during a hit song.
This time, Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel, appropriately cool and withdrawn but without the effortless coolness of Chow Yun-fat) is the killer, and her involvement in the injury is much less direct, but so strong that she gets cold feet when her handler Finn (Sam Worthington) insists that the matter be resolved whether she wants to talk to the police or not. He has no intention of letting her get out of the hit-man business if she doesn’t. Frustratingly, the singer seems like an afterthought in this version, given no emotional arc and barely factoring into the plot.
This extremism is also due to the fact that there is an incredible amount of missing money and drugs involved, bringing everyone from Saudi princes to gangsters and corrupt cops into this sphere. Omar Sy’s Detective Sey becomes involved in the case after killing a man in possession of drugs who had been texting the singer just before the violence broke out. A game of cat and mouse begins between Zee and Sey, bringing them together and targeting each other’s code of honor. Sure, it’s the cliche “you and I are the same” but executed with a little more substance.
The details of this case and the inevitable series of betrayals are familiar, but John Woo keeps the proceedings exciting through the staging of the action sequences, especially the climactic sequence, which once again takes place in a church. It’s extended chaos that gives Nathalie Emmanuel the opportunity to do her best at daring acrobatic feats and dual-pistol gun-fu. Omar Sy, meanwhile, plays an efficient head and thug who becomes the butt of some playfully subversive jokes about John Woo/classic Hong Kong action scenes. Sam Worthington makes up for the poor characterization of the villain by being downright cruel and unsympathetic, using his Irish accent to menacing effect.
Again, nothing here can compete with the original, but it is far from a cynical and uninspired remake that has been remade shot for shot. It is still It’s an adrenaline rush to watch John Woo bring his distinctive action style to bear, reworking the story’s climactic moments in ways that perhaps reflect how he’s changed as a storyteller and as a person. The Killer is an exciting journey that shows that his talent for melodrama remains as much a gift as for action.
SEE ALSO: John Woo’s most important films
Assessment of the flickering myth – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Cinema: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the reviews editor at Flickering Myth. Find new reviews here, follow me Þjórsárdalur or Letterboxd, or email me at [email protected]
