The Killer (1989) [Film Review]

The Killer; or, Tomorrow Never Came

     In this world, not everybody is untrustworthy.
Just how awesome is John Woo? The director is obviously no stranger to this blog (see my other reviews here), but I can’ get over the fact that such a visionary gets a bad rap only because of his Hollywood follies. We have already discussed Woo’s magnum opus Bullet in the Head (1990), but this time allow me to take a look at the filmmaker’s another highly acclaimed picture, The Killer (1989).

Release Info

Directed by: John Woo Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Chu Kong, Danny Lee, Kenneth Tsang

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 喋血雙雄 Runtime: 110 min

Synopsis
Ah Jong (Chow Yun-fat) is an assassin for hire. His long-time friend, Fung (Chu Kong), frequently serves as the middleman when offers are being made. During one of the assignments, Jong accidentally damages the eyes of the singer, Jennie (Sally Yeh). Guilt-ridden Jong looks after Jennie and tries to gather money necessary for her surgery. After killing a high-profile mobster, Jong is betrayed by his employers who want him dead. To make matters worse, the police detective Li Ying (Danny Lee) is on his trail as well.

Battles Without Honour
The pre-production period of The Killer was quite an ordeal for John Woo. Allegedly, Tsui Hark was convinced that Woo ruined A Better Tomorrow II (1987) and tried to fire him from his production company, Film Workshop. Whenever Woo pitched a movie idea, it was immediately rejected.

It was not until Chow Yun-fat agreed to play the lead role that the project received financing and was given a green-light. Although Tsui Hark is listed as the producer of the film in the opening credits, his actual involvement remains unconfirmed (at that time, he was already gearing up to make A Better Tomorrow III with Chow).

To put it in layman’s terms, The Killer is the quintessential John Woo flick. Action, drama, and gun violence are cranked up to the max, but each cinematic aspect serves its purpose within the story (in contrast to films made by Woo’s copycats in America). The director stated that he was influenced by such movies as Narazumono (1964), Le Samourai (1967), Mean Streets (1973). His aim was to present an image of a romantic (anti-)hero who forges a friendship with an individual at the opposite side of the law, a police officer. 

Needless to say, The Killer functions perfectly as the ultimate bromance flick. Some critics claim that the story is borderline homoerotic, but I believe this claim is too much of an exaggeration. Woo masterfully pays homage to classic tales about chivalric men joining forces to vanquish evil and perform a good deed. All of his early “bullet ballet” movies are tragic visual poems, but The Killer is the most stylised one with its gripping cinematography, outstanding settings, and vibraphone-influenced music score.

With regard to performances, Chow Yun-fat, as always, knocks it out of the park as the charismatic protagonist. Danny Lee is just as awesome as the righteous detective who eventually helps Jong. Sally Yeh is great as the damsel in distress, but she does not have much screen time. In addition, the wonderful supporting roles of Chu Kong and Kenneth Tsang cannot be forgotten. Shing Fui-on provides a standard performance of a crazy triad boss.

Recommendations
If you want to check out John Woo at the peak of his auteur style, then I recommend The Killer. My all-time favourite Woo movie will always remain Bullet in the Head, but The Killer is close second. It’s a great, fast-paced tale with lots of tears and tons of explosions. It is a steadfast progenitor of such magnificent films as Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita (1990) and Leon: The Professional (1994). My old DVD disc from Criterion comes with a booklet essay, theatrical trailer, deleted scenes, and a commentary from John Woo and executive producer Terence Chang.Overall score: 8/10

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Hard Boiled (1992) [Film Review]

Hard Boiled; or, Die Hardest

     Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God.

Cited by many as “the greatest action film of all time” and “arguably Woo’s masterpiece” which is “more exciting than a dozen Die Hards”, Hard Boiled was the last movie before John Woo’s departure to Hollywood in the early 1990s. Having seen it years ago (and being blown away by the action), I wonder how the movie holds up when revisited today. Without further due, let’s take a look at Hard Boiled.

Release Info

Directed by: John Woo Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Teresa Mo, Anthony Wong Chau-sang

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 辣手神探 Runtime: 128 min

 

Synopsis

Hong Kong, 1992. Police officer “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun-fat) tries to eradicate the gun smuggling business which is being controlled by rival Triad syndicates. However, this results in a brutal war between the police and the Triads. In the meantime, Superintendent Pang (Philip Chan) has placed his own trusted man, Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), as an undercover cop in one of the syndicates. Tequila is not aware of this and he quickly escalates the situation with one of the Triad bosses, Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-sang), while relying on info from his own informant in the syndicate. Soon after, Tequila crosses paths with Tony and learns about his true identity. The two cops discover that Wong has a huge weapons warehouse beneath Maple Group Hospital. They step into action, but the psychotic gangster does not let himself get busted that easily as he takes all patients hostage at the hospital.

 

Hard Boiled Action, Soft Boiled Screenplay

Without a doubt, Hard Boiled is a classic picture and a landmark of action cinema, praised by the critics and film scholars, which still looks impressive today. Nevertheless, I disagree with the claims that this film is Woo’s finest directorial achievement. Naturally, it cemented his reputation as the master of action genre and it also allowed him to break away from the label of a guy who can only make gangster epics, as this film definitely glamorises the police. Still again, apart from mind-blowing stunts, great ensemble cast, and jazz music score, Hard Boiled suffers greatly in terms of a screenplay.

 

Evidently the plot as a whole is not the issue, because it serves, similarly to Die Hard (1988), as an excuse to provide breathtaking action set pieces, but the very little connections here and there which tie the events together (getting the characters from point A to point B) are the excruciating disadvantages which negatively influenced my enjoyment of the movie. Here are some of the examples:

 

1. After finding the way to the gun warehouse, Tony closes the door behind him and Tequila. He just shrugs it off as if nothing happened and later they are forced to blast their way out with grenades. (Quick fix: the door automatically shuts behind them.)

 

2. Tequila informs Teresa (Teresa Mo) that he will send her flowers as a signal to begin the evacuation of the patients (after which he puts a flower in her pocket). (Quick fix: Wouldn’t it be easier just to tell her to begin the evacuation in about 20 minutes?) What would have happened if she had not found a flower in her pocket?

 

3. The ambiguous “dead cop” subplot: In the teahouse, it is clearly visible that Tequila does not shoot any cop, but his partner is killed by one of the gangsters. Later in the film, Tequila tells Tony that he “killed a cop” during the teahouse raid. How? When? (My guess: this scene was cut out).

 

4. Tequila takes Foxy (Tung Wei) to Maple Group hospital after he told him that the Triads stash their guns there! (Quick fix: Foxy should tell him that already in the hospital).

 

5. Putting out the fire with piss… This sequence is so hilarious that it’s forgivable.

Well, I have enumerated a handful of issues which result from incoherent script. I am not a nitpicker and I really hate calling out such things. Hard Boiled aspires to bring out the best out of visual entertainment and it certainly delivers on that front, but the plot holes make the memorable characters look like idiots running in a fog.

 

Yet, I guess that I should be grateful for what the screenplay officially became in the end, as John Woo and his team had so many difficulties with developing it (for example, the original plot about Tony Leung poisoning children was dropped). Then, the screenwriter Barry Wong passed away halfway through the rewrites and the teahouse raid was filmed without any script whatsoever.

 

Summing up, here is my conclusion about this movie: action-wise: it knocks off every competition; story-wise: it lags behind. Hence, I do not regard it as John Woo’s “all time best of the best”. This status rightfully belongs to Bullet in the Head (1990). However, Hard Boiled is still a wonderful fun as well a great lesson in filmmaking for any prospective action director. My praise goes especially to Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung who work so well together on screen. It’s also great to see Teresa Mo, but she has only one shootout scene in the entire film. In addition, Anthony Wong shines as the bad guy, but he is significantly overshadowed by Philip Kwok as Mad Dog.

 

Recommendations

Hard Boiled is the equation mark between John Woo and action. Go ahead, grab the movie, and check it out for its stunning stunts, explosions, and shootouts. At the same time, make sure to suspend your disbelief during blatantly obvious plot holes which disrupt the flow of the picture. Upon further thought, it is quite a shame that we were given a sequel to Hard Boiled only in form of a video game. Officer Tequila deserves a movie comeback.

Overall score (screenplay: 4/10, action 10/10, thus ultimately): 7/10

A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989) [Film Review]

A Better Tomorrow III; or, We’ll Always Have Saigon

     When Mun came, he told me over and over that if you find someone whom you truly love, never give them up, even if it means death. He said that you'd never betray me. But now I know what kind of person you are. Even if you aren't my enemy, I never want to see you again as long as I live.

The time has finally come for the review of the explosive A Better Tomorrow trilogy’s final instalment. However, in case of the third movie, John Woo dropped his gun and backed down, and it was Tsui Hark who served as the directorial replacement. In view of such a creative change, is A Better Tomorrow III a worthy conclusion of the bloody tale about brotherhood and friendship in the times of hardship?

Release Info

Directed by: Tsui Hark Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Anita Mui, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Saburo Tokito

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 英雄本色3-夕陽之歌 Runtime: 119 min (BR cut)

 

Synopsis

Vietnam, 1974. Mark Lee (Chow Yun-fat), before he became the living legend, arrives in Saigon with the intention of bringing his cousin Cheung Chi-mun (Tony Leung Ka-fai) and his father (unforgettable Shih Kien) back to Hong Kong before the city will plunge into chaos. The cousins accidentally encounter and help a woman called Chow Ying-kit (Anita Mui) who deals with smuggling and gun trading. She takes Mark and Michael under her wing and eventually helps them escape from Saigon. Nevertheless, Mun falls for Kit, but she becomes infatuated with Mark who does not want to get involved. When she joins them in Hong Kong, the romantic drama ensues. However, Kit’s true lover and mentor, Tanaka (Saburo Tokito), returns and forcefully takes her back to Saigon. Mark returns to Vietnam in order to save the love of his life.

 

Song of the Setting Sun

Even though being a prequel to the original movie, A Better Tomorrow III turns out to be much better than the second part of the trilogy. Most importantly, the screenplay does not go bizarre, but tries to play things safe in the long run. There is the purpose (getting out of Vietnam), well fleshed-out characters, shootouts, and explosions. In fact, I dare to think that in many ways, Love & Death in Saigon could work as an independent movie.

 

However, if you expected Chow Yun-fat to carry the weight of this prequel on his firm shoulders, then you are gravely mistaken. There are two words which make this movie work: Anita Mui. Portraying a character quite different from her other famous roles (see Rouge (1988)), Anita proves in ABT III that she can play a tough and independent woman who can handle herself in every situation. The scene where she guns down hordes of charging Vietcong soldiers is an excellent example of her onscreen awesomeness.

 

While her character perpetuates the first and second acts of the picture, only the finale is handed over to Chow Yun-fat as he grabs the machine gun and goes on a killing spree. Even though it is Mark Lee’s origin story, the movie does not seem to focus on him as the central character. Obviously, all of the main events revolve around Mark: we get to see how he is given glasses and a coat, but he feels as if cast aside for the purpose of building up this whole world of rotten smugglers in the times of war. Nevertheless, I do not regard this as the film’s disadvantage, but if you expect a similar tone as in ABT I and II, you may feel a bit disappointed.

 

What the movie suffers from is the noticeable lack of Ti Lung, but Tony Leung Ka-fai serves as a decent replacement. Mark and Mun have a good chemistry together and it really seems that they got through more than one action in their lives. However, the most gripping subplot is the one about Mun’s father, which could serve as the basis for a whole separate movie. Namely, Mun’s father took in to his house Pat (Cheng Wai-lun), a Vietnamese kid who lost his parents. Although they can’t communicate in one language, Mun’s father treats Pat like a son and, when he is due to depart together with Mark and Mun, his farewell to Pat creates a strong emotional scene. As a result, we get a very impactful foster parent/foster child stuff that the previous A Better Tomorrows did not even touch upon.

 

Saburo Tokito (at the beginning of his career) also provides a worthy addition to the film as the main villain. However, his role of Tanaka is quite limited so he does not manage to achieve the bad-to-the-bone rank of Waise Lee from the first movie. However, it is cool that at least his character was given a back story (a Japanese pretending to be Chinese in order to survive WWII), which makes his confrontation with Mark in the finale much more interesting. In addition, I have to mention there exists a full, uncut, Taiwanese version of the film that runs 145 minutes long, but it is quite difficult to track down.

Recommendations

While it moves away from the style set by the antecedent movies, A Better Tomorrow III is bold due to its strong characters and exotic setting, which provides opportunities for a tragic love story, slow-motion showdowns, and exploding tanks. Yet, it does not quite fulfil the premise of telling us “how Mark became Mark” and does not even live up to the status of a bloody adventure epic like, for example, John Woo’s Bullet in the Head from 1990. In other words, A Better Tomorrow III is a good prequel and I will definitely revisit it more often than ABT II, but the real A Better Tomorrow can be only one.

Overall score: 7/10

A Better Tomorrow II (1987) [Film Review]

A Better Tomorrow II; or, Milking the Brand

     There’s only one way out and you’re coming with me. If we don’t fight, we’ll both die here. If we win, we’ll start all over again. I know you can do it, come on!

After the overwhelming success of the original A Better Tomorrow in 1986, the release of a sequel was only a matter of time. A Better Tomorrow II not only aspires to be bigger, louder, and more explosive, but also reunites the original cast for another triad tragedy epic. Does the sequel live up to the grandeur of the first movie? Let’s find out.

Release Info

Directed by: John Woo Starring: Ti Lung, Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Deng Shek

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 英雄本色2 Runtime: 104 min

 

Plot

Sung Tse-Ho serves his time in prison after the events from the original film. The police offer him early parole in exchange for doing a spy job on Ho’s ex-mentor, Lung Sei (Dean Shek), who is suspected of counterfeiting. Ho agrees when his brother’s wife Jackie (Emily Chu) tells him that Kit (Leslie Cheung) is working on the case. Ho reunites with his brother and they decide to work together, but soon after, Lung is framed for murder and he flees to New York. Ho and Kit try to protect his daughter, but she is killed by the triads. Upon hearing devastating news, Lung loses his sanity. Meanwhile, it turns out that Mark had a twin brother called Ken... (Chow Yun-fat) who also happens to live in New York. After Ho’s phone call, Ken finds Lung and nurses him back to health while attempting to flee from assassins sent by the triads. Eventually, Ken, Lung, Ho and Kit reunite together in Hong Kong and they decide to take down the man who betrayed Lung and took over his organisation, Ko Ying-pui (Kwan Shan).

 

True Colours of a Hero Fading Out

I have to be honest here, this movie is a real mess. It is not entirely bad, in fact it has many redeeming features, but the visible issue that ruins the whole story is an obvious lack of a coherent screenplay. The original A Better Tomorrow was a perfectly enclosed story and it didn’t need to have a follow-up. Yet, the pressure from the studio (and possibly the producer Tsui Hark) forced John Woo to come up with something that could ensure a lot of action and Chow Yun-fat’s comeback.

 

The plot is the first and foremost disadvantage of A Better Tomorrow II as it has so many twists and turns that it took me quite a while to logically sum it up above. It feels almost as if the film has no leading character. It is Lung? Is it Ken? Is it Ho? Is it Kit? The numerous shifts in tone and focus leave you wondering about this without providing any answer. In the first movie, Ho was the clear protagonist, but the sequel doesn’t dare establish its hero as if being afraid to undermine the dominating presence of Chow Yun-fat.

 

Chow Yun-fat is another issue of the picture. Naturally not the actor himself as he tries to do the best he can with the new material, but the creative decision to bring him back by the lamest excuse ever: Mark Lee had a twin brother (A twist certainly taken from a Brazilian drama). So, what we get to see as the final product is Chow Yun-fat trying not to play Mark Lee... while playing Mark Lee at the same time. A truly dissociative experience which is enhanced further by an unintentional parody of Rain Man as Lung, Deng Shek’s character, goes full retard and Ken has to watch over him even during shootouts and explosions. Bottom line: never go full retard.

 

Another creative decision which I found controversial was (spoilers!) killing off Kit. Getting rid of his character completely contradicts the ending of the first movie which clearly emphasised that brothers should always stick together. Even in the middle of this sequel, there’s a great fight scene in which Ho (while being undercover) has to prove his loyalty to Ko Ying-pui by killing Kit. Of course, everything is done in such a way that Kit survives, but even this scene underlines the bond between Ho and Kit. However, everything is thrown out the window 20 minutes later when Kit gets shot by Vernon Wells’ impersonator in a super cheesy and overly melodramatic showdown.

 

Alas, it is not the end of Kit’s misery in the movie as he bleeds to death in a phone booth, held firmly by Chow Yun-fat, while speaking over the receiver to Jackie who just gave birth to their daughter. Kit names the child Sung Ho-yin (literally: the Spirit of Righteousness) and finally keels over in vain. The scene is so over the top that it could have very well been used in Loaded Weapon 1 (1993). The only positive thing about this moment is Emily Chu’s performance who gets to shine for a brief moment after being underused in the first movie.

 

Now, moving on to the positives. While definitely not being better than the original, A Better Tomorrow is indeed louder, bigger, and more explosive. While the action is kept mostly low-key throughout the first half, it shifts into high gear halfway through the picture. Chow Yun-fat makes killing the baddies almost as easy as mowing the lawn and this is the movie’s primary entertaining factor. In addition, I have to mention the memorable finale in which Lung, Ken, and Ho (with the assistance of the great Kenneth Tsang) kill over a hundred of miserable triad cannon fodder.

 

Also the soundtrack definitely improved in comparison with the first movie. However, Peter Gabriel’s cues from Birdy’s Escape can be heard here and there. Additionally, the visuals and fight choreography headed by Ching Siu-tung are great. Unfortunately, the movie led to a split between John Woo and Tsui Hark, with the latter singlehandedly directing A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon.

 

Recommendations

Summing up, A Better Tomorrow II is only for the hardcore fans of John Woo. If you really want to check it out, I suggest turning a blind eye on the shortcomings which I have discussed in this review and enjoy the movie for the many of Woo’s trademarks and some great action. In my opinion, the story should have gone in a completely different direction, but, in spite of its flaws, what’s left still makes up for a good entertainment. Only for one time view. Now moving on to A Better Tomorrow III!

Overall score: 5/10
[Update: Tsui Hark provides some stories about the making of ABT II in this interview.]