In the pantheon of movie assassins with hearts of gold, Chow Yun-Fat, as the title character in John Woo’s The Killer, is at the top of the list. It’s not hard to believe that movies like John WICK would not exist without John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat’s heroic bloodshed action ballets of the late eighties/early nineties. Chow Yun-Fat was the inspiration for Keanu Reeves’ sharply dressed killer in this film. He plays a smooth assassin who is influenced by Chow Yun-Fat’s film. He is determined to pay for a costly operation to restore his wife’s sight and to leave behind his violent past. However, he discovers that it isn’t easy to get out of the underworld. He meets Danny Lee, a hard-bitten cop who is determined to take the hitman down, but ultimately finds a friend in his struggle. This video is written and narrated in English by Chris Bumbray. Ric Solomon edited. We also examine how Chow Yun-Fat became iconic and why we think The Killer narrowly edges out
Hard-Boiled as Woo’s best film. We also look at how the film was almost remade multiple times with different screenplays for different people. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
