The Killer (2024)
So, after years of development, John Woo's remake of his 1989 masterpiece has finally graced our screens, unfortunately, despite my excitement for any new Woo project, this film felt more like Blackjack than his bold chance taking modern classic Silent Night. It feels cheap, sluggish and often tedious, while often devoid of Woo's trademark kinetic visuals and outrageous stunt work. Less romantic or operatic than vintage Woo, and more interested in the goofy-glam aesthetics of Paris demolition. It's like he's directing the late-2000s EuropaCorp version of his own material. Yet, there's still a fleeting glimpse at the Woo we know and love, the choreography, directing and editing are all there, unfortunately, it's just covered by an ugly gloss and narrative incoherence. The acting leaves a lot to be desired as well, Nathalie Emmanuel is no Chow Yun-fat and Omar Sy makes for a poor man's Danny Lee and the chemistry they share feels artificial at best. At least Sam Worthington was a fun watch for the brief screen time he had. Marco Beltrami's score doesn't really match the effort he made with Woo previously but it's at least a serviceable score. Serviceable sums the movie up perfectly to be honest. A mediocre remix that, for all its familiar elements, fails to improve upon a single aspect of its trailblazing original, condemned to die a quick death. The Killer is not without some entertainment value, it's still a big disappointment, but if it leads people to discover the original, it at least has some merit.
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Director: John Woo
Actors: Angeles Woo, Diana Silvers, Eric Cantona, Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Saïd Taghmaoui, Sam Worthington
Country: Canada, South Korea, United States
