Movie review «The Killer»

On August 23, the Peacock streaming service presented the action movie «The Killer», which is a remake of the 1989 Hong Kong action film of the same name by the master of the genre John Woo. In the review below, we will tell you whether it was worth it for the director to reanimate the old story in a new way and how the updated version compares to the cult original.

«The Killer»

Genre action movie
Director John Woo
Starring Natalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington, Diane Silvers, Said Taghmaoui, Gregory Montel, Eric Cantona
Premiere Peacock
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb

A tough mercenary with the laconic name Zee receives another assignment from her handler Finn — to quickly and cleanly take out a group of criminals who, apparently, crossed the wrong people. Zee has her code — she deals only with those who really deserve to die, that is, with the bad guys. But during this mission, an innocent girl, Jenn, suffers, and now the killer feels guilty for making her blind.

The heroine is finally convinced that she needs to be saved when Finn sends his men to her hospital to complete unfinished business. The situation becomes more complicated when Parisian policeman Sey intervenes, seeking to investigate the disappearance of a large batch of drugs and punish those involved. All of this leads to an irreconcilable conflict between the three parties, which results in a violent showdown with unpredictable consequences. The original «The Killer» has become a cult classic, in particular of the heroic bloodshed genre, which has been inspired by such eminent directors as Luc Besson, Tony Scott, Quentin Tarantino and many others. It was a story about a highly professional hitman with a good heart who was forced to form an alliance with a very inquisitive cop, and their cooperation later grew into something akin to friendship. The remake follows the storyline of its predecessor, however, certain details are still different.

At the initial stages, John Woo’s film pleases with good dynamics, an expressive style, and this applies to both the filming and the appearance of the main character, as well as the director’s trademark fight scenes. All of this gives us reason to hope for an exciting genre movie. The scenes in the neon filled club make us remember not only «John Wick», but also that John Woo is definitely good at action, even if it is sometimes absurd. At the same time, the authors also manage to make a good joke in passing.Unfortunately, as time goes on, all the initial enthusiasm abruptly disappears, and the stylish narration, backed by normal action for a streaming premiere, is replaced by endless dialogues that don’t look as interesting in practice as they probably seemed to the screenwriters on paper. This slows down the pace of the narrative, and the timing is delayed, which is clearly not good.

In this context, we can mention «Mission Impossible 2», that stylistically stood out from all the other parts of the popular spy saga. This is what John Woo is all about: in the old «The Killer», he seemed to be trying to poeticize his action movie, to make it almost a theatrical performance, using the appropriate technical means (editing, slo-mo, music, etc.). It worked then, but today it is harder for the viewer to succumb to such bizarre charms. The new «The Killer», unlike the (melo)dramatized original, looks more like a desire to modernize the old, to practice in his favorite genre and to test his own form. However, the 77-year-old director’s signature techniques may seem anachronistic, if not ridiculous, to a modern audience, especially in comparison to newer action films such as «John Wick» or «Evacuation» (Interestingly, the tooth-crushing series with Keanu Reeves borrowed a lot from John Woo’s classic films).

Natalie Emmanuel, now one of the stars of the adrenaline franchise «The Fast & the Furious», shines in the frame in leather that fits her figure a la Kate Beckinsale in «Underworld». Here she practices almost as effective a verbal technique as Trinity in «The Matrix», and all of the above is enough to make the actress’s participation in the film justified. Sam Worthington, wearing pretentious suede shoes, as if at a school graduation, gives a performance on autopilot, frankly not trying very hard. The Frenchman Omar Sy smiles suspiciously even in those moments when a smile is not allowed. The former France and «Manchester United» Eric Cantona striker played one of the secondary roles, but he was not memorable.