Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Sadly, pop culture has dulled the image of Chow Yun-Fat wielding two-fisted death, but I can absolutely see how that would've been a revelation back in '89. To some extent, that is the case with most of "The Killer" (we've seen these killer moves in Western culture a hundred times over) but that doesn't mean it lacks entertainment value. Yun-Fat is a bona fide action star in this movie, and what he does with a Beretta is just artistry. Nevermind that he never reloads - what's important is that he effortlessly unleashes a hail of bullets. The same can be said for the editing, sound design and even the story; they're all in support of the action, which this surely delivers.7/10

The Killer (1989) is in my opinion John Woo's masterpiece and one of the best classic action films from Hong Kong I have ever seen. It is one of my personal favorite John Woo action movies. This film has everything, it has even a sad ending, which neither one action movie has that kind of ending. Chow Yun-Fat gave us one of his best performances ever, Danny Lee was outstanding as Hong Kong Police officer. The action, the gore, the violence, the gun play everything is in this movie. The final showdown in the church was one the best action scenes ever made in a film. It is my fifth favorite John Woo film! The first four will be Hard Target (1993), Hard Boiled (1992), Broken Arrow (1996) and Paycheck (2003) this is the fifth John Woo favorite action film of mine that I love to death. Chow Yun-Fat's character Ah Jong was well written and well done, but it isn't close as is his character Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen from Hard Boiled. This is was the first film with John Woo as I have saw when I was 10. years old, I think I was 12 or 13 when I first time saw Hard Boiled, but still I had no Idea both of the movies are from same director with the same actor. I love this movie to death and it is one of my favorite action movies.Plot: Chow Yun-Fat stars as an expert assassin who finds himself conflicted with his work in his one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss. Danny Lee co-stars as the Hong Kong Police Force inspector determined to catch the assassin and take down the organization that employs him. These two guys from the opposite worlds end up becoming friends and working together to bring down their bigger enemy.The Killer gained numerous international accolades for Woo and its influence can be seen in countless action films in the following decades including in the movies directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The action is, as always with a John Woo movie, spectacular but the characters are well developed and the story is very engaging. It's not quite as big in scale as Hard Boiled but it's still very well paced with plenty of great action. What is it about Hit men in movies that they are always so damn cool? Like Hard Boiled, the music is pretty cheap and forgettable sounding but it doesn't detract from the action. We get the doves, the slow-mo and the religious imagery aplenty in this film and as with Hard Boiled there is little to find fault with.I still love Hard Boiled better than The Killer because Hard Boiled has happy ending and The Killer has not a happy ending, but still I love this movie and it is an action Classic and John Woo directing this movie did the best job ever as been the director and a writer the same time. This man John Woo is outstanding and the actors are just amazing, the characters are well written and the chemistry between Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee is well written and are making a great due as the opposite team. You know Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang and Walter Hill should all take a school of action movies from John Woo's The Killer, because those three American guys sucked at making an action film in 2012 Bullet to the Head failed and it sucked ass. Sylvester Stallone and Sung Kang as a hired hit-man and a police detective had no written chemistry working together and they both suck! Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee are the real team as hired professional hit-man and a Hong Kong police officer. Those two guys are the real team, I will rather watch this movie than Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head! This movie it is a perfect 10, it takes the vision of one of the most creative intelligent action directors in HK cinema eve! The film is filled the most explosive showdowns in cinematic history. It is loaded with some with the most outrageously choreographed action sequences ever committed to film and an absolute hailstorm of bullets. It is fast paced, better more choreographed stylized action. The Killer is a perfect action film as one could ask for.Overall: I think The Killer is on par with Hard Boiled but there's maybe a little more focus on the story than action....but the action in that delivers too. A pair with Hard Boiled is a it's truly bad ass. My favorite action movie with Hard Target and Hard Boiled! I love them to death it get's a perfect 10!

From the plot outline and the film's immediate aesthetics, you could be forgiven for thinking The Killer is just another 80s cop thriller. But there's something about the film that both perfects and transcends that genre -- while it hits all the beats of a thriller, there's a kind of mournful and contemplative tone that makes it impossible to really be thrilled by the violence that explodes across the screen. Instead of taking pains to guide the viewer through the plot, Woo lets most of the details and character motivations take place unnoticed in the background, creating a sense of unmoored and directionless violence enveloping the world. This is especially true of the daring and unforgettable opening scene. The heroes, if they can be called that, are full of remorse and regret, but are unable to do anything but stumble forward bleary-eyed into another shootout.And yet it's also impossible not to be thrilled by the action. I've always been somewhat bored by gunfights in movies, especially when compared to the bodily performance of a martial arts showdown or the spectacle of a sci-fi battle. But Woo's gunplay is just as kinetic and brilliant as it's famous for, playing fast and loose with probability and physics in order to create a breathtaking ballet of violence. He also shows a hand for comedy at unexpected moments. So The Killer has its aesthetic pleasures, which are necessarily guilty ones.This is the tension that most action films struggle through -- our reluctance to endorse violence and our inner desire to see it play out. Usually you just get mass carnage tacked onto a superficial anti- violence message, or incoherent speeches about "fighting for peace". But Woo presents the problem for us in full -- the beauty of violence, the horror, and the inescapability. It's ultimately a pessimistic message, and not one I entirely agree with, but in the world Woo sketches it's more undeniable than gravity.

John Woo has certainly proved in Hollywood now that he has what it takes to be a top rate international action film director. The Killer is an early example that shows the maestro of mayhem and action at his very best. I really liked this film and I think it's one of John Woo's best films along with Hard Boiled. You get to see a vulnerable side to Chow Yun Fat's character as the hit-man Jeff who accidentally blinds a nightclub singer. What I liked was the way in which Woo showed that hit men are tortured souls doing a job that they don't always like doing and that there are so many emotions that they have to deal within in carrying out their job. I found it touching the way the central character Jeff is racked with guilt over blinding the nightclub singer Jenny and that he is willing to risk his life for her so that he can raise the money for an operation that may save Jenny's life. A superb action thriller and one of the finest ever made. Woo's hit men have soul and depth unlike the vicious killing machines that we see in most Hollywood action/thriller films.