Great Film overall

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

As much as I do enjoy Asian cinema, it just pains me to my very soul whenever I get an Asian movie that has been released as an English dubbed version. And especially bad is it when the DVD doesn't even offer the option to change the audio track into the original language. And unfortunately "Contract Killer" (aka "Sat sau ji wong") is such a dubbed movie. And what perplexes me even more is that the dubbing voice actors never do a proper work. It is always done so poorly that it becomes laughable.Anyone familiar with Hong Kong cinema will be thrilled to see Simon Yam, Eric Tsang, Gigi Leung and of course Jet Li in "Contract Killer". Simon Yam provides the serious acting, Eric Tsang provides the comical relief and Jet Li is of course doing the action.But they were being brutally butchered by a pathetic English dubbed audio track.Story-wise then "Contract Killer" is very typical for the action movies that were coming out of Hong Kong cinema during the late 1990's. That being said, it is of course up to the individual viewer whether that is good or bad. I did find it entertaining enough for what it was, I just struggled to swallow that dubbing pill.Aside from the dubbing horror, then the music in the movie was mostly very poorly selected; and here I'm thinking of the title track, the music played during the rather impressive elevator shaft fight scene and during the last fight scene."Contract Killer" appeals to anyone with a lifelong love romance with Hong Kong cinema. For newcomers there are far better Hong Kong action movies available. And as for it being a Jet Li movie, well don't get too excited, because it is not amongst his best work.

Wei Tung directs an entertaining film. 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' successfully mixes action, thriller and comedy. Jet Li seems to be more at comfort in most Chinese movies as I found him very wooden in his American movies. Here he gets to display a flair for comedy and he does not let his martial arts gift to overshadow his acting either. The brilliantly choreographed fights are a pleasure to watch. Gifted comedian Eric Tsang adds comic relief with great timing. Simon Yam doesn't get much scope. A charming Gigi Leung offers eye candy. The story is quite solid but at times the film does run the risk of derailing (though it quickly manages to come back on track). Overall, 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' impressed me and I'm glad to see a more humorous side of Jet Li. The actor shows potential in this genre and I wish he'd attempt more comedy. Perhaps Wei Tang can offer him more such projects in the future.

Shaky, frenetic, inept camerawork and editing virtually destroy this movie. The director speeds up the fight scenes (as if Jet Li weren't already fast enough), cuts too quickly between shots, holds his camera too close to the actors and generally does everything in his power to make the action scenes difficult to see and enjoy; what begins as a serious martial arts movie becomes a laughable cartoon. Li is likable, Gigi Leung is excellent, but this film is not substantially better than ANY low-budget straight-to-video actioner you can find at the video store. A shame. (**)

This movie is called Hitman, and Jet Li holds the main character, so you would expect that he is a well trained, bad ass hitman, who kills a lot of people. But no, he is a child-lover who collects coins, and is for some reason good at karate, or what art of combat it is he is using. That really doesn't matter much, because Jet Li is hardly ever fighting in the poor number of combat-scenes this picture holds. Don't watch this movie. Gone With the Wind has more entertainment-value.