Purely Joyful Movie!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Expected more

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

So you have read the plot synopses people have left. This film is about two hit men. O is Japanese, and he has a samurai approach to life. He is disciplined, clean, detached, and efficient. He kills without remorse and he kills without relish. Tok is an up-and-coming hit-man of a very different sort. He is wildly showy. He has style. He loves overkill. He loves his work, and he hates his rival, O. O is the top hit-man on the East side of the Pacific Rim, and Tok wants his title.Some have commented that this is the same old hum-drum from the Hong Kong studios. I have to disagree. "Full Time Killer" is slick and polished in a way that most of the New Wave of HK action films are not. "Full Time Killer" does follow the common formula of two rivals hunting each other and hunting the same girl, but it is not the story that I thought set this film above others of the genre. Andy Lau gives a memorable flamboyant performance as Tok, a joker and a devil at the same time. O's repression and sense of honor make him the sympathetic rival, particularly when it becomes clear that he isn't restrained from engaging his enemy, but rather he doesn't know how to act on his own behalf.Plus, you have to love how the lead flies in those gunfights.I hope I didn't read too much into this film, but I recommend it to everybody. For 102 minutes I had a 10/10 experience.

It is the story of two professional assassins who live to kill. Both are act without remorse or second thoughts, are highly effective and completely relentless. Takashi Sorimachi plays O, the Japanese killer who is considered the best in his (admittedly limited) field. He kills efficiently, dispatching the target, his bodyguards and anyone who could identify him. He is quick, clean and much in demand by those who employ him. Andy Lau is Tok, a Chinese killer who wants to replace O but who is considered too showy and flamboyant. When O executes a hit he simply walks away and disappears into the crowd. Tok escapes on a stolen motorcycle while a police station explodes in the background.They are brought together by Tok's envy of O and Tok's desire to replace him as the most sought after assassin in Asia. While they stalk and spy on each other, they are also linked by Miss Chin, played by the gorgeous Kelly Lin. She is O's housekeeper and Tok's girlfriend. Simon Yam is Inspector Lee of Interpol who leads a team going after both of the killers and who (literally in one case) are always just a step behind them.There are references galore to other movies: El Mariachi and Desperado, Blood Simple, Hard Boiled, Point Break, The Godfather, Samurai and probably plenty of others that I missed. Even the Warner Brothers cartoons of Chuck Jones are referenced—one of the more outrageous assassinations by Tok has "Largo Factorum" from The Barber of Seville accompanying the action, in much the same way that Bugs Bunny committed mayhem to the tune of Mozart, Wagner or Rossini.The action scenes are excellent. There are cars that blow up when shot, pistols that are accurate at 500 yards and huge shotguns that appear from beneath short leather jackets but even with these clichés the action set pieces created by Johnny To are exciting, fast paced, very violent and seamlessly shot and edited.Sorimachi is properly dour and brooding, almost phlegmatic. His understated acting personifies the loneliness and isolation of his character. Lau, in keeping with his character, has a much more florid style—Tok could be a full time smirker as well as a full time killer.While not exactly a return to heroic bloodshed—there aren't any heroes here—Fulltime Killer uses many of that genre's conventions. Very much worth seeing and recommended.

There seem to be a lot of Japanese movies that are pure exercises in style. I tend to like highly cinematic movies, so I usually enjoy myself, but somewhere along the way I always seem to go from thinking, this is just so cool to thinking, is there some point here. Fulltime Killer is lots of fun. It is very stylish, looks nice and has some very striking scenes. But it has about as much depth as a piece of typing paper. There's not much in the way of character development, and the movie feels increasingly unconvincing as it progresses. So while there is stuff I love, like the scene with the grenades, the movie as a whole failed to connect with me on any sort of intellectual or emotional level. Still, it is lots of fun, and I was torn between giving it a 7 or an 8 (which is usually the quandary I face when rating stylish, empty movies). Well worth watching, but not worth remembering.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW**I was impressed overall with 'Fulltime Killer'. There are obvious similarities to 'Assassins' starring Sylvester Stallone & Antonio Banderas; its basically the same premise: you have the no. 1 hit-man who's established, and the 'up and coming' young flamboyant hit-man who wants the no. 1 spot...hence the showdown between the two. I'll admit the story kinda went left field with the whole 'former cop write their story' angle. The only real difference between the two films (aside from the minute difference in storyline, characters, etc.) is that 'Fulltime Killer' has the Hong Kong action flavor, and it works. I like what the makers tried to do technique-wise....it adds to the stylish element presented here. It's your basic assassin showdown movie, and overall its executed well. Entertaining...not the best, but good.*** out of **** stars.