The Killer

I don't know how many action clichés John Woo made and then piled up during his carrier, but I guess a lot. This picture is really like mocking himself. Probably, rather than maybe, he is. Well, it is a remake of his own film, once considered pioneer of modern action movies, but it does nothing original at all. Rather, it delivers basically the same but with much less intensity, commitment and flair. The soul of the original is absent. There is no fire in it, just ember - to say the least. The characters are good but apparently most of them are restricted, blocked even, to show raw emotions (with the exception of Cantona). It is a weak remake, as they usually are.

John Woo's "The Killer" 2024 had been highly anticipated by action movie enthusiasts and fans of the director's previous works. However, upon watching it, one can't help but feel a sense of disappointment. This film falls short on several fronts.

First and foremost, the plot was unimaginative and predictable after the first main action scene. It seems as if the filmmakers were trying to be overly complex in an attempt to create a deep and engaging narrative. Instead, it results in a jumbled mess that leaves the audience uninterested. There are too many subplots and twists that don't add much value to the overall story. For instance, a side story involving a character's personal vendetta takes up a significant amount of screen time but fails to contribute meaningfully to the main plot.

The character development is also lacking. The protagonist, who is supposed to be a complex and intriguing anti-hero, comes across as one-dimensional. We don't get a sense of her motivations or inner conflicts beyond the surface-level action. The supporting characters are equally underdeveloped, with little to no backstory or personality. This makes it difficult for the audience to connect with or care about any of the characters.

Another major issue is the action sequences. While John Woo is known for his stylish and intense action scenes, in "The Killer" 2024, they seem repetitive and lack the innovation and excitement of his earlier works. The gunfights and choreographed fights are predictable and don't offer any new or fresh elements. It feels like we've seen these same types of action scenes countless times before. Pigeons, doves, churches etc.

The pacing of the film is off as well. There are long stretches where not much happens, and then suddenly there's an explosion of action that feels rushed. This uneven pacing makes it hard for the audience to stay engaged throughout the movie. A woman of 5.7 135lb beating a 6 foot 220lbs man in unarmed combat is still unbelievable.

Furthermore, the cinematography, which is usually a highlight in Woo's films, is unimpressive in this one. The lighting and color palette don't create the mood and atmosphere that one would expect from a John Woo movie.

In conclusion, "The Killer" 2024 is a letdown. With its boring and predictable plot, underdeveloped characters, repetitive action sequences, off pacing, and lackluster cinematography, it fails to live up to the expectations set by John Woo's previous masterpieces. It's a movie that leaves the audience longing for the director's past glory days and wondering what went wrong.

I had to stop after 50min where I couldn't take it anymore, I mean it might be for someone but not for me.

John Woo has a style and I respect that! However I'm not sure if I would still have stomach for that in 2024, nearly 30 years after Faceoff.

You might ask how about the story then? Enough to know that a Killer with misplaced conscious caused a lot of civilians to die to avoid one particular civilian to die because she was against killing civilians. I know it's stupid. But that's the main theme, at least up until I said enough is enough. The plot has so many wholes and it looks so fake that even popular faces couldn't save it for me.

Do not waste your precious life with this movie, Mr Woo, please grow up.

It's not the worst thing you can watch. It has its moments. Every once in a while it wakes up and remembers it's an action movie. The rest of the time it's down wallowing in a rut of character moments that try too hard to convince us that we should care about these characters. Sam Worthington does a terrible Irish accent despite his character having no reason to be Irish.

The action is fun, everything else is boring because despite the effort it's hard to care about these characters and what they're going through. It's Jon Woo without the charm. It can't shake off the wrapper of NBC TV production despite desperately trying.

I realise that John Woo is an iconic director, mainly because of his run of funky HK triad gunslinger movies, but whoever put this remake together skimped on the screenwriting, and the script. The direction is ok, but with the nagging feeling that the hourly rate there was also well shy of inspirational.

Every cliched character and trite line of dialogue feels disconnected, existing in isolation, awaiting their brief memetime on Tik Tok and Youtube.

Even the action felt kinda perfunctory, like a cheap sequel filmed in a hurry by an inferior production crew, with no sense of pride in their accomplishments. "Two more flash-cut car chases, an MMA ruck in a public space, a slow-mo bullet time shootout, and we're done, chaps".

What it resembles, more than anything, is a low-budget 80s Eurocrime actioner, with a mismatched Euro-cast, and a script straight out of Babelfish, tarted up in post to look vaguely modern. Unfortunately, it ends up looking like a badly animated storyboard.