Recently re-watched this famous and often breathtaking Hong Kong action film. Seems dated at times though, and sometimes it almost becomes a parody of itself.

Couldn't finish it.

Normally I don't dig action movies that much but this is just plain awesome. It even gets away with its sentimental streak (I found that kind of charming actually).

The mother of all action films.

#00s(e)#, liked, oldies(2) }*{ #90s#, reviews, dir Woo, C Yun-Fat!

The action sequences are outstanding and everything else is weak. Woo has a flair for the over-dramatic: slo-mo, freeze frames, sappy music and lots of blatant symbolism. There are some fresh ideas here, but a great deal of cliché as well ("you're off the case!"). This also has one of the silliest plot contrivances I've ever seen: the cop is willing to risk letting a known mass murderer get away because he doesn't want to hurt the killer's girlfriend's feelings. Jesus H. Christ.

Normally I don't dig action movies that much but this is just plain awesome. It even gets away with its sentimental streak (I found that kind of charming actually) what with all the kinetic masterfully put together blood baths.

Kind of gets a bit pretentious at the end, but yeah, this movie still owns.

An obviously influential film with over the top action and melodrama. A real popcorn-muncher.

Poor.

Action and Melodrama

Great hong kong action flick. All the typical trademark elements of mr woo are present. The dual gun battles, the white pigeons , the slow motion tracking shots. The pacing and scripting is brilliant An epic Chinese gangster movie.. His finest movie (so far) from his Chinese productions.

A John Woo classic. But I think I will always underrate his films because I compare them to Hard Boiled.

John Woo is possibly the worst acknowledged director in the history of cinema. He tends to "overuse" the use of slow-motion, his characters are onedimensional and the story itself could be written by a 5-year old.

I agree with Skenkere The Killer is better than Hard Boiled and even the best Movie by Woo / Fat ever ! "The Killer" means 120 Minutes of pure power and action... Scenes that sets the standard for common Movies all around the world. This is how an Action Movie have to feel like without overblurred cgi effects compared to todays 500 Million Hollywood Productions.

Hong Kong action at its best. Terrific story and shoot outs that feature John Woo at his best.

A deft warmup for Hard-Boiled.

A story reminiscent of Le Samourai with John Woo's style, a heroic bloodshed movie that should not be missed.