4K Ultra HD Review – The Assassin (1989)

      The Killer, 1989.

      Directed by John Woo.

      Featuring Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Barry Wong, Kenneth Tsang, and Chu Kong.

      SYNOPSIS:

      An assassin takes on one final job to fund the restoration of a woman's eyesight, whom he accidentally blinded, while a determined cop closes in on him.

      Continuing their streak of releasing Hong Kong action classics on 4K UHD, Arrow Video introduces John Woo’s 1989 film The Killer to this format, alongside their recent exceptional edition of Hard Boiled. While Hard Boiled is widely recognized as the quintessential Hong Kong action film due to its relentless onslaught of bullets, explosions, and the undeniable screen presence of Chow Yun-Fat, one could argue that The Killer is Woo's crowning achievement.

      In this film, Chow Yun-Fat portrays Ah Jong, a deadly assassin who accidentally blinds nightclub singer Jennie (Sally Yeh) when he discharges his weapon too close to her head during a shootout. Burdened by guilt, Ah Jong leaves his profession and soon rescues Jennie from a mugging on the street. She invites him to her home, and they begin a relationship, unaware of his true identity. However, when his old friend and manager Fung Sei (Chu Kong) offers him one last job, Ah Jong agrees, planning to use the money for Jennie’s treatment to restore her sight.

      Thus, Ah Jong is a killer with a conscience, and Chow Yun-Fat excels as this cool yet deadly assassin with his own set of rules and principles. Nevertheless, The Killer transcends a mere action thriller fueled by adrenaline and stunts; it focuses on Ah Jong, who is pursued by Inspector Li Ying (Danny Lee)—a cop grappling with his own issues and intrigued by this gunman who possesses a moral code. This relationship is pivotal to The Killer, rendering it a melodrama rather than just a mindless action flick.

      While there's nothing wrong with enjoying straightforward blood-soaked adventures, Hard Boiled serves as the kind of action film you can throw on late at night after a night out, letting the thrilling sequences hit you like a freight train. In contrast, The Killer is better appreciated during a more reflective mood, as it occasionally steps back from the violence to delve into its characters’ lives and foster emotional connections. Chow Yun-Fat dominates every scene, and Danny Lee adds a likable presence as we discover that Li Ying isn't merely seeking glory; he needs to grasp the nature of his opponent, much to the annoyance of his superiors, who focus solely on results, indifferent to the consequences.

      Similar to Michael Mann’s Heat, The Killer portrays Ah Jong and Li Ying as two sides of the same coin, realizing that they may not be so different after all, but their choices have set them on opposing paths. Central to this conflict is Jennie, a tragic figure who bears no responsibility for her circumstances. Consequently, Sally Yeh's performance doesn’t quite match the measured presence of her male counterparts, and during the film’s slower moments that explore Ah Jong and Jennie’s relationship, her delivery can be grating, making some of her extended dialogues a bit of a challenge. However, the scene in which the cop and killer confront each other in her apartment, unaware that they are each aiming guns at one another, is brilliantly acted and choreographed by all involved.

      If you fear that The Killer might be a clumsy romance, don't worry; when the action erupts, it truly intensifies, with blood squibs detonating everywhere. No character in this film seems to drop from a single bullet; instead, entire magazines are fired into seemingly endless hordes of goons who exhibit the aim of Imperial Stormtroopers, prompting questions about the capacity of a semi-automatic pistol. Nevertheless, this leads to some excessively violent sequences that are not as polished as what John Woo would achieve in Hard Boiled a few years later, yet it imparts The Killer with a gritty 1980s action film vibe that is rougher in style but ultimately more gratifying.

      Presented in a three-disc set, The Killer arrives on 4K UHD, showcasing a very sharp and natural image, with only the neon lights in nighttime scenes providing significant color vibrancy. Overall, the detail level is commendable, and the grain is consistent without being overly pronounced, making The Killer feel like a “proper” film rather than one subjected to an HD cleanup that diminishes its charm. The other two discs consist of standard Blu-rays that include extensive interviews with cast and crew, a feature-length career retrospective on John Woo, and the 130-minute extended cut of The Killer, available in both restored and unrestored formats. Although the theatrical version was trimmed to a tighter 110 minutes for good reason and does lose pacing in the longer version, it's still a nice bonus to have it included.

      In