For generations, legends have been told of an impending English language remake of John Woo’s THE KILLER (1989). Walter Hill and David Giler wrote one for Richard Gere and Denzel Washington way back in 1992, with other versions announced over the decades, some sounding more promising than others. At times Woo himself was involved as a producer, for most of the last decade he’s been attached as director, and now he’s finally succeeded… as an exclusive to the streaming service Peacock. But what are you gonna do? At least it exists and I’ve been able to watch it twice already.

THE KILLER (original recipe) is an untouchable classic (I personally hold it closer to my heart than THE CROW, which crazily had its also long-gestating remake released on the same day), but I think it’s a perfect movie to loosely remake. It could really be like YOJIMBO in that its story is so elemental, it’s obvious what basics you take from it and the rest is up to you. So that’s what Woo does: he returns to his original idea of a hired assassin who accidentally blinds an innocent singer during a hit, decides to turn against his organization to protect her, meanwhile sparring with a detective on his trail, as the two find out they don’t want to be enemies. Then he changes up all the details and context around that, and tells the story in a whole different style and tone. He’s not pretending to be the same as when he made the first version. This is a Woo who is now nearly 80 and has experienced setting a template for Hong Kong action cinema that influenced movies all around the world, coming to Hollywood and becoming a major director, getting burnt out on that and returning to Asia to make historical epics, and recently coming back to the States to play around in the world of slick mid-budget action goofs.

A bit of advice: If you have been poisoned, will only be living for a few more hours, and want to see the very best version of THE KILLER before you expire, please choose the original. If you’re not dying, but want to see a movie exactly like THE KILLER and not doing a whole different thing, also watch the original. But if your plan is to live for a while, watch countless more movies and be open to different experiences, THE KILLER (2024) is highly recommended.

I loved seeing Woo’s passion for visual storytelling in last year’s almost-dialogue-free SILENT NIGHT, but its stereotypes and grim revenge story were a real bummer to me. THE KILLER has the same enthusiasm for technique and cinematic violence, but in a story with humor, friendship, fun, and optimism, so now I truly feel like I’m back in the Woo Zone. How much you enjoy it may come down to how much you appreciate Woo in different modes. That A BETTER TOMORROW, THE KILLER, BULLET IN THE HEAD, HARD BOILED period is my favorite Woo, so there’s a temptation to wish he could be encased in amber, forever re-creating that style. But that would deprive us of the chemical reaction of that Woo colliding with American culture and exploding into HARD TARGET and FACE/OFF. And I guess where I differ from many is that I also respect him continuing to evolve well after those heights, adapting to a world of digital video, c.g. effects and drones. I guess I’m one of the few who loved MANHUNT (2017), which was his tribute to Japanese cinema, but looks and feels very of its time. By just being himself the honor-bound spirit of his Hong Kong era and the goofy thrills of his Hollywood one come out organically even while he’s dipping into 21st century filmmaking techniques.

THE KILLER (written by Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken [10 CLOVERFIELD LANE] and rewritten by motherfuckin Brian Helgeland [A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4, ASSASSINS, PAYBACK, BLOOD WORK, MAN ON FIRE]) has tragic backstories and sad underpinnings, but the overall flavor is closer to ONCE A THIEF than the original THE KILLER – it’s a playful, romantic romp set in that movie version of Paris where most windows perfectly frame the Eiffel Tower. Some of the action is of the more gravity defying ludicrousness of HARD TARGET, BLACKJACK and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, and the fun times overshadow any melancholy.

Nathalie Emmanuel (FURIOUSes 7 to present) stars as Zee, hired assassin of legendary skill and extraordinary fashion sense. She works for Finn (Sam Worthington, CLASH OF THE TITANS, doing an Irish accent), who saved her from the streets when she was young, and who always confirms to her that her targets “deserve this death.” She knows she’s working for “godfather of Paris” Gobert (Eric Cantona, THE SALVATION), but only wants to be killing ruthless criminals and not “civilians.” So when she accidentally blinds American singer Jenn (Diana Silvers, MA) while eliminating the gangsters in the V.I.P. room of a club she decides to leave her alive, and since that’s not allowed she decides to hide and protect her.

This puts her at odds with many dangerous figures including her boss/father figure and the other killers who work for him, such as up-and-coming Zee fans Chi (Woo’s daughter Angeles Woo) and Juliet (Aurelia Agel, who has been a stunt double for Olga Kurylenko, Karen Gillan and Charlize Theron). All of this revolves around a shipment of heroin that Gobert put up the money for that was stolen from the private jet of Saudia Arabian Prince Faheem (Said Taghmaoui, LA HAINE). While meeting with the prince about it in a restaurant Gobert grabs him by the dick and then stabs his bodyguard a bunch of times with a fork. Be careful dealing with someone like that, in my opinion.

Zee is also in the sights of Inspector Sey (Omar Sy, MICMACS), who killed Jenn’s boyfriend Coco (Hugo Diego Garcia, THE SUBSTANCE) while trying to shut down this heroin ring. As in the original, the rivalry between Zee and Sey turns into something of a friendship and recognition of similarities between them. I think the gender swap changes the dynamics so it’s a flirtation between the killer and the cop, and a friendship bond between the killer and the singer, though I guess the people who interpret Woo movies as homoerotic will disagree. There’s a surprising choice made to ditch suspense built around the blindness – no saving up money for surgery angle, and Jenn finds out the truth pretty early on instead of that being a ticking time bomb. I could understand being disappointed by that, but I was able to accept that Woo’s just not as interested in that aspect anymore.

It may be forgotten how much the black suit and tie look was associated with Woo in the early ‘90s, or how nice the ones in FACE/OFF seemed at the time. So it’s fun to see him doing this female character who wears numerous disguises, always looking great, more than one of them involving a glammed up fedora and trenchcoat in apparent tribute to original-THE-KILLER inspiration LE SAMOURAI. (Costume designer: Camille Janbon, UNLEASHED, AMOUR.) Even better, she’s very close to the tailor who makes her clothes, Tessier (Tcheky Karyo, KISS OF THE DRAGON). Because of his sewing skills he also stitches her wounds, and there’s a hint that in another life she might’ve learned the craft from him. She also recently beat the shit out of a guy for strong arming him. (We get to see it in flashback.)

One of her other quirks is buying takeout (I thought it was falafel, but not sure) from the same little restaurant every day, and we see her knocking on the window and smiling at someone inside. I like to think she’s equally close to the staff at that place and has also beaten up guys for them. She definitely gets around and has all kinds of adventures. It’s implied that in the middle of this movie she also strangles a guy with a scarf but unrelated to the main story so it’s just seen in a quick cutaway when lying that she doesn’t have much planned for the day. And when Sey tells her the story of the time he was shot by a Russian gangster she casually reveals that she was there when it happened and saved his life!

The blissfully heightened action comes courtesy of stunt coordinator Brett Smrz (long time stunt driver), supervising stunt coordinator Gregg Smrz (6 UNDERGROUND), fight coordinator David Wald (BUMBLEBEE) and fight choreographer Jerome Gaspard (stunt coordinator for SENTINELLE). In classic Woo fashion, pretty much any sequence is riddled with little details and imaginative beats that make them transcendent. For example, the scene where Sey chases Coco is full of interesting things that happen to bystanders: the motorcyclist that gets hit and knocked over by Coco’s car which then flips and almost rolls over him, the two pedestrians who get pushed and fall down the stairs, the random good samaritan who sees Coco’s gun and tackles him.

Being THE KILLER it’s gotta have lots of guns, with plenty of environmental damage and I believe at least a few real squibs. Sey gets more Wickian fights involving close up shooting mixed with grappling. But it’s never gonna be the old days again so I’m glad Woo amps it up with other things, like the sword that Zee smuggles past security in two pieces hidden inside her skimpy outfit and then removes and assembles out of sight behind her body as she does a sexy dance.

Also: lots of motorcycle action. She steals one from a guy (and a helmet from someone else!); its electric hum creates a unique feel for a chase full of POV shots driving across occupied sidewalks and down stairs. Even better, a bunch of thugs on motorcycles attack Zee in a cemetery(!) and among other things one of them catches on fire and rolls into an open grave.

I also appreciate Zee’s understanding of the importance of sliding and leaping. Just the part where she runs over the tops of the pews, leap frogs off of Sey, hangs upside down on Finn’s head spinning and accurately firing pistols in both directions is, without exaggeration, more excitement than some full movies ever provide. But even the smaller scenes feel like every movement and gesture is elegantly choreographed. Coco dies just by being shot in the neck, but it’s all so perfect: the way the blood sprays (digital, but pretty), the way his body straightens and tips over, the way the camera looks toward his corpse floating in the river but stops on the headphones he dropped, the song he was listening to bleeding out. It turns out to be a story point, but wouldn’t need to be. It could just be the idea that he was listening to music he liked when it all went to shit.

That’s the other trademark Woo ingredient, of course – that sense of poetry, of sad beauty and irony, some souls redeemed, others lost. The original KILLER began Woo’s trademark use of doves and pigeons and churches, and he repeats it here. Woo told Time in 2008 that when he was growing up in a slum he would get mugged constantly, and would seek refuge in a church. He found it gave him comfort, and that’s why he became a Christian. But he says THE KILLER is not a religious story. To me his churches seem to represent his protagonists’ sense of the sacred, their codes, their hopes for redemption, for better tomorrows (which of course will be desecrated in a third act shootout). I love that for his remake he’s got his tallest, fanciest, dustiest abandoned church, with the most pigeons and doves (which represent “peace, love and innocence,” he said in the Time interview). What is sacred to Zee, and perhaps to Woo, might be left behind by the world. It’s 252 years old, “deconsecrated, no longer blessed” she says, and soon to be replaced with a Starbucks, according to Finn. But for now it’s there and when Zee sits alone there on a pew she smiles, looks serene. Near the end, when Finn comes there to face her, he sits down and looks nervous as hell.

The church also has numerous more superficial uses. Zee hides Jenn in the confession booth, then when she goes to retrieve her ends up confessing why she let her live. The pews are used for quite a few action gimmicks, Juliet uses a religious relic (I’m not sure what it’s called) as a mace, obviously someone dies and lands in a crucifixion pose beneath the crucifix. All stuff that won’t be as cool in the Starbucks.

And the sign that this is the ultimate holy spot within the Wooniverse is that (spoiler) when doves flutter past Jenn’s face the gust of wind from their wings seems to cure her blindness.

Does a cop really belong in St. Zee’s Church of the Holy Doves and Candles? I don’t know, but the writers take steps to show that Sey being a good guy is unusual. I got a kick out of the part in the hospital shootout when one of the assassins is shot down, but gets up and reveals he’s wearing a vest. Normally it’s a good guy character who does that, a cop or someone given a vest by a cop. Here it’s a bad guy and later it’s revealed that (SPOILER) yes, in fact these two assassins are also cops. And when Sey finds out and seems to be going to tell someone he sees a bunch of cops openly holding bags of stolen heroin in the police headquarters and they chase after him and try to kill him.

I appreciate those ACEOSCAB (All Cops Except Omar Sy’s Character Are Bastards) touches in the screenplay. And the corruption goes much higher than that – Sey is explicitly told by his bosses that they have to leave the prince alone because France buys oil from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia buys arms from France. Yes, it’s true that it could’ve just had cops who are trying to stop murders and heroin and I wouldn’t be too mad at them, but we spent our whole lives watching action movies that blindly worship cops and created an unhealthy myth about their place in society, I support this current stage where they would feel like assholes if they didn’t say something. I’m proud of them.

For a few years Lupita Nyong’o was attached to star in this, they seem to have been really excited developing it together, but it fell apart during Covid delays. Man oh man would I like to see Woo shoot Nyong’o kicking ass, but I also read that Helgeland’s rewrites gave the movie a lighter tone that made Woo more excited and Nyong’o less. And not only that but Emmanuel is so delightful as Zee that it’s hard to imagine anyone but her slinking around in white Chuck Taylors making Omar Sy smile when she escapes captivity right in front of his colleagues or catches him faking unconsciousness and pistol whips him.

I think this is a really good looking movie, making a strong argument for shiny digital not always being a bad thing. Lots of bright colors, confident camera movement, even the few shots that I thought were greenscreened had a romantic old timey artificiality to them. Credit is due to cinematographer Mauro Fiore (GET CARTER, AVATAR, MADAME WEB) and editor Zach Staenberg (POLICE ACADEMY, THE MATRIX) for filmatism that feels fully 2024 and fully John Woo at the same time. I think it’s also one of the better scores by Marco Beltrami (SCREAM, MIMIC, 54), with a haunting whistled theme that seems inspired by the French setting, brassy action stings that sound unfashionably (but pleasingly) melodramatic, and some surprisingly effective uses of saxophone (by a prolific UK session player named Martin Williams), including a feverish solo while Sey is fighting a guy. Note that Woo reportedly wanted Chow Yun Fat’s character to be in the club playing saxophone in the original, but producer Tsui Hark shut it down, feeling Hong Kong audiences didn’t like jazz.

Woo’s taste in jazz has never been the same as mine (a little smooth for my tastes), but it always wins me over. And I’ve had good results following him down whatever improvisatory riffs his filmography wants to take me on. THE KILLER (2024) is like when you see a favorite band playing one of their early hits, but over the years they got bored playing it the same way and it’s evolved into something else. Doesn’t hurt the original record to enjoy them jamming on it. I’m just thankful they’re still touring.

Additional notes:

1. Emteem reminded me that I had requested Netflix action vehicles for the other FAST & FURIOUS ladies to go with the ones for Elsa Pataky (INTERCEPTOR), Gal Gadot (HEART OF STONE) and Charlize Theron (THE OLD GUARD). Let’s broaden that to include other streaming services, in which case this is the best of the bunch and unlikely to be topped. In the HEART OF STONE review I wrote, “I have been informed that Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) has a major role in ARMY OF THIEVES, but I’m not sure if it’s about her wearing a leather jacket and kicking people in the face and jumping off of things. If not, let’s get her one too.” And we got one!
2. I know I pointed this out in the SILENT NIGHT review but I have not stopped being in awe of the trivia that Wes Craven used a cue from Hans Zimmer’s score for Woo’s BROKEN ARROW on the temp track of SCREAM 2, and was never happy with Beltrami’s take on it so, much to Beltrami’s disappointment, he just got the rights to use the Zimmer cue in the movie and it became Dewey’s theme, but now Beltrami has scored two John Woo movies. One more and he ties Zimmer.
3. One noticeable feature in Zee’s little apartment is a table covered in decorative glass balls. Kind of surprising/impressive that Jenn stays there without ever knocking those things over.