In an early scene of The Killer, Nathalie Emmanuel’s silent assassin enters a “deconsecrated church,” grabs a pew, and claps loudly. The echoes of her arrival awaken the pigeons that have made nests for themselves in the hidden recesses of the old building. Despite being abandoned, it’s still grand; just not as grand as it used to be. The flutter of the pigeons’ wings fills the eerie silence, and soon, they’re flying everywhere. Our protagonist smiles, revealing herself, like the audience that has tuned in to watch The Killer, to be well-versed in the directorial trademarks of John Woo.
In perhaps the most Ram Gopal Varma-coded move of his career, the legendary Hong Kong filmmaker has gone ahead and remade his iconic action classic for possibly the least-popular international streaming service around. The original 1989 film, starring Chow Yun-fat in the titular role, introduced audiences to Woo’s singular style and opened doors for him in Hollywood. A quarter-century later, after having spent the last several years working in his native Hong Kong, Woo appears to be relaunching himself in the West. But in perhaps the most telling sign of how the times have changed, he’s being made to do it on Peacock.
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Among the most crucial new changes that Woo has introduced to the movie is to essentially transform it from a story of redemption into a story of rebirth. Like Chow Yun-fat in the original, Emmanuel plays an assassin who mistakenly injures an innocent songstress during a shootout, only to be immediately struck by guilt. But unlike the protagonist of the original, who kept tabs on the singer for years before entering into a romantic relationship with her, Zee — that’s what Emmanuel’s character goes by — forms a more sisterly bond with the blinded Jenn, played by Diana Silvers.
Zee’s boss, played by Sam Worthington — he’s doing a distractingly poor Irish accent for some reason — wants to tie up the loose ends, and instructs her to kill Jenn immediately. But that’s where Zee’s morality comes in. “Do they deserve this death?” she always asks before being sent on an assignment. And this time, she knows that the answer is ‘no’. Chased by a cop played by Omar Sy — The Killer is set in pre-Olympics Paris, by the way — and pressured by the local godfather played by Eric Cantona of all people, Zee takes matters into her own hands.
One of the main reasons why The Killer is a better movie than what this description makes it sound like is the fact that it is directed by a master filmmaker and not somebody executing a for-hire gig. Gloriously over-the-top, often ridiculous, but packed with plenty of flourishes, the movie enhances what could’ve been an instantly forgettable plot with an authorship that has become all but absent in the streaming era. In the ill-fated shootout, Zee enters a seedy Parisian nightclub like a Jean-Pierre Melville character, framed against smoke and neon lights. She’s frisked by a goon, revealing a slinky black dress that’s hiding the samurai sword with which she’ll take four lives.
Woo also delivers on the gunfights. The expectations were always going to be extremely high, seeing as he practically pioneered the art of ‘gun-fu’ in his Hong Kong movies. Assuming that he’d know his way around a shootout is like assuming Ridley Scott will orchestrate an epic battle with excellent clarity. The Killer isn’t cut to pieces like so many modern action films; Woo favours vibrant colours, elaborate choreography, and memorable tableaus. His action scenes aren’t scored to thumping dubstep, but an operatic symphony that makes it seem like both Woo and Zee are having some sort of religious experience.
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And she probably is. Wracked by guilt, Zee wants nothing more than to save Jenn from all the cruel men out to kill her. This is where the gender-swap benefits the picture, and not only because a romantic angle would’ve come across as slightly outdated and mildly creepy. We learn very little about her past, but it’s just about enough fuel our investment in her. The Killer isn’t a movie you watch for the plot, after all; it’s a movie you watch only to experience a genre master replaying his greatest hits.
The Killer
Director – John Woo
Cast – Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington, Diana Silvers, Eric Cantona, Saïd Taghmaoui
Rating – 3/5
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