This surprisingly engaging triad action drama takes a while to get there, but eventually it reaches an effective level. Jordan, Mark, Simon, and Ken are four triad hitmen who’ve reached a lofty position in the triad underworld thanks to their killing skills. However, their position is threatened as numerous little plot threads start to unravel and their lifestyle begins to be the death of them. It’s like this: they’re targeted for extermination by a rival gang, their benefactor (Ken Tsang Kong) is forced by the police to blackmail them, they are ordered to kill an innocent man, and Simon’s wife (Yoyo Mung) may be switching to old buddy Jordan.
Sure this sounds like a formulaic plot. In fact, it sounds like a plot doesn’t even exist. The film still manages to work despite its flaws. The script is really unremarkable, and director Billy Chung doesn’t really take the film in a concrete direction. Killer has the makings of a Johnnie To production in its genre conventions, but it goes the route of the typical HK triad drama by throwing in overbearing characters, shallow dialogue, and overdone histrionics.
Still, there is a lot in this film that works really well, including some stunning cinematography and some really good character work. The scenes between Jordan Chan and Yoyo Mung are especially good as they manage to tap the unspoken, which is something that HK movies don’t do all that well. Simon Lui is better as a wacky guy than a dangerous one, but his character manages to be a compelling one. For a genre exercise, this’ll do fine. (Kozo 2000)
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