Hollywood studios have long circled a remake of The Killer , John Woo’s 1989 action classic pitting a principled hitman against a disillusioned detective. And after 30 year of fits and starts – with directors including Walter Hill and John J. Lee attached, and stars like Richard Gere and Denzel Washington in mind – it turns out the only filmmaker who could get the job done was Woo himself.
This ought to be a good sign, but the Hong Kong director's cinematic decline has been noticeable of late. His recent Hollywood return, Silent Night , couldn't sustain its dialogue-free action gimmick, and was swallowed whole by its concept. His second take on The Killer suffers similarly, as a film with no panache or soul that's hard to swallow on its own, and impossible to stomach as an empty retread of a work so iconic and exciting .
The new version of The Killer follows the tête-à-tête between loner assassin Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel in the Chow Yun-fat role) at odds with rule-bending Paris policeman Sey (Omar Sy, inheriting his part in the dynamic from Danny Lee). It has broad strokes in common with the original, like their respective killers accidentally blinding a club singer while on a mission – Sally Yeh's Jennie in the first film; Diana Silvers' Jenn here – but this is where their similarities end. Woo's original script plagued Chow's hit man character with a dueling guilt and love for Jennie, while Lee’s cop became fascinated with the former’s complex morality, bu.