The Killer (2024) Review: John Woo’s Hollywood Remake of His Own Movie Delivers Some Decent, Stylish Fun

How do you top your own movie, which was highly regarded as one of the greatest action films ever made? That’s the daring challenge John Woo has accepted here to remake his 1989’s The Killer, the Hong Kong genre classic starring Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee as two opposing sides of the law — one’s a professional hitman and the other’s a dedicated cop.

The good news is, he’s smart enough not to replicate it into a shot-for-shot remake. Except for retaining the basis of its storytelling: there’s the killer and a cop, a killer with a conscience, an unfortunate singer caught in the middle of a crossfire and double-crosses. The setting is also changed from Hong Kong to Paris, a right change of scenery, considering Woo’s penchant for elegantly composed shots and the romanticisation of the action genre that reflects the timeless beauty of City of Light.

Swapping from the uber-cool Chow Yun-Fat is a female assassin named Zee played by Nathalie Emmanuel, sporting a curly pixie cut and an icy-cold demeanour. She takes orders from her handler, Finn (Sam Worthington) and they often meet in an abandoned church. Her latest mission involves killing a target in a nightclub and leaves no witnesses. But somehow, she breaks the rule of letting the singer (Diana Silvers’ Jenn, playing Sally Yeh’s role) live, an innocent victim whose eyes are temporarily blinded as a result of a gunshot and shattered glass.

When Finn finds out about it, he demands her to finish her job. Zee is reluctant because she takes pity on Jenn, who is now in the hospital. Then, things get complicated when a local cop-in-charge, Sey (Omar Sy) investigates the case linked to Jenn’s boyfriend, Coco (Hugo Diego Garcia). It has something to do with the stolen heroin.

The Killer retains the cat-and-mouse chase between the killer and the cop but Woo, working from Brian Helgeland alongside Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken’s screenplay, eschews the bromance angle of the 1989 original. Even the possible romance between Zee and Sey is traded for a platonic relationship. They are strictly all business as the two eventually work together to take down their common enemy.

The earlier scenes are the best, proving that Woo still has what it takes to put together a well-staged action movie. He’s going to hit 77 years old next month and yet, his signature visual prowess remains sharp. He does a better job here than in his last movie Silent Night, beginning with the relentless Sey trying to apprehend the escaped Coco. Then comes the nightclub scene as Zee single-handedly takes down his target and the rest of his men with a katana sword. Woo’s stylised slo-mo shots during the action sequences are visually impressive, coupled with his dynamic camerawork and Marco Beltrami’s jazz-tinged score.

Like the 1989 original, this Hollywood remake also culminated in a gunfight in and out of a church. Woo doesn’t disappoint here, combining scenes of shootouts and martial arts, where the latter has Zee fight against a female assassin played by Aurélia Agel.

Nathalie Emmanuel does a good job playing the titular killer in her physically demanding role while Omar Sy equally delivers as a no-nonsense cop, Sey. The least effective one, however, goes to Diana Silvers, whose role as Jenn is given less to do here with her largely thankless performance. The subsequent chemistry between Emmanuel and Silvers after the former decided to save her is non-existent.

Shame about the plot, though. All the major tweaks here and there along with a few flashback moments detailing some of the characters’ past tend to feel heavy-handed. This is especially true in the sluggish midsection that looks as if Woo loses his steam, even though he does manage to pick up the pace in the thrilling third act.

Woo’s 1989 original remains unsurpassed but judging by this remake alone, The Killer contains enough style in its action sequences and some of Woo’s directorial prowess along with Nathalie Emmanuel’s spot-on femme fatale lead turn to keep me reasonably entertained.

The Killer is currently streaming on Peacock.