The Killer (1989) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

I'll never forget stumbling across John Woo's The Killer at my local video store back in the mid-90s and choosing to rent the movie because of the cover art with Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee pointing guns at each other. Once I popped the VHS tape into my player, I was immediately blown away, as it completely changed my idea of what an action movie could be. From the opening moments of seeing Chow and Chu Kong in the church, followed by the nightclub shootout, I was instantly mesmerized. 

This was something operatic, emotional, highly stylized, and visually amazing, which I'd never experienced before up to that point. Certain scenes are permanently etched into my memory banks, like that nightclub shootout and Sally Yeh's Jennie being injured, the Chow and Lee confrontation in Jennie's apartment, and, of course, that epic church standoff. I instantly fell in love with the movie that day, and thirty-six years later, it still hits just as hard as it did the first time I watched, making it my favorite Woo film.

Unlike so many action movies that came before it, the plot is more like a character-driven drama that just happens to feature lots of action, violence, and blood. Written by Woo, the dramatic element isn't simply a plot device that motivates the hero into action; it is integral to and the central theme of the story. Granted, it uses the familiar trope of a protagonist performing one last mission before retiring from the criminal life, but Woo approaches it with genuine emotion and moral complexity. 

The story of two men on opposing sides of the law, slowly discovering they have more in common, immediately sucked me in. Both the assassin Ah Jong (Chow) and Inspector Li Ying (Lee) live by strong morals, care about innocent lives, are in search of redemption, and are extremely loyal, full of honor, and believe in brotherhood. And Woo underpins all of this with a deeper theme about the challenges of being a good person in a corrupt world. This brilliantly comes through from all the religious imagery and symbolism, elevating the movie beyond its genre conventions.

The performances of Chow and Lee, reuniting after their collaboration in A Better Tomorrow, are absolutely terrific. They each bring incredible depth to their respective roles. Chow turns the assassin with a heart of gold into someone we genuinely root for throughout the entire film, bringing humanity and charisma to a character who could've easily been a one-dimensional killer. Meanwhile, Lee complicates things as a police officer internally battling with his duty to the law and his growing admiration and respect for a known assassin. And their chemistry on screen is captivating as their mutual respect develops into a genuine friendship, supplying the whole thing with a surprisingly heartfelt emotional core.

Added to all that, The Killer is where Woo essentially perfected his signature visual style, dazzling audiences with his operatic gun violence and turning bloodshed into a ballet. This is also where he introduced his now-familiar symbolic motif of doves, using them as figurative visuals of innocence and peace, which our protagonists desperately wish to preserve in a violent world. Every action scene is meticulously composed, every sequence carefully choreographed like a dance, and the slow-motion gunfights are iconic scenes. With The Killer, Woo proved that action movies can be artful, emotional, and aesthetically brilliant, creating a masterpiece that has influenced countless filmmakers and remains a Hong Kong action classic every genre fan should watch.

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray

Shout! Factory brings The Killer to 4K Ultra HD as a three-disc collector's set under their "Hong Kong Cinema Classics" label, spine number #18. Housed inside a black, eco-elite keepcase, a Region Free, triple-layered UHD100 disc shares a center spindle with a Region A locked, BD50 copy of the film, and a third BD50 disc containing a wealth of bonus features sits comfortably on the opposing panel. They are joined by a fifty-page booklet featuring four insightful essays by academics and filmmakers. Everything comes packaged in a sturdy cardboard, side-sliding slipcover with new artwork. At startup, the UHD disc goes to a generic menu along the bottom with music playing in the background and a static photo.

Woo's action masterpiece arrives on Ultra HD with an outstanding HEVC H.265 encode, thanks to a new remaster of the original 35mm camera negatives. Graded in Dolby Vision HDR, the native 4K transfer comes with an improved contrast and brightness balance, showcasing true, inky blacks and vivid, brilliant whites while maintaining excellent shadow delineation. Specular highlights are tight and crisp, adding a realistic sheen to metallic surfaces, and colors are richly saturated and full-bodied, supplying accurate skin tones to the highly revealing complexions of the cast. Compared to its HD counterpart, the 1.85:1 image is sharper and more detailed while awash in a thin layer of natural grain, looking very film-like and just beautiful. (Dolby Vision HDR Video Rating: 88/100)

The Hong Kong classic breaks into home theaters with an equally outstanding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono soundtrack, feeling significantly fuller and broader than previous iterations. The midrange exhibits superb clarity and distinction during the loudest, action-packed segments where gunshots sound clean yet impactful, and the low-end is surprisingly hefty and robust, providing some weight and presence to the exciting visuals. Background activity is more discreet and distinct, generating a more expansive and engaging soundstage, and dialogue is consistently precise and very well-prioritized. In the end, it is an outstanding accompaniment to the action and drama. (Audio Rating: 92/100)

For this UHD edition, Shout! brings the classic actioner with an entertaining booklet and brand-new bonus material that is exclusive to this release, except for the deleted scenes, image gallery and trailers.

UHD Disc

• NEW Audio Commentary features director John Woo and journalist Drew Taylor
• NEW Audio Commentary features critic and author David West
• Audio Commentary features director John Woo and producer Terence Chang

Blu-ray Disc 1

• NEW Audio Commentary features director John Woo and journalist Drew Taylor
• NEW Audio Commentary features critic and author David West
• Audio Commentary features director John Woo and producer Terence Chang

Blu-ray Disc 2

• NEW The Hero of Heroic Bloodshed (HD, 74 min) is a feature-length documentary on John Woo, his film legacy and his impact on cinema, featuring loads of interviews and BTS footage
• NEW A Bullet Ballet (HD, 45 min) is a recent interview with the director
• NEW Editing The Killer (HD, 12 min) is an interview with editor David Wu
• NEW Hong Kong Confidential (HD, 12 min) is an interview discussion with author, journalist, screenwriter and Woo enthusiast Grady Hendrix
• NEW My Kind of Hero (HD, 6 min) is a recent interview with producer Terence Chang
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (HD, 12 min)
• Image Gallery (HD, 7 min)
• Trailers (HD, 6 min)

From the first moment I watched John Woo's The Killer on VHS, I instantly fell in love with the classic Hong Kong film where the legendary director showed that action movies can be artful, emotional and aesthetically brilliant. Starring Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee, this is also the film where Woo essentially perfected his signature visual style and dazzled audiences with his operatic gun violence and turned bloodshed into a ballet. Courtesy of Shout! Factory, the Woo classic arrives on 4K Ultra HD with a gorgeous Dolby Vision HDR presentation and an outstanding DTS-HD MA mono soundtrack. With a wealth of new bonus features to keep fans busy, the overall UHD package is a Must Own!

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