It’s only fair: after years of the world ripping off the action-movie style of Hong Kong film-maker John Woo, why not let Woo take a crack at one himself? The idea for an English-language remake of The Killer, Woo’s seminal 1989 action picture starring his frequent muse Chow Yun-fat, has been kicking around Hollywood for the vast majority of the original movie’s lifespan, and now arrives as an experiment of cross-cultural translation: American writers Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken and Brian Helgeland have adapted Woo’s original Hong Kong screenplay to a Paris setting, featuring characters of English, Irish, French and American origins, handed back to Woo for re-reinterpretation. (And – fittingly for such an odd project but unfortunately for the big-screen grandeur of even the lower-rent Woo movies – a streaming-exclusive debut.)
In the original film, Chow plays a highly skilled assassin protecting a young singer who has been blinded in the crossfire of one of his jobs, while eluding and eventually bonding with a local cop, as other underworld types close in. The remake’s basic set-up is similar: Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel) protects blinded singer Jenn (Diana Silvers) while eluding and eventually teaming up with local cop Sey (Omar Sy). The details of the plot mechanics are heavily modified – Jenn becomes more of a direct target, for largely dull and drug trade-related reasons – but the most immediately noticeable difference is the switch from male to female assassin. Alert the fan-goons: The Killer has gone woke!
Actually, for the clearheaded viewer who doesn’t rage at the sight of a woman of color in a leading role, it’s a little disappointing that the gender flip has been handled so gingerly, ultimately sidestepping (or at least sublimating) any true chemical attraction between Zee and Jenn. The assassin and the singer have a romantic relationship in the earlier film, and there are also plenty of homoerotic readings of the killer/cop bond, too; the new movie offers plenty of opportunities to flip or play with either dynamic, and mostly takes a pass. That’s indicative of its overall approach, which is less romantic or operatic than vintage Woo, and more interested in the goofy-glam aesthetics of Paris demolition. It’s like he’s directing the late-2000s EuropaCorp version of his own material, wresting it back from Luc Besson and the like.
On that level, the 2024 Killer works. It’s not going to replace the 1989 film in anyone’s affections, save perhaps the family of the people starring in it – and really, could even Emmanuel’s own mother deny the power of Chow? But on the movie’s own terms, Emmanuel (probably best known as a later-period addition to the Fast & Furious series) cuts a striking action figure and delivers the necessary killer-with-a-code empathy. Silvers has developed a sweetly raw and unaffected screen presence, and Sy makes a likable foe turned friend.
The real star, however, is Woo, who still knows how to stage mayhem more inventively than a hundred other Hollywood up-and-comers who probably worship the original Killer. His previous English-language film, 2023’s dialogue-free holiday-themed revenge thriller Silent Night, was also his first Hollywood production in 20 years. It had some action-movie juice and plenty of that heavy Woo melodrama – which, with the thinness of its characters, threatened to drag the movie down into a miserable genre wallow. The Killer is lighter on its feet. In another context, maybe this would feel like an unforgivably superficial trespass against the heaviness of the original. With Woo in charge, it’s a mischievous experiment: how would this assassination scene play if the assassin were mainly using an assembled samurai sword, rather than guns? How can we work more motorcycles into this? Could Zee wear a series of stylish disguises? The doves and the slow motion should go without saying.
It all hews close to the now-cliche idea of Woo’s movies as action ballets, with typically absurd touches like the flurry of colorful Post-its that fly through the air during a hospital hallway shootout. (Naturally, in classic action-movie fashion, Zee’s decision to protect Jenn likely results in dozens more people getting killed than if she just shrugged it off.) The existential angst is nonexistent in this iteration, and yes, Woo is now self-imitating the type of thing that’s now available from a variety of sources, whether the John Wick series, DTV action-junkie cult items or any number of neon-drenched girl-with-a-gun exercises that sit on various streaming services (Gunpowder Milkshake, Kate, etc). There’s nothing urgently necessary about a new version of The Killer. It humbly presents the optional but delightful spectacle of watching John Woo have fun again.
The Killer is now available on Peacock in the US, with a UK date to be announced
• This article was amended on 24 August 2024 to refer to Chow Yun-fat by his surname, Chow, after first mention.
