IMDb > The Killer (1989)
Dip huet seung hung
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The Killer (1989) More at IMDbPro »Dip huet seung hung (original title)

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The Killer -- A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss.

Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   29,521 votes »
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MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 29% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John Woo
Writer:
John Woo (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Killer on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
September 1990 (USA) See more »
Genre:
Action | Crime | Thriller See more »
Tagline:
This film will blow you away. See more »
Plot:
A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss. Full summary » | Add synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
See more »
Awards:
2 wins & 5 nominations See more »
NewsDesk:
(160 articles)
Producers Bruno Wu, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam Form Joint Venture (Exclusive)
 (From Variety - Film News. 17 May 2013, 10:00 AM, PDT)
Evan Jacobs' Dv Gets Horror-Depth 3D Release from Cinema Epoch; DV2 Announced!
 (From MovieWeb. 17 May 2013, 12:01 AM, PDT)
Community: Ken Jeong, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi and more on their favourite episodes
 (From The Guardian - TV News. 3 May 2013, 4:06 PM, PDT)
User Reviews:
Among Revenge and Forgiveness, Among Bullets and Faithfulness See more (211 total) »

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Yun-Fat Chow ... Ah Jong (as Chow Yun Fat)
Danny Lee ... Insp. Li Ying / Little Eagle
Sally Yeh ... Jennie
Kong Chu ... Fung Sei (as Chu Kong)

Kenneth Tsang ... Sgt. Tsang Yeh (as Tsang Kong)
Fui-On Shing ... Wong Hoi (as Shing Fui On)
Wing-Cho Yip ... Wong Dung-Yu
Fan Wei Yee ... Paul Yau
Barry Wong ... Chief Insp. Dou / Tu
Parkman Wong ... Insp. Chan Bok
Siu-Hung Ng ... A killer
Yamson Domingo ... Bodyguard A
Siu Hung Ngan ... Bodyguard B
Kwong Leung Wong ... Wong Tong
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chung Lin ... Jueng Wan / Ah Jong's first victim (uncredited)
Hsiang Lin Yin ... Syndicate man (uncredited)
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Directed by
John Woo 
 
Writing credits
John Woo (written by)

Produced by
Hark Tsui .... producer (as Tsui Hark)
 
Original Music by
Lowell Lo  (as Lowell Lowe)
 
Cinematography by
Peter Pau  (as Peter Pao)
Wing-hang Wong  (as Wong Wing Hang)
 
Film Editing by
Kung-Wing Fan  (as Fan Kung Ming)
 
Art Direction by
Man-Wah Luk  (as Luk Man Wah)
 
Set Decoration by
Chun-Ching Tai 
 
Costume Design by
Shirley Chan 
 
Makeup Department
Yu Lai Cheng .... makeup artist
Benny Chow .... hair stylist
Judy Mann .... makeup artist
Yvonne Yen .... makeup artist
 
Production Management
Claudie Chung Chun .... executive in charge of production (as Claudie Chung)
Virginia Lau .... production manager
Roy Leung .... assistant production manager
Kwong-King Ngan .... unit manager
Lai-Ping Tsang .... post-production supervisor
Deanne Yew .... production manager (as Deannie Yew)
Patrick Yip .... production manager
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chi Ming Leung .... second assistant director (as Leung Chi Ming)
Patrick Leung .... first assistant director
 
Art Department
Hsu Wei-Kuo .... assistant art director
Sai-Ching Yeung .... property master
 
Sound Department
Siu-Lung Ching .... sound effects
Hsue-yui Fung .... dubbing editor: mandarin
Yu Ting .... dubbing editor: cantonese
 
Stunts
Siu-Tung Ching .... action coordinator (as Ching Siu Tung)
Siu-Tung Ching .... stunts
Chi-Ho Lau .... action coordinator (as Lau Chi Ho)
Chi-Ho Lau .... stunts
Bruce Law .... car stunt coordinator (uncredited)
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Kim-Kit Chik .... chief electrician
Kim-Kit Chik .... lighting technician
Wai-Ming Ip .... still photographer
Fook-Shing Kam .... electrician
Tak-Shing Lee .... chief electrician
Wai-Tak Lee .... assistant camera
Sau-Ting Shin .... still photographer
Chun-Wah Yuen .... assistant camera
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ping Tong .... wardrobe mistress
 
Editorial Department
Chin-Kuen Pang .... assistant editor
 
Music Department
Susan Tang .... lyricist: theme song
James Wong .... lyricist: theme song
David Wu .... music editor
Sally Yeh .... singer: theme song
 
Other crew
Billie Chan .... unit publicist
Kathy Cheung .... production accountant
Janet Chin .... continuity
Sylvia Fung .... tea lady
Gloria Ho .... production security
Wysum Pao .... continuity
Chi-Wah Tse .... production assistant
Francois Frey .... press attache (uncredited)
 
Crew believed to be complete


Production CompaniesDistributorsSpecial EffectsOther Companies
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
"Dip huet seung hung" - Hong Kong (original title)
"Bloodshed of Two Heroes" - International (English title) (literal title)
See more »
MPAA:
Rated R for pervasive strong violence and some language (edited version)
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
111 min | Australia:96 min | Taiwan:141 min | USA:104 min (R-rated version) | 124 min (extended version)
Country:
Hong Kong
Language:
Cantonese | Mandarin | English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R (edited version) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted | Germany:18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | Finland:K-18 | USA:X (original rating)
Filming Locations:
Hong Kong, China
Company:
Film WorkshopSee more »

Did You Know?

Trivia:
Because it was so hard to get permits, some of the footage for Tony Weng's assassination scene was shot under the pretense that Woo was doing a documentary about Hong Kong's annual Dragon Boat race. Woo shot the bulk of the footage five months earlier, and brought in a small crew later to fill in the gaps. Woo ended up editing the scene himself, which took 3 weeks. Woo is a huge fan of musicals, and tried to think of the sequence as a musical number or dance sequence. He even edited it in time to the soundtrack.See more »
Goofs:
Continuity: The same bearded villain dies twice. Once in the shootout at Ah Jong apartment and later in the shootout at the church.See more »
Quotes:
Joe (Cantonese)/Jeffrey (English):I think you and I could be friends.
Lee:If I put my gun down, right? That's your condition?
Joe (Cantonese)/Jeffrey (English):Can you do it? (No response) At least we can be temporary friends. We have a common enemy.
See more »
Movie Connections:
References The Shining (1980)See more »
Soundtrack:
Once In A LifetimeSee more »

FAQ

What does the Chinese title of The Killer mean?
What are the differences between the French Extended Version and the Original Taiwanese Extended Version?
What are the differences between the Hongkong Theatrical Version and the Taiwan Version?
See more »

User Reviews

   (Review this title)
14 out of 17 people found the following review useful.
Among Revenge and Forgiveness, Among Bullets and Faithfulness, 14 November 2009
Author: Cihan Sean Victorydawn Vercan (CihanVercan) from Ottawa, Canada

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo teams up together with strong commitment to this highly melodramatic action film. The Killer was so ahead of its time especially with its signature shootout scenes and fast paced action sequences in its time of production in Hong-Kong. Without any special, visual or sound effects; it's a high achievement on both sound and vision. It's high on thematic values, but low on production values.

Woo benefited a lot from a team of action-coordinators as part of the production crew he assigned with. 20 years from its screen release, today still there are not many action films in which the sequences are coordinated as good as in The Killer. The rest of the production was standing by its plot, which becomes unbearable due to extremely melodramatic events. Woo tries to hurt our feelings as much as he can by killing and injuring innocents so ruthlessly: Passengers on a train, children on a beach, singers at a night club etc.

Lowell Lo's heart-wrenching theme and background music was one of the finest of the thematic values. Story development is also very effective that everything seems going fine at the beginning of Jong(the hit-man)'s last mission, then for he wasn't paid for his successful assassination he decides to show up back from underground with his alias: "Jeffrey". When he did, a stage singer ends up losing her sight and becomes blind from shot blasting. Jong helps her get well; she falls in love with him. He introduces himself as Jeffrey to her. No matter what romance they share together, no matter how close they are to each other; there is absolutely no accordance no chemistry between Sally Yeh and Chow Yun-Fat. Sally Yeh acts so poorly, especially while she keeps screaming needlessly every other scene.

For whoever likes this film, I strongly advise Léon to them. The same idea also works in Luc Besson's film, too: In a hit-man's life; there is no certain way to go, there is nobody to trust, there is no repentance. In Luc Besson's film of 1994, Jean Reno and Natalie Portman builds up a better harmony using emotions but not melodrama.

Additionally in John Woo's film, even though Chow Yun-Fat is not fast enough he just stands by the bullets by running, or guards himself with armchairs and seats of the cathedral which are vulnerable to bullets with the gaps between backrests. So many bullets are used... Were they shot by children or blind hitmans? How could you explain not getting shot while 4 hitmans are aiming at you running inside the cathedral and running on the beach? On the other hand, every single bullet that's used in Léon, hurts one person or another; or leaves marks, tracks and holes on walls, and in the texture of the floor. It's not an acquirement to waste 10 thousand bullets in a movie; but it's really an achievement when you configure a sub-production plan just to preview and review the bullets in both pre-production and production.

Was the above review useful to you?
See more (211 total) »

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Killer (1989)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
So sad! pedrol_ct
A new reason for the ending. cn0
How Would Jenny get new corneas if Ah Jong was shot in the eyes? mgrad784
Fox Lorber DVD mherch2833
How is this not in the Top 250? thga
Why did they double cross Ah Jong? mgrad784
See more »

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