Hitman

Jet Li (Hero, Black Mask etc.) and Erik Tsang (Infernal Affairs) star in this wire fu action flick with an identity crisis. We start in kind of Jackie Chan territory with plenty of humour with Li a bumbling incompetent hit-man and Tsang a small time crook getting involved in a multi-million dollar 'hit'. As the film goes on all the comedy moments are forgotten and we begin to move into a serious action flick involving a bit more gun play than the usual Jet Li film, in fact it comes across at times as a cross between a Jet Li film and a John Woo heroic bloodshed type affair.

The action sequences are all to the high standard expected of Jet with a few added gun play sequences. Li is very likable in the lead role and Tsang is very good in his sidekick role showing a different persona to his performance in Infernal affairs.

Overall a fairly good hong kong action flick but the differing styles clash at times 6/10

A HK movie which doesn't have over the top music, bad dubbing, over stylish direction or bad actors deserves to get a better mention. After watching the APPALLING "Black Mask" (directed by that unfortunately highly American influenced Daniel Lee) I didn't expect much from this. I was pleasantly surprised. Good acting all round (watch for Jet li's subtle quirks), standable music, nice sound, simple and unglorified directing (check out the fight with the guy with the lasers) good fight scenes, and a solid plot make this a good change of pace from most Jet Li movies. Don't watch it for a Martial Arts Flick, just watch it for a well made action movie and you won't be disappointed. 7.5 /10

From the cover of the movie, with Jet Li dressed up in a full Swat-like body armor, swinging in a rope, I didn't really expect much. It seemed pretty cliché if you ask me. But I watched it, and boy, was I surprised. Ok, so it was dubbed. And dubbing is always bad. But the story was quite interesting, and carried out well throughout the movie.

In the opening scene a mafia boss is killed by a hitman, along with a bunch of his bodyguards. His family puts a bounty on the hitmans head (100 million dollars, to be exact... That's alot!), and they call upon all the assassins of Hong Kong to find this hitman, and kill him.

Jet Li's character, Fu, is a rookie hitman who's low on cash. He's thrown out by his roommates for not paying the bill and is wandering the streets when he hears of the 100 million dollar award for the one who finds the killer of the mafia boss. He also finds a new friend, who finds a few hits for him. However it seems that Fu isn't really that great of a hitman. Sure, he is fast, strong and well trained in the martial arts, but he's to sensitive.

They end up getting in trouble, because everyone thinks Fu's friend is the one who killed the mafia boss, and they have to run from some of Eiji's (the badguy in the movie... But is he really bad? What did he do that's so bad? Well, its obvious that he is meant to be the badguy, anyway) assassins. The end is pretty predictable (but the identity of the killer who killed the mafia boss is probably supposed to come as a surprise. It didn't.) but all in all its a good movie. Entertaining, and much, much better than most Hollywood action movies.

I give it a 8, interesting characters, plot, fights and pretty much everything. But I suppose it could have been better on some minor points. It just doesn't feel like a 10, heh.

The Contract Killer is one of Jet Li's best films. Besides the cool action sequences, the movie has effective humor (courtesy of Eric Tsang), and well... more action sequences. Not to mention the movie has one of the most rubbish scripts ever in the history of Kung-Fu/Action cinema. The script is so bad, the sub-villain is a guy with lasers on the tip of his shoes. And the villain eats his diseased grandfather's ashes. Yeah.

Anyways, long story short, Jet and Eric must find the killer of old mafioso don Tsukamoto, in order to receive a 100 million dollar reward. Everything else is action and buddy comedy.

It is important to recognize the talent and agility Jet demonstrates in his fighting scenes. Although they are far from being his best, the work he puts in here is astounding; heavily inspired by most of Jackie Chan's work as a matter of fact. Jet isn't a killing machine here, or a spiritual white robbed man with a bad haircut. He is but a skillful martial artist that doesn't want to hurt anyone badly, therefore, he resorts to use his surroundings most of the time. Like Jackie in most of his films.

It is also important to recognize Eric Tsang. The man is very good in this one; funny, enjoyable and overacted (but in a tasteless way of course). I also liked the musical score and requisite Hip Hop soundtrack.

Statement: You are not a Jet Li purist if you haven't seen Contract Killer. I also highly recommended this to anyone that wants to laugh and see some large amounts of ass kicking at the same time.

5.3/10

Hitman is a good solid action comedy which calls upon Jet Li to do a little more acting than usual. The cast is good, with Eric Tsang standing out particularly, and Heiji Sato making a decent debut as the nasty Japanese guy (there seem to be a lot of these in Hong Kong movies). Action scenes are relatively thin on the ground but what's there is of a good standard - although you might expect better from "Hong Kong's greatest action export".

What's most refreshing about this film is its understatement. The plot isn't anything special but it's pretty water-tight, and the action is all pretty believable if unspectacular.

One thing I particularly liked about Hitman was the way that different languages were used throughout the film (without using dubbing as in The Black Sheep Affair). This contributes to the overall realistic feel of the film and is something I would like to see more on screen. This aside, there is nothing particularly innovative here, but nothing worth criticising either - a film I could recommend to people who don't usually enjoy foreign martial arts movies.