Contract Killer (1998)

As much as I do enjoy Asian cinema, it just pains me to my very soul whenever I get an Asian movie that has been released as an English dubbed version. And especially bad is it when the DVD doesn't even offer the option to change the audio track into the original language. And unfortunately "Contract Killer" (aka "Sat sau ji wong") is such a dubbed movie. And what perplexes me even more is that the dubbing voice actors never do a proper work. It is always done so poorly that it becomes laughable.Anyone familiar with Hong Kong cinema will be thrilled to see Simon Yam, Eric Tsang, Gigi Leung and of course Jet Li in "Contract Killer". Simon Yam provides the serious acting, Eric Tsang provides the comical relief and Jet Li is of course doing the action.But they were being brutally butchered by a pathetic English dubbed audio track.Story-wise then "Contract Killer" is very typical for the action movies that were coming out of Hong Kong cinema during the late 1990's. That being said, it is of course up to the individual viewer whether that is good or bad. I did find it entertaining enough for what it was, I just struggled to swallow that dubbing pill.Aside from the dubbing horror, then the music in the movie was mostly very poorly selected; and here I'm thinking of the title track, the music played during the rather impressive elevator shaft fight scene and during the last fight scene."Contract Killer" appeals to anyone with a lifelong love romance with Hong Kong cinema. For newcomers there are far better Hong Kong action movies available. And as for it being a Jet Li movie, well don't get too excited, because it is not amongst his best work.

I just finished watching the local DVD version of Sat sau ji wong (a.k.a. "The Contract Killer"). It was a spontaneous purchase, since I did not really know anything about the movie. This was actually a good thing, so I could watch it unprejudiced.Well, how to describe this flick. Somehow I find that rather difficult. It has action. It has lots of humour. It is a very strange mix, but somehow it works. At least if you like Hong Kong action movies in general. I was reminded of the "Police Story" series, although this is not a completely fitting analogy I admit.The story revolves around a newcomer hit-man (Jet Li) who is desperate for an assignment. He seems to be lucky, since just before a Japanese mafia boss has been killed, who had set up a "revenge fund" prior to his assassination. The reward for finding the murderer, the "king of hit men" is very handsome indeed: 100 million dollars.Our "hero" meets a luckless con-man (Eric Tsang), who helps him get the assignment, together with a bunch of competitors. Things get ugly when the brutal and power-hungry grandson of the deceased decides to participate in the game as well.By Hollywood standards, most Hong Kong productions would count as B-movies, but this is clearly an understatement here. Okay, maybe they did not have the biggest budget in the world. But they clearly made an effort to achieve the maximum possible, including the actors. Yes, the actors really live up to the word, *unlike* in many, many American B-movie productions. And since this film is not "just" an action flick, Jet Li actually has to do a bit of real acting as well, and this is a welcome change, too.

I bought this movie on DVD for just £4.00 and im very impressed with it, what a bargain !Its funny (very funny in some parts), fast and the guy who plays Li's friend in this movie is a hilarious hapless character.This movie has some interesting, new aproaches to Hong Kong movies. Such as a bad guy who wears extremely powerful laser-lights to blind his enemy - sounds cheesy, but ill hear your opinion once you have seen it in action, its very effective.Jet Li's performance in this movie is by far his best, although 'Fist Of Legend' is still his best movie all-round. This movie is still well worth anybodies Fiver' (or five bucks :) .

This movie is called Hitman, and Jet Li holds the main character, so you would expect that he is a well trained, bad ass hitman, who kills a lot of people. But no, he is a child-lover who collects coins, and is for some reason good at karate, or what art of combat it is he is using. That really doesn't matter much, because Jet Li is hardly ever fighting in the poor number of combat-scenes this picture holds. Don't watch this movie. Gone With the Wind has more entertainment-value.