Fulltime Killer (2001)

I have discarded Hollywood for a while, and turned my eyes on to the East. Here in Scandinavia, a company called Asion Vision has released a bunch of DVDs from Asia. This movie is from Hong Kong. Fulltime Killer is one of them. Fulltime Killer is the best action movie I've ever seen.It's got all the action you'd come to expect from movies like Resorvoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Assassins but doesn't underestimate the audience with bland script, and terrible plot. This movie really is something else, where you don't get the "aha" sensation, before the very end.For us guys, plenty of action with +100 IQ points inserted, and for the girls there is a, well, a bit twisted lovestory. But a lovestory it is.See this movie!!! If I could write a letter to the guys that made this, and say "thank you" in Hong Kong'ish, I would... But this review will have to do. Ah, I am going to see this with my wife soon who hasn't seen it yet. I can't wait! YeehaA!!

Full time killer is a mismatch of a film. Tries to be one thing, then another, then back again and so on. The film centres round two hit men and a women, with one aiming to finish the other off so he can be the best hit man around. The romance angle is not heavy but is poorly developed as she is in between the two of them.Acting by Andy Lau is also awful, and his part is so OTT that it is cringe worthy. The film is also done in 3 languages, with the spoken English being embarrassingly bad at times. Should have been kept alone in one language.Saying that, the movie has a few redeeming features. The main hit-man "O" is wonderfully done and is the main (only?) reason you will watch till the end. Else, the sniper scenes are good, but not great.Each to their own, but to me this was a poor effort, which even with a good starting idea was poorly executed. Maybe next time.

For those of us out there that miss the "Old" John Woo from The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorrow 1&2, Johnny To comes to pick up where Woo left off with Fulltime Killers. Now while some call that a blatant bootleg or hijacking of John Woo's style, I call it a pleasant revisit.Andy Lau plays Tok, a flamboyant leather clad professional killer who not only takes pride in his work but also looks to put himself in the spotlight with every kill he makes. Tok is a sort of tribute to one Castor Troy of Face-Off, with his flair and his trademark smile which he flashes at all times. Takashi Sorimachi plays O, a more traditional killer with a guilty conscience, who stays in the shadows and executes his job keeping himself out of the spotlight. O's guilty conscience is the result of an innocent getting caught up in his world. O is something of a tribute to Chow Yun-Fat's character in The Killer. As a result of O's more low-key approach he is the highest ranked and most sought after professional much to the dismay of Tok. Naturally a rivalry will result between these two polar opposites in an attempt to be the top.Acting as a catalyst to this rivalry is the lovely Kelly Lin, playing Chin, a mild-mannered video store clerk who is bored by life. An incidental visit by Tok to her video store, and a second job cleaning O's apartment begins a chain of events that puts her in the middle of these two professional killers rivalry.Fulltime Killer provides mind-blowing action scenes and a love triangle that even guys don't mind keeping up with. A throughly entertaining movie and a throwback to the "old" John Woo puts this movie high on my list. Give it a chance, and you'll be entertained at the very least.

"Fulltime Killer" is not quite as good as John Woo's (just plain) "Killer". The super-stylish direction catches your attention, and the flashbacks and changes of focus among the four main characters are confidently and successfully integrated into the narrative. Also all the performances are good. But if you're looking for any qualities like originality, substance or realism you've come to the wrong place. (**1/2)