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Fulltime Killer (2001)

Dir: Johnnie To/ Wai Ka-Fai

'0' (Takashi Sorimachi) is a ruthless, coldly professional, disciplined Japanese assassin who is almost a legend in the murky World of organized crime and crooked big business.

'Tok' (Andy Lau, who also acted as Producer) is an up and coming, pop culture/action movie obsessed Chinese assassin whose flamboyant, brash and risky attitude to his hits is in stark contrast to the secretive, sober '0'.
'Tok' has more on his mind than just assassinations though. His aggressive competitive nature and mentally warped fantasy view of life as a killer means that he takes every opportunity to let '0' know that there can be only one top assassin in Asia.

Into this dangerous conflict comes a thrill seeking young Women named Chin (Kelly Lin) who '0' hires to clean his rarely used Hong Kong apartment.
'Tok', who is studying '0's' every move, gets to know Chin and from the start tells the, at first, unbelieving girl the truth about himself and his thoughts on '0'.
Chin, amazingly stays with 'Tok' and, torn as she is because of her fascination with the mysterious '0', helps 'Tok' to get closer to his rival.
But 'Tok' also has a secret that she, or '0', does not know about…….

All the while, dedicated Cop Albert Lee (Simon Yam) with his partner Gigi (Cherrie Ying) is obsessively hunting '0' and 'Tok's' appearance brings the flamboyant killer into Lee's sights as well…..

Andy Lau (one of the finest action stars America hasn't got around to hearing of..…So naturally one whose career hasn't been ripped to shreds) is in outstandingly entertaining form as 'Tok' and just like in his iconic "God of Gamblers", "A Moment of Romance" period, he radiates screen presence.
But his role here is very different from those days of loveable rogues and tragic anti-heroes.
'Tok' is indeed flamboyant, charming and oozes razor sharp coolness in every movement, but he's also a mentally scarred, dark, psychotic stone killer. But a psycho stone killer with one hell of fine fashion sense!

But all that does not mean that his three other leads are not also in marvelous form.
Kelly Lin does a fine job as the rival assassin's love interest, and brings a very strong persona and highly unusual intensity to the kind of role that is not normally this heavily developed.
And her character truly grows in the final act of the film as our first impressions of Chin are, by sudden unexpected actions and slowly uncovered back-story, blown apart completely after some fascinating teasing changes to her character throughout the rest of the movie.

Takashi Sorimachi (like Lau a popular singer as well as actor) as the sophisticated, highly professional '0' actually does such a good job that it's only when you think about what kind of balls out, charismatic character he had to play against in 'Tok'.
That he keeps what is the obviously less distinctive role forever on the viewers' mind. Always keeping him the lower key of the two assassins of course, but never having '0' swamped by 'Tok's' presence.

Fan fave Simon Yam (who went from the masterful high class cinema of John Woo's "A Bullet In The Head" to the joyfully exploitative World of extreme 'Category 3' films and is now looking far more baggy of face than he did in the days of his own flamboyant psycho role in Ringo Lam's "Full Contact") does a wonderful job as the passionate, dogged and ultimately tragic Cop who is on the trail of '0' and 'Tok'. Again that such a supportive and far less showy role compared to the two assassins never becomes obscured by them is testament to Yams excellent work. Especially as almost his entire dialogue is in English.

But all these fine performances and engaging characters are wrapped in an equally impressive parcel of masterful, exciting, high tech movie making.

The excellent soundtrack is well edited into the action, and even adds to the film's highly effective mix of hyper-realism and dreamlike abstractness.
An eye-popping sequence involving 'Tok' and a subway train is a perfect example of this sudden reality shock and mind bending abstract visuals.

Directors' Johnnie To (who had Directed Lau in the highly successful "Running Out of Time") and Wai Ka-Fai create some of the most brutal and bloody action sequences seen in a Hong Kong film for years. The now well worn, but still amazingly affective when done by film makers who actually know what they are doing, slow motion 'Heroic Bloodshed' gun play is perfectly choreographed and executed and has been given an extra hard hit of brutality by the multiple angle, depth of shot, sledgehammer editing of the big budget, modern Hollywood action films. No surprsie then that this superb Editing job (that is also very impressive during the more lyrical, quiet and surreal moments of the narrative) was the work of a Westerner, David M Richardson.
This is a rare thing indeed, a mixture of movie making cultures and techniques that actually adds to the movies overall impact. Not detracts from it.
This mix of cultures is explicitly on display in the very language used in the film. The cast speak a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and also a surprising amount of (sometimes rather shaky) English.

The aforementioned violence on display is certainly uncompromising. Be it in the stylish assassinations and shoot outs or in the more direct and harsh scenes of a corpse having it's teeth smashed out before being buried in a hole, (chillingly mixed in with 'Tok' and Chin making love), a finger gouging into an eye or the hard hitting aftermath and carnage of a (truly outstanding) gun fight with the Police.
In fact this latter sequence (which really brings Yam's character out) is so sober and personal in its depiction of the ravaged Squad of Policemen that the contrast with the lightning strike assassination set pieces, and past action in general, is emotionally jolting.

The various nods to past U.S action films, Japanese Manga, famous video games and classic era Euro movies (mostly from 'Tok's' almost fan boyish obsession with all things pop culture and cool. His wearing of the Bill Clinton mask in an outrageously showy assassination in broad daylight in a busy street is his manic homage to Kathryn Bigelow's "Point Break") all add a highly unusual atmosphere to the film.
This makes reality itself seem like nothing more than an outrageous, super sized fantasy World of cool moves, cool clothes, Christ like charisma, beautiful and infatuated Women and exaggerated killing skills that 'Tok' must have always dreamt were the norm in the life of an assassin.

And the delightfully bizarre, ludicrously entertaining, outrageously theatrical finale is unlike anything else you have ever seen….

This is brutal 'Heroic Bloodshed' filmmaking of the old school (not only in it's expert use of slow motion, but also in it's emotionally complex character relationships, which is surprising given the screenplay, though based on a novel by Ho Cheung Ping, is by American Joey O' Brian whose Production Assistant work on "Once Upon A Time In China and America" must have somehow given him a fine grasp of the emotional highs of Hong Kong action films) mixed with very modern, American influenced, techniques, a dash of surrealism that is equal amounts dreamlike and nightmarish, and some breathtaking Cinematography by Siu-keng Cheng.
Add all this to a top notch cast on expert form and it all ends up creating one of the most unusual, powerful, complex and down right exhilarating movies to come out of Hong Kong for many years.

Hunt out the low priced but excellent R4, 'Deltamac' DVD as it not only gives you a great looking transfer, well translated subtitles and a few nifty extras but also an outstanding DTS sound mix that is a joy to hear.