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The Killer (2024) - John Woo Remake of his Classic


DiP

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One Armed Boxer

John Woo – the legendary Hong Kong action director behind A Better TomorrowBullet in the Head and Hard Boiled – is aiming to direct an English-language remake of his 1989 film, The Killer. “I still have a couple of projects developing in Hollywood, so after Manhunt, I probably will go back to Hollywood to make another action thriller. I’m going to make The Killer in an American version.” 

I think I'd rather see Woo do a Hong Kong re-make of 'Paycheck' than an American version of 'The Killer'.

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starschwar

My first reaction was one of disgust.  The original is perfect.

 

But in fairness.  The South Korean remake of A Better Tomorrow turned out better than it had any right to.  Certainly not as good as the original, but it did a fine job of recontextualizing ideas and imagery from the original and giving an original spin on them.  There's innumerable bad remakes and reboots and so on, but every once and a while, you'll get  Fist of Legend or what have you in there.  I'm skeptical, but I might give it a chance if I hear good things.

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Cognoscente

It would be nice if the remake took the blind theme to another level like having the killer be colour blind while the cop is sensitive to light (but not like what happened with Blackjack where the hero has an aversion to white).

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Super Ninja
5 hours ago, starschwar said:

My first reaction was one of disgust.  The original is perfect.

Mine as well when this remake was talked about in another thread a couple of months back. Nothing changed. If he turns this into another Manhunt, I'm deciding to live in a reality where Woo retired after Reign of Assassins. 

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Drunken Monk

The Killer is my favourite John Woo movies but I don't mind that it's being remade. When it was announced about a year ago, Lupita Nyong'o was in talks to star and while she's dropped out, I liked the idea of the genders of the lead characters being switched. That might add something fresh to the film.

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2 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

The Killer is my favourite John Woo movies but I don't mind that it's being remade. When it was announced about a year ago, Lupita Nyong'o was in talks to star and while she's dropped out, I liked the idea of the genders of the lead characters being switched. That might add something fresh to the film.

I have to agree. What would be nice is to have someone who knows action to play the Chow role. Not just have another big name. There's so much talent out there...names I can think off the top of my head: Amy Johnston, Zoe Bell, Heidi Moneymaker. 

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Omni Dragon

This is at least the fourth time that plans for a remake of The Killer have been announced...

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I'm 50/50 on this. 50% skeptical and 50% optimistic... Skeptical as in redoing the whole thing frame-by-frame with a new unknown (to my knowledge) cast, and 50% optimistic as in Woo presenting everything in a fresh and inventive way.

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John Woo recently spoke to Deadline at the Fantasia Film Festival about the Killer remake, returning to the US & his bio pic about Columbia University Chinese philanthropist Dean Lung among other things.

https://deadline.com/2022/07/john-woo-dean-lung-silent-night-the-killer-1235071598/?fbclid=IwAR0py5q64yB638n18n2f0kL4z7qLOxLPWMj4XPb3efWx0NBQy7SBVo43jW0

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What a great interview! I can easily see why Face/Off is regarded as Woo's best all around Hollywood movie. He got the deserved artistic freedom that he didn't get before and hasn't been given ever since. I hope that goes for his new movie.

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14 minutes ago, DiP said:

What a great interview! I can easily see why Face/Off is regarded as Woo's best all around Hollywood movie. He got the deserved artistic freedom that he didn't get before and hasn't been given ever since. I hope that goes for his new movie.

Face Off was fire. It's hard to believe that the director of HK favs like Last Hurrah For Chivalry or The Killer made an American fav like Face Off. I actually liked Manhunt so I'm excited to see what's in store for John Woo. I haven't seen an action movie from him I didn't like

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23 hours ago, Ah_Tao said:

Face Off was fire. It's hard to believe that the director of HK favs like Last Hurrah For Chivalry or The Killer made an American fav like Face Off. I actually liked Manhunt so I'm excited to see what's in store for John Woo. I haven't seen an action movie from him I didn't like

Heroes Shed No Tears, Just Heroes, Once a Thief (1991), Broken Arrow, Once a Thief (1996), Blackjack, Windtalkers, and Paycheck are the least discussed action movies by the majority of Woo fans. What's your opinion on them?

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1 hour ago, DiP said:

Heroes Shed No Tears, Just Heroes, Once a Thief (1991), Broken Arrow, Once a Thief (1996), Blackjack, Windtalkers, and Paycheck are the least discussed action movies by the majority of Woo fans. What's your opinion on them?

I haven't seen the 96 version of Once a Thief yet but jeez, I haven't seen a few of them like Paycheck in a while. But I think the rest are awesome in different calibers. Heroes Shed No Tears is a fun movie but people try to compare it to Hard Boiled and Face Off, which is really odd if you ask me (like that's comparing Dirty Ho to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin). Not all his movies are for everyone but it's definitely an acquired taste.

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Cheer You On
7 hours ago, DiP said:

Heroes Shed No Tears, Just Heroes, Once a Thief (1991), Broken Arrow, Once a Thief (1996), Blackjack, Windtalkers, and Paycheck are the least discussed action movies by the majority of Woo fans. What's your opinion on them?

Heroes Shed No Tears is so dark that it makes Bullet in the Head look whimsical. Just Heroes would have been better had Woo been the only director, although I like how it foreshadows Stephen Chow's parodies.

Once a Thief, while inventive at times, would have been better had Woo stuck to his guns and made it a dark film. The remake was neither here nor there. Broken Arrow is fun but it's his most generic action film. Windtalkers was a return to form after the frothy nature of M:I-2. As for Paycheck, I thought it was enjoyable but it could have done with more suspense and less action. Apparently, that's what Woo wanted but the script and studio wanted something more popcorn.

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8 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

Anyone play this? I thought it was great fun. I loved shooting up the environments. :D

 

Yep I certainly do! Just replayed this recently. Still A LOT of fun. Did you play others like this too?

True Crimes LA

Jet Li's Rise to Honour

Sleeping Dogs

Hong Kong Massacre

And of course my favourite Shenmue ❤️

 

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PandaPawPaw
15 hours ago, laagi said:

 

Yep I certainly do! Just replayed this recently. Still A LOT of fun. Did you play others like this too?

True Crimes LA

Jet Li's Rise to Honour

Sleeping Dogs

Hong Kong Massacre

And of course my favourite Shenmue ❤️

 

I've only played Sleeping Dogs from that list which I loved and the only game I've 100% completed achievement wise. It's also the closest we'll get to a Bruce Lee type game.

I wish there had been a sequel. A GOD game in that style would of been great!

I bought Shenmue 1&2 a while back but not played it yet (Heck I don't think I've even installed it).

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