10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Killer

When you’re talking about directors who have built a repertoire of incredible action movies John Woo is right near the top of that list. He’s successfully made movies that action lovers drool over in both Hong Kong and in Hollywood. Pick a decade during my lifetime and you’re guaranteed to find a John Woo movie near the top of ‘Best action movies’. Selecting a John Woo movie to dive into for this post wasn’t a question but the true question was “which one?” I’ve often thought that Hard Boiled was my favorite Woo movie but after these 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Killer, it may have just changed.

#1. John Woo wanted to make a movie to honor his mentor Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai. The Killer became a tribute to that movie and towards Martin Scorsese’s films, as well. Many of the shots and uses of slow motion you’ll see during the shootouts were there to feed the action as well as the development of the characters.

#2. Sam Peckinpah slow motion tribute. He saw Peckinpah’s films as not violent, but poetic. The Killer tried to take that poetic idea and blend it with his almost musical-like action sequences.

#3. John Woo attempted many different filming techniques while making The Killer. The use of slow motion, overlapping, and freeze frames weren’t common place amongst the action genre. You’ll also see many of the classic John Woo signature moves being tested out here for the first time including the double turn, the sliding while shooting a gun, and the infamous dove shots.

#4. Woo feels that this film is about understanding or the lack of understanding. The cop was finally able to catch the killer once he was able to think and understand what type of person he was. The fact that the killer was attempting to leave the killing game gave them a perfect opportunity for the two characters to kind of meet in the middle.

#5. The movie was filmed without a complete script. Woo continued to write dialogue and talk with the actors during the shooting schedule.

#6. Christian themes of redemption and scenes in the church would become a staple of John Woo films. In this situation, it’s a place of refuge for the killer. A place where he can find some peace. That is, until the end when they have a massive gun battle and he only finds true peace in death.

#7. Woo had wanted the film to have a deeply romantic theme to it. The killer had finally ‘met his match’ and was attempting to go clean. At the same time, his newfound connection with the cop and their relationship is borderline romantic. By the end, we’re left with a three-way relationship between the cop, the killer, and the blind singer.

#8. John Woo had put everything into this one film. He wanted to fill The Killer with romanticism, amazing HK action, and tributes to all of his favorite films. This movie has all the elements of a musical while still being filled to the brim with action. While Woo was choreographing the action sequences in his head, he was listening to the music to feel where it would take him.

#9. Woo considers this his “most complete movie”. He had total support and had complete freedom to shoot whatever he wanted for the film.

#10. Chow Yun-Fat had done some movies but was thought of as “box office poison” according to the director. Woo chose him as the star of his film after he has used him once before but he had been surprised by how charismatic he was. He also thought he was a “real man’s man” and continued to write more and more scenes during the film that would highlight Chow Yun-Fat.