Dip huet seung hung (1989)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

John Woo

Writer:

John Woo (written by)

Release Date:

September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Music | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

This film will blow you away.

Plot:

A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss.

Plot Keywords:

Hitman | Lounge Singer | One Last Job | Gangster | Gun Fu

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ah Jong (as Chow Yun Fat)
Danny Lee	...	Insp. Li Ying / Little Eagle
Sally Yeh	...	Jennie
Kong Chu	...	Fung Sei (as Chu Kong)
Kenneth Tsang	...	Sgt. Tsang Yeh (as Tsang Kong)
Fui-On Shing	...	Wong Hoi (as Shing Fui On)
Wing-Cho Yip	...	Wong Dung-Yu
Fan Wei Yee	...	Paul Yau
Barry Wong	...	Chief Insp. Dou / Tu
Parkman Wong	...	Insp. Chan Bok
Siu-Hung Ng	...	A killer
Sing Yeung	...	Bodyguard A
Siu Hung Ngan	...	Bodyguard B
Kwong Leung Wong	...	Wong Tong

Also Known As:

The Killer (Hong Kong: English title) (UK) (USA)
Bloodshed of Two Heroes (International: English title) (literal title)
Die xue shuang xiong (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

111 min | Australia:96 min | Taiwan:141 min | USA:104 min (R-rated version) | 124 min (extended version)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R (edited version) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Film Workshop

Trivia:

Tsui Hark was extremely unhappy with this film and wanted to have it completely recut. For example: Tsui felt that the focus of the movie should be on the cop instead of the killer. Therefor, he wanted the film to start with the scene that introduces the cop. The shootout in the restaurant, during which the killer blinds Sally Yeh, was to be completely cut and only inserted in flashbacks later in the movie. Neither Woo nor editor David Wu were going to reedit the film to Tsui's demands and due to a tight schedule (The Killer was going to premiere in Taiwan in a short time and some 100 cinemas had already booked the film), Hark didn't have the time to mess with the film. The Killer was a huge success when it premiered in Taiwan, which made Hark so furious that he (allegedly) threw things out of his office window.

Goofs:

Continuity: The same boat appears twice behind Jeffrey at the docks while he's calling Jenny.

Quotes:

Sydney: Don't let me die like this. I hate it. Will you give me a hero's death, old friend? You see, I... I didn't keep one last bullet.
Joe (Cantonese)/Jeffrey (English): I understand, Sydney. I have one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Kaubôi bibappu: Ballad of Fallen Angels (#1.5)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

It's Been Written

Just about the coolest movie in the planet!

Warning for an action-film lovers: after John Woo's totally brilliant ultra-violent masterpiece "Die xue shuang xiong /The Killer", American action movie is not worth one penny. It's so great and extraordinary words can't simply describe it! I watched it twice on a movie theater. Regretfully I didn't get a chance to see it a third time on cinema but subsequently I've watched it over and over again on VHS and it still kicks ass - harder and harder every time I see it!

This is the reason why I'm slightly against Woo's current career in Hollywood. He could never stretch himself to do anything like this in America! All the actors are too fantastic to be true: Danny Lee (as Lee), Sally Yeh (as Jennie), Chu Kong (as Sydney) and especially charismatic Chow Yun-Fat in the leading role as the killer Jeffrey ("I always save the last bullet - either for myself, or my enemy"). When he draws his guns and starts to use 'em we know who's the unconditional king of action!

Intelligent and profound story is hard and unsparing but somehow truly beautiful. Score is delightful: lovely and engaging and a bit sad. Charming song as performed by Jennie captivates in an unimaginable way. Bottomless, thrilling and balletic action just gets wilder and wilder and the stupendous end sequence in the church is definitely the craziest shoot-out in the history of movies and it's so cool I almost cry when I see it in an emotional moment. That's the magic of Woo. "The Killer" is a spectacular masterpiece! It's just perfect as hell and above any American film ever. John Woo's "Bullet in the head" (1990) is the only motion picture I know that gets higher than this in my book.