‘The Killer’ Review: John Woo Remakes His Own Masterpiece, Sans Mastery

Some people think remakes have to be as good as or even better than the original to be worth making, but that’s a high bar and it’s covered in vaseline. All a remake actually has to do is justify its own existence. Maybe it’s got a new style, maybe it’s got a new context, but either way there just needs to be some reason to watch this new version instead of the old one, at least once.

Unfortunately, the only reason I can think of to watch John Woo’s Peacock-exclusive remake of “The Killer” is because it’s the only version that’s currently available on streaming. It’s not good filmmaking and that’s not even good capitalism. The law of supply and demand falls apart when the only supply most people can access is of inferior quality. (Folks, invest in physical media while you can.)

The original “The Killer,” also directed by Woo, is one of the great masterpieces of action cinema. Chow Yun-fat stars as Ah Jong, a hitman who accidentally blinds an innocent singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) in a shooting gone wrong. He decides to atone by taking more jobs to pay for her surgery. Along the way, a stubborn detective named Li Yang (Danny Lee) picks up his trail, but although they spend half their time shooting at each other, they gradually form an unlikely bond.

“The Killer” is an operatic, balletic, bullet-spraying spectacular, yet at its core it’s a morally complicated tragedy about a murderer developing a conscience and a cop who learns to be morally flexible. It’s a saga of romantic love between Ah Jong and Jennie, and a platonic and very masculine love between Ah Jong and Li Ying. The plot is simple and the characters are complex. The remake unwisely reverses that.

The new version of “The Killer” stars Nathalie Emmanuel (“Fast X”) as Zee, an assassin living in Paris, working for a handler named Finn (Sam Worthington). He tells her who to kill, and she always asks, “Do they deserve this death?,” just so the audience knows this movie has as little nuance as possible. You see, Zee isn’t a bad person, because she only kills bad people. Got it? We’re cool, right? You didn’t have to turn on your brain?

Like the original, Zee murders a bunch of goons, but she accidentally blinds a singer named Jenn (Diana Silvers, “Booksmart”). The problem is, unlike the original, Jenn isn’t collateral damage. Finn explains that Zee was supposed to kill Jenn too, so Zee tries to finish the job, but she gets interrupted by a good cop named Sey (Omar Sy) with whom she forms an unexpected friendship, even though they’re supposed to be shooting at each other.

The original “The Killer” was a film about relationships first and foremost, but the remake never seems terribly interested in the way these characters connect. Zee never forms a romantic relationship with Jenn, or hardly any relationship at all, nor does her friendship with Sey seem special or significant. They just kinda “get” each other, and they respect each other for being pretty cool at what they do. 

So instead the film focuses heavily on an elaborate plot involving stolen heroin, a suspicious Saudi Arabian prince (Saïd Taghmaoui), a French mafioso (Eric Cantona) and corrupt cops. Zee has to figure out who the real bad guys are so she can kill them. Sey will help out eventually. Jenn will basically just be there and eventually get kidnapped. It’s all so funking perfunctory.

The ingredients were right there for a satisfying remake, or at least a fun one. The new Parisian setting makes sense, since Woo’s approach to stylish criminality is steeped in the films of Jean-Pierre Melville, and sure enough Nathalie Emmanuel wears a hat and coat evoking the late Alain Delon’s signature ensemble. But beyond that, Woo seems resistant to connect his new film with his past influences, playful or portentous, so the change in venue ultimately adds and alters nothing.

One might hope that at least John Woo’s game-changing action set pieces would make a comeback, but the remake of “The Killer” pushes no boundaries. Then again it’s easy to forgive that. Woo’s spectacular shootouts and riveting bromances — see also: “Last Hurrah for Chivalry,” “A Better Tomorrow,” “Hard Boiled,” “Once a Thief,” “Bullet in the Head” — had a gigantic impact on the action movie genre, and the number of films that ripped him off can’t be comfortably counted. So it makes sense that a remake of “The Killer,” even from Woo himself, would struggle to feel fresh. Technically it’s a copy of the original, but it may as well be a copy of a copy.

It’s good to know that John Woo still thinks the only reason motorcycles were invented was to be shot and exploded in mid-air, but most of this action is merely satisfactory, and even after years of experimentation, CGI bullet hits still look faker than an old-fashioned squib. Emmanuel and Sy are convincing in their fist-fighting and fire-powering, but most of their choreography is bog standard in the wake of Woo’s earlier work, with only a climactic and joyously absurd jump attack from Emmanuel making a memorable impression. (Naturally, that’s the featured shot in all the advertising, which seems destined to lessen its impact.)

It’s unfortunate that a classic action film with an unforgettable emotional and stylistic impact could yield a style-free remake that prioritizes contrivance over substance. It’s even more disappointing that, since Rupert Sanders’ “The Crow” also opened this week, we’d get two of them on the same day. The new “The Killer” isn’t as embarrassing as the new “The Crow,” but it also takes fewer chances with the material. It’s slightly more watchable and a lot less interesting; the flip side of a very dull, very faded coin.