Watch the trailer
Written by: John Woo (based on the motion picture written and directed by), Brian Helgeland and Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken (screenplay)
Directed by: John Woo
Starring: Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington
Rated: R
Plot
An assassin tries to make amends in an effort to restore the sight of a beautiful young singer.
Verdict
I was intrigued by a director remaking his own film. I haven't seen the original, and this doesn't give me any incentive. It's a mundane action movie that checks all the boxes, but nothing else. The plot hinges on an extremely unlikely choice which doesn't help. Everything happens because the movie needs it to, not because there's any logic to it. Because of that the movie has a few expository information dumps which deaden an already dull action movie. Just okay is the phrase that describes most aspects of this movie.
Skip it.
Review
Not to be confused with David Fincher's 2023 The Killer, this is a remake of Woo's own 1989 The Killer [ 喋血雙雄]. While I haven't seen that movie, it is well-regarded.
With the title, it's easy to guess what Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel) does and why she is in a derelict church. It's a drop point, and she's on a new mission. She asks if the people she's tasked with killing deserve to die. She's told they do, but it's an odd question as this isn't a business of outstanding morals. You have to question the ethics when your job is murder. Towards the end of the movie, we'll discover the reason for the question. It sets up a one liner.
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| Nathalie Emmanuel plays Zee |
Zee doesn't kill a witness during a job. She knows she should and doesn't. Despite an attempt to rectify the situation, the witness is still alive. I'd think someone that is presented as a battle hardened, cold blooded killer wouldn't hesitate. The fundamental question is why. Why does Zee show this compassion that jeopardizes her entire livelihood? The movie wants us to accept this moment of compassion or weakness, depending on your point of view, but that's not good enough. We need a better reason, and this is the foundation for the entire movie. Zee saves this girl for no real reason other than to create a starting point for the plot. Eventually we get an exposition dump that explains why, but it's forced.
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| Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy play Zee, Sey |
While the action is okay, it's what you'd expect from this movie genre. Just okay is the description for this movie. We get a back and forth between Zee and police officer Sey (Omar Sy). He's chasing her for the murders at the beginning of the movie and they interact a number of times. Omar Sy is the more charismatic character. Part of that is the actor, part of that is he's a good cop amidst corrupt officers. Zee is just a killer with a goldfish. That's not enough.
This is a bit long and the twists and turns are expected and generic. This had potential with a cop and criminal facing off and then teaming up, but it seems like a movie that used a checklist of what to include in an action movie. This does what I'd expect but nothing more. I would have hoped for more development of the character like Fincher's The Killer or Léon: The Professional. Both of those movies had an angle for the protagonist. This needs something deeper, a focus. Instead all it has is the action to fill the void, and there are more than enough generic John Wick imitators. What the first John Wick did especially well is to hint at this underground assassin society that made the world the movie showed us feel so much bigger.
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