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If you were waiting for John Woo‘s latest action thriller film The Killer, featuring his signature action style and a thrilling story. Then the wait is finally over as the Nathalie Emmanuel and Omar Sy-led film is finally available to stream on Peacock. Based on Woo’s 1989 film of the same name, the Peacock film is co-written by Brian Helgeland, Josh Campbell, and Matt Stuecken and it follows the story of a deadly assassin as she refuses to kill a young blind woman and in turn her employer puts out a hit on her, forcing her to kill the people coming after her while being hunted by a relentless cop. So, if you loved the high-octane action, thrilling story, and interesting characters in The Killer here are some similar movies you should check out next.

The Killer (Buy DVD on Amazon) Credit – Magnum Presentation

The Killer is a...

Surely many will remember “Hard Boiled” as John Woo’s last film made in his native country (Hong Kong), as well as some sort of letter of introduction to Hollywood. But today, that perspective has already changed, since in 2008 John Woo returned to his homeland to shoot “Red Cliff” and there he has stayed all these past years. Little can be said about “Hard Boiled” that hasn’t already been said, and this is something more than obvious: “Hard Boiled” puts most recent action movies to shame. Very few reach this level of spectacularity (The Raid 2 from 2014 for example), and this is not something coming from this particular movie, but from almost all of John Woo’s action films. See “A Better Tomorrow” (1986), The Killer (1989) or “Bullet in the Head” (1990) for example. John Woo has a unique vision and a unique mastery, and that’s something that is patent...

Building up on the success of the two previous installments, Sammo Hung and producer Eric Tsang really went overboard with this one, which this time, takes place mostly in Pattaya, Thailand and features even more explosive (literally and metaphorically) action scenes. The most impressive fact, however, about the film, is its uncanny cast, which seems to feature the majority of the creme de la creme of Hk action cinema, to say the least. Apart from the two aforementioned and the foreigners Richard Norton and Yasuaki Kurata, who form the main villain trio with Fat Chung, the movie also includes Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Richard Ng, Kiu Wai Mai, Stanley Fung, Sibelle Hu, John Sham, Rosamund Kwan, Andy Lau, Kara Hui, Michelle Yeoh and Charlie Chin, while in non-named credits as thugs, we stumble upon Dick Wei, Philip Ko and Lau Kar-win, to name the ones with the most significant roles.

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns with an assessment of Ricky Lau’s Hong Kong comedy horror show-cum-mystical martial arts romp. Introduced to the vampire mythos are some novel ideas, like scary-looking vampires that get around by hopping on two legs. Effective horror scenarios include expertly choreographed martial arts routines. However, the score on the genre mash-up front is “two out of three ain’t bad:” the brand of broad comedy that Mr. Vampire peddles is hit and miss when it comes to generating genuine laughs.

Mr. Vampire

CineSavant Guest Review

Region B Blu-ray

Eureka Entertainment

1985 / Color / 1.85 / 96 min. / Geung see sin sang / Street Date, 20 July 2020 / £19.99

Starring: Ching-Ying Lam, Ricky Hui, Siu-Ho Chin, Moon Lee, Billy Lau, Ha Huang, Wah Yuen, Siu-Fu Wong, Anthony Chan.

Cinematography: Peter Ngor

Film Editor: Peter Cheung

Production Designer: Sai Kan Lam

Original Music: Melody Bank

Written by Ricky Lau, Cheuk-Hon Szeto, Barry Wong & Ying Wong

Produced...

Chicago – John Woo changed my life. I was just the right age when I saw “The Killer” and “Hard Boiled” that they blew my mind. Wait, you mean not all foreign films look like Jean-Luc Godard? I was young enough that I thought foreign meant boring. There’s Nothing boring about the prime of John Woo and one of his best, “Hard Boiled” has now been released on Blu-ray. And it still blows my mind.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

The action genre is too often the playground of the lazy. Too many directors think that if they just feature enough shoot-outs, car chases, and explosions then they will satisfy their genre requirements. Creativity too rarely plays a significant role. And it was even more of a problem in the late ’80s when the action genre was dominated by muscle-bound icons like Sly and Ah-nuld. While American action was in a rut, John Woo...

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