The Killer review: a fun, forgettable remake of an action genre classic

There didn’t seem to be much of a reason to go into The Killer expecting anything other than an unfortunate disaster. Legendary Hong Kong director John Woo may be one of the most revered names in action movie history, but it has been a long time since he’s directed a thriller of real note. Couple that with the fact that The Killer is an English-language remake that nobody asked for of one of his best and most well-known films, and what you get is a healthy amount of deep skepticism from even the most passionate fans of Woo’s work.

By the time it was announced that The Killer was going to skip a theatrical run altogether and premiere exclusively on Peacock, the film already seemed from the outside looking in to be dead on arrival. Imagine this writer’s surprise then when it turns out that The Killer is — purely and simply — a lot of fun. It isn’t anything particularly special and, as far as C-movie action thrillers go, it has little more going for it than Woo’s supremely stylish, lighthearted direction. Fortunately, that’s still a lot more than what most modern streaming originals have these days.

The Killer sticks somewhat closely to the plot and formula of its parent film. Like that 1989 classic, the new thriller follows assassin Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel) whose long-dormant conscience is awoken after an innocent bystander, Jenn (Diana Silvers), is blinded and marked for death during a hit. As she tries to save Jenn and rectify some of her past mistakes, Zee crosses paths with a determined police detective, Sey (Lupin star Omar Sy), who ultimately has more in common with her than either could ever have imagined. These plot points are all pulled straight from Woo’s original Killer, but neither the filmmaker nor any of the remake’s screenwriters, Brian Helgeland, Josh Campbell, and Matt Stuecken, turn out to be overly devoted to its source material.

Woo doesn’t so much deviate from the path that he laid out for himself 35 years ago as he finds a new way of walking down it. With a few noteworthy exceptions, the new film plays out very similarly to how its predecessor does, but Woo proves with this year’s Killer that what happens in a movie is never more important than how it carries itself. In the case of his latest film, Woo has chosen to trade the hard-knuckled, bloody ferocity of his beloved 1989 thriller for a brighter, more colorful look and more comedic demeanor. By switching the gender of his redemption-seeking assassin this time around, he has also opened the door for a playful and flirtatious dynamic to emerge between Emmanuel’s Zee and Sy’s Sey that suits both The Killer‘s lighter action-comedy aspirations and its Parisian setting.

Emmanuel, at first, seems too stiff to suit the more jovial nature of the film that surrounds her, but the former Game of Thrones actress gradually loosens up over the course of The Killer‘s 128-minute runtime. Her performance greatly improves once she’s able to start sharing the screen with Sy, the French movie star who gets a chance to be as charming as ever here. The two bounce off each other well and elevate The Killer‘s third act — even when the film seems in danger of losing its endearing elegance — by literally throwing themselves into its physically demanding challenges. Opposite her two co-stars, Silvers brings a refreshingly low-key, Gen Z energy to a film that isn’t interested in giving her much else to do than be in danger.

This Killer isn’t rich on character development or the kind of high-intensity melodrama of its parent film. It is, instead, a remake of immense personality and slick, alluring vibes. That may just be another way of saying that it is a two-hour excuse for Woo to experiment and show off stylistically, but The Killer gives you plenty of reasons not to begrudge it for that. Whether it be Zee’s rain-soaked, neon-lit entrance into a Parisian nightclub, a dance between her and an unsuspecting gangster that proves to be a prelude to a battle of swords and guns, or the brief instances of split-screen that both keep The Killer moving at a steady pace and double as expedited exposition dumps, Woo continuously finds new ways to hold your attention.

The film’s action sequences are fewer and further between than viewers will likely expect, and none of them prove to be quite as hard-hitting or explosively composed as the shootouts of the original Killer. Certain modern shortcuts, like bursts of CGI blood and green-screen plating, mar some set pieces as well. For the most part, though, Woo pulls off The Killer‘s violent confrontations and bullet-riddled chases with welcome humor and directorial grace. That is particularly true of one midpoint meeting between Zee and Sey in which composer Marco Beltrami fully embraces the film’s jazziest, ’60s-inspired elements and Woo finds the space for even more memorable, graphic images — like one of a blind and confused Jenn sitting unknowingly in the middle of a standoff between Emmanuel’s assassin and Sy’s detective.

Does any of this mean that The Killer is as good as its 1989 predecessor? Absolutely not, nor is it destined to be remembered as fondly. It seems more likely, in fact, that it will end up being forgotten like so many of the other streaming-exclusive action movies that have been released over the past six (or so) years. It is a whole lot better and more enjoyable than many of those films, though. Even more importantly, it suggests that Woo actually still has more to give us. That he found a way to prove that by revisiting one of his own past works is as unexpected as it is commendable. One can only hope that his next film follows through on the promises of his latest.

Either way, it feels like a certain stroke of poetic justice that Woo has found a new sense of life and exuberance in The Killer, a remake about — among other things — someone who is very good at what they do realizing that it’s never too late to turn things around. That may or may not be true for bloodthirsty paid assassins, but it undoubtedly is for filmmakers of Woo’s caliber.

The Killer is streaming now on Peacock.