803. Diéxuè Shuāngxióng

Diexue Shuangxiong
The Killer
1989
Directed by John Woo

Ah, the bromance.  One of cinema's finest topics. And when they are both total badasses, what could be better?

Ah Jong is an assassin who is hired by the Triads to massacre a group of men at a nightclub.  Well, maybe just one man, but he ends up killing a bunch of other people too. During the ensuing shootout, Ah Jong accidentally damages the eyes of Jennie, the singer at the club.  The Triads double cross him, forcing him to go on the run, although he still wants to pursue a relationship with the girl he blinded, because that wouldn't be sick or complicated at all.  Meanwhile, Detective Li becomes obsessed with tracking Ah Jong down.

I was really blown away with this.  I was in total dork mode watching this film; staring at the screen, murmuring "That. Was. Awesome."  I will admit there was some cheesy back and forth and the Jennie character was incredibly annoying.  All she ever did was scream her head off.  Now if a bunch of (hunky) men were shooting around me, I would probably be doing the same thing (in addition to wetting my pants).  Still, it was obnoxious to watch.

There was something really beautiful about this film, underneath all the blood and gore.  Part of my reasoning for that statement is the ending, which I don't want to give away here.  But the friendship, the empathy, and the love (I don't care what The Book says, it didn't seem gay to me) between the characters is something to be admired.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Dedicated to Martin Scorsese.

Body count of 120.