It's time for a really big blast to the past, this film Contract Killer starring Jet Li was shown on the year 1998 and ah, he was so young back then and Gigi Leung was still a fanboy's fantasy during that time. So where do I start? I won't really write too many details- more on the main plot. Jet Li plays the character Fu who is extremely skilled but pretty naive who gets entangled with Kiki (played by Gigi Leung) who is a lawyer who has a cheap father named Ngok Lo (Eric Tsang) who does a lot and I mean a lot of dirty ways to make money but he isn't the film's antagonist. I would say for any Chinese action movie critic, they should never miss this!
The story revolves around this King of Killers who is a vigilante who kills dangerous criminals. So we have Eiji Tsukamoto (acted by Renji Sato) who is a dangerous Japanese businessman who's presumably wanted in both his country and Hong Kong who is a sick, I mean sick pervert who wants to kill the King of Killers for killing his wicked grandfather. Boy, he must have been that close to grandpa! So he sets a bounty to get rid of the King of Killers. And of course, there's some comedy, action and suspense so well mixed, I really sat through this and enjoyed it!
I would say that this Eiji Tsukamoto bad guy is one incredibly brilliant criminal as if he descended from both a samurai lineage and a ninja lineage. I'd say the fact that he will do anything to cover his tracks is really, what I mean really despicable. I'd say the death of Uncle Leung in the movie was one of the best scenes ever done and Kenji Sato is a good actor. But of course, he's got that high taste and everything from women to aesthetics... he's one really badass bad guy that makes the movie interesting to watch. I just thought that as much as his grandfather was a wicked man, he did miss that guy. But that grandpa's a pedophile, not the sweet and loving kind but perhaps he was very loving to his grandson Eiji. But I do find it weird and disturbing that this guy swallowed his cremated grandfather's ashes and him having the revenge fund done.
Jet Li's character Fu is pretty interesting being a nobody with martial arts skills who becomes the hero and develops a love interest with Gigi Leung, two different worlds. What is so crazy that one day, from a small gang member with a very simple life, he ends up getting into the role of the hero. He does also get entangled with Lo and Chan Kwan (Simon Yam). And for Kiki, I would sympathize with her for having such a stupid father in Ngok Lo. But regardless, she's still her daughter and he is still her father- no matter how stupid her dad can get. So in one situation, Fu and Lo get wrongly arrested but are bailed out by Kiki. Then also, there's the huge mystery of who is the King of Killers? At this time Chan Kwan and David (Kiki's fiance) are on their track to solve the mysteries.
What I find intriguing are the film's revelations especially during the engagement party of Kiki to David which sadly for the latter, Kiki later breaks up with him when Lo reveals his real background. Gigi Leung was smoking hot in her dress. Moving on, I'd say that Kiki also plays the important part and so does her father who apologizes for all the years of stupidity she had to endure. Also, Fu eventually guesses Chan Kwan who was working on the case to find the "King of Killers" is the convict himself! Talk about Edgar Alan Poe writing in here. Now it just gets more and more complex especially when we learn that Eiji had arranged it- regardless who kills the King of Killers, he gets the bounty. Wow, what a dysfunctional and greedy guy he is! This was all shocking to me on the part of Chan Kwan but not on Eiji, he's one dirty big bad who's better off dead- which was revealed after that moron Lo admits to being the King of Killers and faked that he was shot to death by Fu, which was all but a gag.
I would say that final battle was just awesome. So Fu manages to beat that Tall Guy (Paul Rapovski), then a lot of the minions of Eiji then Eiji himself which I'd say those were incredibly insane action scenes. Wow, how does he do that? Then again, this is Chinese cinema where all action will kill you if you were hit by it. At the end, the revenge fund's lawyer has the split between Fu, Chan and Lo. Chan states he's getting too old for the job saying Fu should take over, since he could killt he guilty and not harm the innocent- Jet Li gives an ambiguous reply. Also, with Kiki as his agent, looks like a relationship could begin but too bad this film wasn't give a sequel so maybe we're just left to decide the fate of the characters.
My rating? 8/10. A good action movie that has a lot of nostalgic value that Doug would probably like and perhaps even Angry Joe.
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