Brothers, Guns, & Doves - Fulltime Killer (2001)

Director: Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai

Cast: Andy Lau, Takashi Sorimachi, Kelly Lin, Simon Yam

Country: Hong Kong

Rating: R

Run Time: 101 min

Brothers, Guns, & Doves is a series dedicated to discussing Heroic Bloodshed films produced inside or outside of Hong Kong. Films of this nature typically feature highly stylized gun play, emotional stories about honor and brotherhood, and, if directed by John Woo, lots of slow motion doves.

Fulltime Killer is a Hong Kong action film that has always fascinated and confounded me. The film was co-directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai (Vengeance, Drug War), two masters of mature and meditative action. However, Fulltime Killer is anything but mature or meditative. The film is a fast paced actioner where style outweighs substance. I would declare the film an obvious example of post-Tarantino influence if it did not come from the country that supplied Tarantino with the inspiration and references for his own Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill saga. Still, few Hong Kong films feature such blatant filmic references and wildly uneven stylistic tendencies as Fulltime Killer.

However, the film is also enjoyable for how bonkers its action sequences are and for its representation of the dueling assassins sub-genre. I've always been a sucker for a dueling assassins film, even though they are rarely good. Some dueling pictures that come to mind include Richard Donner's Assassins and Ernie Barbauch's The Assassination Games. You could even include Michael Winner's The Mechanic to some extent. There is something intriguing about pitting two separate action stars against one another in dual roles that share the same profession. In Fulltime Killer, the two dueling assassins are played by resident action star Andy Lau (Rich and Famous, Infernal Affairs) and Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi. While both actors give commendable performances, it's a shame that Lau is the only actor given a character ripe for examination and exploration.

This film has always fascinated me because it was Hong Kong's selection for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 2002. This blows my mind, as Fulltime Killer is the lowest common denominator of Hong Kong action cinema, not an exemplary piece of filmmaking. Hong Kong must have been truly desperate that year. 

Ya know, cause a 'flower shotgun' spells "Best Foreign Language Film."

To and Wai Ka Fai's film opens with dual action sequences that introduces the audience to the dueling assassins' personalities and marksmanship styles. O (Takashi Sorimachi) is a professional killer who lives on his own and happens to be the number one assassin in the entire world. His competition, Tok (Andy Lau), is a reckless hooligan of an assassin who kills purely with the goal of becoming the new number one. In their respective opening gun fights, O showcases a silent professionalism while Tok showcases a reckless and no nonsense approach to his killings.

The two assassins collide with one another as their paths intersect with Chin (Kelly Lin), the woman who cleans O's flat. Tok befriends Chin in order to get closer to O who he wishes to usurp as the number one assassin in the world. Both assassins' goals and desires are complicated by determined Detective Albert Lee (Simon Yam) who makes it his life goal to find the two killers and to uncover the truth behind their life stories.

It's clear from the get go that Fulltime Killer is all over the place from its script, to its tone, to even its stylistic tendencies. The screenplay by Wai Ka Fai, based on the novel of the same name, is overly complex and tedious. The plot of the film constantly bounces between the two assassins' various lives as well as several sub-plots that serve no purpose beyond supplying additional action. The film is also baffling in how its focus shifts from character to character throughout the film. After the one hour mark, Simon Yam's detective character becomes the lead for the final portion of the film. It's an odd 180 degree turn from the rest of the film and one of many baffling narrative and character decisions made by To and Fai. The two also give the four main characters their own narration that simple comes out of nowhere. Even though I would excuse the two lead assassins scoring their own narration, I simply can't understand why Chin and Lee get their own narration. Lee's narration is especially useless, as he doesn't start narrating until more than an hour into the film!

We get it. You love Point Break, cool it with the masks!

It also doesn't help that the film bounces between both visual style and tone from scene to scene. For example, the film gets extremely stylish whenever the camera passes through a computer and all of its digitalness to get to the sender of an email on the other side. Another example includes the camera passing through a grave, into the dirt, only to stop on a deceased body. These extremely stylish shots clash with other scenes of emotional resonance and ordinary camera movement. If the entire film were bonkers and filled with inane characters, than such extreme camera techniques would make more sense. Unfortunately, combining said extreme camera techniques with obnoxious operatic music produces a tone unbefitting of the film's more serious and emotional moments. Fulltime Killer feels like two disparate filmmakers clashing with one another from start to finish. Even though the film is all over the place, at least Andy Lau shines in an interesting performance.

Lau's character, Tok, is truly fascinating. He is a young up and coming assassin with ambitions for becoming the greatest assassin in the world. He is also reckless and benign, massacring his targets with no regard for innocent life or skill. Tok is also obsessed with action movies. He references Desperado, Point Break, and Leon: The Professional within the film's run time.

[Side Bar: As far as action films come, those three are particularly solid examples of 90s action filmmaking. Unfortunately, the references to said films are extremely obnoxious. Lau wears a Bill Clinton mask throughout the first half of the film for some bizarre reason. He also reenacts the sniper tutorial scene from Leon. It's not enough that Fulltime Killer references said action films. Instead, To goes on to show posters of Point Break and have a character explicitly state, "I know this movie. The Professional," just to make sure that we get the references. Hammering the audience over the head with references to other films doesn't make it clever or fun. It's annoying and pretentious.]

Sorimachi does fine as the film's most morally upright assassin.

When the police investigate into Tok's past, they uncover that he had the opportunity to earn China a Gold Medal in the Olympic sport of shooting. Unfortunately, some blinking lights caused Tok to suffer from a seizer, the same incident that befell his brother in a previous Olympic game. Therefore, Tok was that close to becoming number one and to redeem his family name, only for it to befall him. The viewer can infer from here that Tok went on to become an assassin because he could use his gun skills in order to become the new number one of something else. Call me crazy, but I think that Tok's motivation is immensely fascinating. It's a shame that he exists within such an odd film unbefitting of such interesting character background though. 

His opponent, O, is also a tortured soul. However, O's reasons for being tortured are entirely his fault and far sillier than Tok's tragic fall from grace. He once hired a woman to clean his fake apartment, only to spy on her from his safe double apartment. When some hitmen showed up to his fake apartment to kill him though, they found the woman and killed her instead. Therefore, O keeps an extra careful eye on Chin because he doesn't want the same fate to befall her. 

Let's talk about Chin while we're on the subject, because her character is also both bizarre and interesting. Chin falls in with two assassins quite easily. I'm not sure if Chin fell in with them because she was bored of her normal life as a video store clerk, but she seems fine hanging out with two guys who murder people for a living, including cops. However, she takes up a gun like them and joins in on the killing anyways, so maybe she's just as psychotic as they are. Detective Lee is kept to being a supporting player until he actually becomes the main focus of the film in the final act. Yam plays a determined detective for the first half of film until he turns crazy and transforms into an obsessed documentarian of the entire situation. It's a truly bizarre turn as Lee showcases no obsession with the case prior to his turn. Regardless, To probably wanted a role befitting of his great friend and long time co-worker.

Simon Yam performs a gainer jump like nobody else.

The main reason for checking out Fulltime Killer is the action, as the film is full of it. To and Fai craft numerous excellent action scenes that further prove why Hong Kong makes the greatest action in the world. Lau's opening shootout with a flower wrapped shotgun in a police station immediately brings the flair that Hong Kong action is known for. To's glorious slow motion shots and smooth editing benefit this and the rest of the film's glorious gun fights. Other highlights include Tok's shotgun fest in a Bill Clinton mask, O's fight against a group of Indian gunmen, and Tok's vengeance against his employers. Tok earns most of the film's greatest action scenes and unsurprisingly racks up the highest kill count of the two assassins.

The film's best action scene is the climactic showdown that takes place in O's apartment. He and Chin fight off a group of police officers in order to escape their apartment while Tok fires down from atop a building. The various gun men and women use shotguns, hand guns, and sniper rifles in all out bullet fest betting of To's pedigree as an action filmmaker. Bullets fly, cars flip through the air, and bodies fall in one of the best shootouts of the 2000s. Unfortunately, the film's long awaited and expected final face off between O and Tok is flat out embarrassing. The two drive to a warehouse together, only to split up, grab a handful of weapons, and than wonder around a cardboard box ridden room shooting at each other. The final action scene borders on accidental comedy as O and Tok stand atop towers of boxes as fire works go off around them and operatic music blares from the soundtrack. This embarrassing finale at least breathes life into the film's otherwise unbearably dull final act.

Unfortunately, all of this great action is ruined by a plethora of weak technical merits. Fulltime Killer features the worst sound design of any To film to date. Gun shots are especially silent and rarely pack the punch they should during action scenes. Besides the film's gorgeous slow motion shots, Fulltime Killer features some of the blandest cinematography of any To film to date. However, the final nail in the film's technical coffin resides within its grating soundtrack. Both the film's score and its plentiful English language songs are horrendously bad, especially an emotional song that appears numerous times within the film! You can't get away from it either, as it plays an important role within O's story. Therefore, all of Fulltime Killer's excellent action choreography and slow motion editing can't help save an otherwise technically inferior action film.

To's film is a fulltime bore at points, especially in its final act.

Fulltime Killer is apparently well received by fans of Hong Kong cinema. It also ranks at number 39 on Film.com's list of Johnnie To's Top 50 Films. Unfortunately, I just can't see eye to eye with these opinions. There is a major flaw within the film for every one of its strengths. Even though Andy Lau's character is fascinating and well fleshed out, every other character is nowhere near as interesting. Also consider the action. The choreography and concepts behind the action scenes are brilliant, but the lackluster sound design and horrendous soundtrack does nothing but bring them down. Even the story takes a hit. The first two acts of the film are fast paced and exciting, but the final act is dull and a complete joke. Fulltime Killer is never a fulltime bore, but it's far from being an H.K. great.

Rating: 5/10 - This tonally uneven and technically inferior film ranks as one of Johnnie To's weakest films, despite some fun action sequences and a great performance by Andy Lau.

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