The Killer ★★½

THE only people who thought it was a good idea to have John Woo remake his own film were John Woo and the producers of The Killer.

The original, released in 1989, was amongst a run of visceral action films that first brought the Hong Kong director to the attention of Hollywood, the others being A Better Tomorrow (1986), Bullet in the Head (1990) and particularly 1992’s Hard Boiled.

The 2024 American version of The Killer is largely a by-the-numbers exercise that struggles to have an impact, coming off the back of umpteen better action films of recent years.

Nathalie Emmanuel adds her name to the long list of actresses to try their hand at being a John Wick style anti-hero. She plays Zee, a professional assassin living in Paris who is regularly employed by a local crime lord to get rid of his enemies.

Zee’s handler is an Irishman named Finn played by Australia’s Sam Worthington who seems very miscast as a villain while former professional footballer Eric Cantona continues his B grade film career as the crime boss.

Why Zee decides not to suddenly go against her boss’s directions to protect a nightclub singer she doesn’t know from Eve is never really explained.

There are two good action sequences, including a hospital shoot-out during which an unhealthy number of innocent bystanders are murdered, but the finale is a bit of a let-down in comparison.

And, of course, it’s staged in a church with Woo’s favourite pigeons flying between the bullets.

Watched on Prime.