Hitman

Director: Stephen
Tung
Producer: Gordon
Chan
There's always a price
to pay when you hire an assassin, from 10 to hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Recently a mysterious killer, known as the 'Angel Of Death'
has appeared in Hong Kong. Asking no payment for his services because
all of his targets are evil men and they deserve to die. The Angel of
Death is considered to be The King Of Killers. Although no one knows
the true identity of the Angel. This masked assassin is a force not
to be reckoned with. The opening scenes of the film. The Angel of Death
claims the life of a smutty billionaire, Mr. Tsukamoto. In Mr. Tsukamoto
Will he mentions if he is killed by an assassin $100 Million US will
be rewarded to the person who kills the assassin...This is where our
Story begins.
Ah Fu (Jet
Li) is a poor hitman, poor in life and assassinating. Fu lives
in a building in a cramp one roomed flat with a group hitmen. The group
know as The Golden Triangle'. The 'soldiers' of the golden triangle
spending there days waiting for a new mission and talking about the
their past ones.
Fu's skills of assassinating
aren't up to much either. He was once given the chance to kill a woman
'Mrs Chu', in the end Fu ended up repairing his drain pipes. Fu admits
that he isn't a good assassin, he seems to have too much heart, usually
backing out at the last minute...He's just so damn kind hearted.
Fu soon meets an old
retired assassin Norman Lu, nicknamed Crocodile Lu (Eric
Tsang). Norman met Fu at the Tsukamoto Business Center, who
was attempting to get in. Norman helps Fu out and makes the security
supervisor allow Fu in, telling the guards that Fu is the best hitmen
throughout Mainland China and Norman is his manger. Norman enters Fu
into the hunt for Mr. Tsukamoto's killer. Although Norman wasn't sure
on Ah Fu's skills. So Fu ends up battling against a group of people
in Cafe and he beats them with ease. Things seem to go wrong for poor
Norman as people are suspecting him to be the vigilant Angel Of Death.
Inspector Kwan (Simon
Yam) has been following this 'hunt' since it began, trying to catch
any of the hitmen at work. The police force themselves are also trying
to find out, who is Mr. Tsukamoto's murder. Kwan soon gets a hold
of Fu and Norman as they were at the scene of gun battle in an amusement
park, although Kwan doesn't receive any helpful information from the
duo. Norman and Ah Fu were then bailed out by Normans daughter...
Norman's daughter, Kelly
(Gigi Leung) is a budding lawyer who is fed up of her fathers criminal
background. When meeting Fu she seems harsh at first. but after a romantic
night ice skating she soon falls for him. although I think he's too
dumb to realize. One of the touching scenes between Kelly and Norman
is when Norman shows up at a party and tells his daughter that enough
is enough, he hates his past, letting down his daughter and tells her
that he it turning a new leaf.
Eiji (Sato Keiji), the
grand son of the billionaire seems to have a screw loose. He believed
when eating his grand fathers ashes, the soul of his deceased grandfather
will continue living inside him. Eiji participates in the hunt to find
the Angel of Death with help from a very very tall guy. Every time Eiji
goes after the Angel Of Death he bumps into Norman and Fu! Things hot
up at the end of the film as Eiji goes against the Angel of Death by
the way of the samurai!
Altogether Hitman is
one of Jet Li's finest films of the late 90's. With his great success
earlier in the 90's with Fong Sai-Yuk and the Once Upon a Time in China
series, this is a pleasant end to his Hong Kong career for now. Yet
he is now perusing his film career on the silver screen of the
US. Jet Li's future isn't as bright is it was in Hong Kong. But Hitman
is as must see for all Jet fans even a must see for all Eric Tsang fans
too!
Highlights
- Jet Li chasing his money
- Jet Li eating the Indians chicken
leg
- Jet Li fighting in the Cafe
- Eric Tsang punching the women in
the Cafe!
- Eric Tsang taking Jet Li clothes
shopping!
- Eric Tsang letting Jet order what
ever he wants in the restaurant
- Jet Li winning the stuffed toys
for children
- Eric Tsang
Let Downs
- Some subtitles are incorrect, name
wise
- Some scenes were filmed with a dirty
camera lenses, noticeable black streams on some takes
Rating: 8.5 out
of 10.0