Fulltime Killer

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Film: B+

 

 

When you look back across more than a century of filmmaking it is interesting to see the differences between American films and foreign films.  American directors often times are influenced by foreign directors and emulate their films in small doses, while still using a Hollywood front.  Just the same, Foreign directors have always done a similar thing with American films, which is why it is interesting to see critics and movie buffs argue over where the best movies are made. 

 

Hong Kong’s 2001 film Fulltime Killer, directed by Johnny To and Ka-Fai Wai, is another example of a foreign film choosing to include all the subtle hits of American filmmaking.  The storyline alone resembles Lonesome Gun (1973) as well as the more recent Assassins (1995) with Antonio Banderas.  Not only are there similarities to these two films, but also two other Banderas films like Desperado and El Mariachi.  Throw into that mix some Luc Besson a la Leon The Professional (1994) and La Femme Nikita (1990) and you almost have a perfect idea already of what this film is like.

 

Ex-Singapore cop, Lee (Simon Yam), suffers from the shakes and is writing a book, which he cannot decide on how to end.  His subjects are two assassins, Tok (Andy Lau) who does most of his hits in the broad daylight and the other is a Japanese assassin named “O” (Takashi Sorimachi), who also employs a young Taiwanese girl played by Kelly Lin a video store worker.  Lee attempts to become the #1 hitman on and knock that position title away from “O”. (Not to be confused with the movie “O”)

 

This DVD from Palm Pictures presents the film in 1.85 X 1 letterboxed, which looks okay despite some softness.  Colors seem to be washed out to a slight degree, which plays out ok considering the film is a grim gangster tale.  Blacks are not nearly dark enough, which stand out with the large amounts of darker scenes throughout. 

 

The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo, but the downside here is that this film was also issued through Tai Seng, which offered a DTS 5.1 mix as well.  There are definite drawbacks with the Dolby track mostly in the lower and upper range.  The fidelity is certainly lacking, which is nothing that detrimental, but does take away some of the muster the film has going for it.  Gunshots are too faint, other noises are subdued, and most of all the music is distant.  All of this would work much better in the higher bit rate DTS option. 

 

There are supplements presented here as well, which include a 25-Minute “behind- the-scenes” section as well as a 25-minute ‘making of”.  Both of these supplements are nice added bonuses to what already stands out as a good film.  The only improvement would be that these extras have more context and application to the film so that the viewer understands some of these segments and their relativity.  Most of the time we are given material with little or no explanation, instead we get snippets to ponder upon. 

 

All in all a fine film that has every reason to be seen, especially by those fans of the Tarantino caliber that are looking for something more authentic with a stronger Asian influence, but at the same time a collage of Americana.  Despite not having the multi-channel or DTS option, the DVD boasts some decent supplements making it notable, if not own-able.

 

 

-   Nate Goss