OPENS JUNE 27, CERT 18, 100 MINS
Asian movie god Andy Lau stars as Tok, a perma-grinning assassin-for-hire who blasts his way into the eastern underworld with one aim in mind: becoming Hong Kong’s No 1 professional killer. Unfortunately, this position is already filled by the mysterious O (Takashi Sorimachi), a ruthlessly efficient death machine with an unfortunate habit of falling in love with his beautiful-but-consequently-shortlived housekeepers. The latest of these, Chin (Kelly Lin), soon finds herself being romanced by both men as they dodge Interpol agent Lee (Simon Tam) and engage in increasingly perilous rounds of gangland one-upmanship.
All desperately reminiscent of The Killer, but what stops this movie from being just another low-rent Woo knock-off is Johnny To and Ka-Fai Wai’s energetically atmospheric direction and fantastic performances from the leads.
Formulaic but masterfully assembled, Fulltime Killer is the best Hong Kong flick to earn a UK cinema release in years.