The Killer: 25 years on

On this day, 25 years ago, John Woo's acclaimed action thriller The Killer was released in cinemas throughout Hong Kong. It's a pretty legendary film, earning widespread international plaudits as well as being a massive hit in its home market. It was also pretty much the creative peak for an entire generation of Hong Kong filmmakers: it wasn't the first of John Woo's 'heroic bloodshed' thrillers, since it followed on from A Better Tomorrow, and it wasn't his final word on the genre, since it was followed by Hard Boiled. It is, however, the best of his films. I honestly don't think he's topped it.

Cinema in Hong Kong was pretty shaky by the late 1970s. The enormous craze for kung fu films had kind of died down, and there wasn't a lot being produced that could challenge the popularity of foreign imports (mainly from the USA). The 1980s saw a renaissance in the industry though, and it was pretty much driven by three things. First of all there was a shift from performing films in Mandarin Chinese to Cantonese, which was the language actually spoken by the majority of people in Hong Kong. Secondly there was the rapid ascension of Jackie Chan as an action star, director and producer. Thirdly, there was John Woo and his crime movie directing colleagues. Jackie Chan we'll leave for another day: let's talk Woo.