Better Late Then Never

As Good As It Gets

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Ever since John Woo had left Hong Kong (he came back and hopefully he will do a few more movies in Hongkong like "Red Cliff"), it seemed there was big hole left in the industry. Of course not only Woo had left Hongkong and had to make a van Damme pic, like every other Hong Kong director, see Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark. So where would all this go? I wasn't aware of anyone who would be able to succeed him. And along came Johnnie To. And while not really comparable to Woo, he made the Hong Kong action cinema his own.Fulltime Killer is only one of many exhibitions (which he has mixed up with a few other things, though he stays true to the action cinema). What makes the movie so great in my eyes, is the eye for details. Things that normally wouldn't be in an action movie, because producers would deem them as redundant and unnecessary. Like moments where you see a human side of Bodyguards or Killers for that matter.But don't be fooled by that. The action is also top notch. A great movie, with many more to follow. And I don't think there is a need for him to move to Hollywood any time soon (or ever for that matter)

I appreciate Johnnie To as much as anyone with a taste for slow-burn, contemplative cinema, but Fulltime Killer is among his lesser efforts. It is very sub-par compared to what he's capable of when he fires on all cylinders (see Exiled or Election) and just not a very good movie. Granted the action scenes are all good (not great) in that heroic bloodshed slo-mo kind of way, but the rest of the movie is all over the place. It tries to be many things and it doesn't really succeed in any. Themes and characters are picked then abandoned without being fully fleshed out in favour of the next one while narration comes and goes with no connection to a central premise. In the end it feels disjointed, confused and a bit derivative, but it's certainly not without its moments. There are also lots of references to other movies (T2, El Mariachi, Leon, Point Break, an Allain Delon film I couldn't pinpoint) which might tickle your film buff bone. For To fans only...

Rarely do i watch a foreign action movie that has the quality of this one. I have never actually posted to this sight before but I found this movie to be so excellent that I thought I would. Some might liken this to other assassin vs assassin movies but i disagree. This movie is so much more in depth in the story line you forget that it has subtitles. Others have commented on how well it flows from one language to another. I didn't notice since I was so involved. Great action - not a Michael Bay action fest but enough to keep you interested and then some. Great plot, nothing unique yet was done with such style and pizazz that you thought you were getting something original. Great ending, not going to give any spoilers but I was very pleased.

There seem to be a lot of Japanese movies that are pure exercises in style. I tend to like highly cinematic movies, so I usually enjoy myself, but somewhere along the way I always seem to go from thinking, this is just so cool to thinking, is there some point here. Fulltime Killer is lots of fun. It is very stylish, looks nice and has some very striking scenes. But it has about as much depth as a piece of typing paper. There's not much in the way of character development, and the movie feels increasingly unconvincing as it progresses. So while there is stuff I love, like the scene with the grenades, the movie as a whole failed to connect with me on any sort of intellectual or emotional level. Still, it is lots of fun, and I was torn between giving it a 7 or an 8 (which is usually the quandary I face when rating stylish, empty movies). Well worth watching, but not worth remembering.