“The Killer” International Poster
Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo (Silent Night, Hand of Death) is currently prepping his own classic” English-language remake (read our review) of his 1989 crime action classic The Killer, which is scheduled to make its its debut on August 23, exclusively on Peacock.
French actor Omar Sy (Jurassic World, Lupin), who is widely known for his award-winning role in 2011’s The Intouchables leads the film. Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) will star opposite Sy.
Co-starring are Sam Worthington (Avatar), Diana Silvers (Glass), Saïd Taghmaoui (Three Kings), Hugo Diego Garcia (The Substance), Aurélia Agel (Black Widow), Grégory Montel (Upgraded) and David Clark (Colombiana).
Like the original, an assassin tries to make amends in an effort to restore the sight of a beautiful young singer.
Earlier plans of the remake, which would have starred Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, 12 Years a Slave), who would have played the assassin (a role originated by Chow Yun-fat), have been scrapped.
In 2012, news began to circulate that The Killer would be remade in 3D by Korean filmmaker John H. Lee (The Cut Runs Deep) with Jung Woo-sun (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) attached as one of the leads. Obviously, development for this one hit a dead end as well.
Then there was that other remake brewing. At Filmart 2018, Er Dong Cultural Group – the film company behind Operation Red Sea – announced their own Chinese-language Killer remake on their to-do list. Unfortunately, details ran dry on this one (via THR).
The idea of remaking The Killer (in any language) is nothing new. Back in 1992, director Walter Hill (48 Hrs) wrote a screenplay to a Hollywood version of The Killer. It was set to star Richard Gere and Denzel Washington. John Travolta, who previously collaborated with Woo on Broken Arrow and Face/Off, was “entertaining the possibility” of starring in the remake as well. Due to scripting problems revolving around the main characters, the project was never realized.
The Killer remake hits Peacock on August 23. Watch watch a New Clip, followed by its recent Trailer:
Holy f**k!!!! I really hope this news is just a bad, very bad f*****g dream, and this remake will never ever happen! Omg, wtf John Woo is doing……….(((((((((((
“John Woo to remake ‘The Killer’ with ‘Black Panther’ star”
For a moment there I read that as ‘Black Panther Warriors’, and imagined a remake of ‘The Killer’ with a 90’s era Brigitte Lin in the lead. Now that, I would have watched. Still, we’ll always have ‘Golden Queens Commando’.
I read the Walter Hill script for The Killer remake, and it was interesting. He got the action down very well, but Lee was portrayed as a self righteous prick, and he doesn’t form any kind of friendship with The Killer. Jenny is also portrayed as being unlikable with a shitty attitude.
I actually have no problem with Woo doing this. I just hope he learned from his mistakes on Manhunt. Lupita Nyongo as The Killer could work. I just hope she gets to rock the nice suits.
I’m more concerned with the Mainland version. If the ABT remake is any indication, there will be no Woo styled action, no cops bonding with criminals, and the nameless police will be the heroes.
(sigh) …
I wonder if it’ll be retitled because of David Fincher’s upcoming The Killer based on the graphic novel, and The Killer coming from South Korea.
I saw that. I was excited that Fincher was tackling it, but turns out, it’s a whole other movie. I actually think an edgy arthouse director like him would do great at remaking The Killer.
Yeah I kind of wonder what’s bringing Woo back to this one. It’s a perfect movie–no need for an “improvement.” Someone like Fincher would be really cool for this, and he could have leaned into the darkness and the heightened reality. He’s never done a straight up “action movie”
Maybe Woo just sees this as an opportunity to craft some new action sequences with a Hollywood budget and a story/title that will draw in fans of the original. I’d be fine with that, as it’s a great set up for his kind of action. I thought Manhunt was pretty bad lol–I hope Woo still has some hunger.
“I hope Woo still has some hunger” Exactly.
Yeah, I haven’t looked up the graphic novel yet, but it sounds interesting. Woo and Fincher are going to have a fight over this one!
Looks like a good classic action movie.
Here’s an idea, how about just the release the original movie in a nice 4K UHD collector’s edition with extras and interviews on UHD blu-ray and scrap all these remake ideas PERIOD. The original movie isn’t even available on a decent HD home release yet all these years. All these remake ideas sound bad, just look how the the two remakes turned out for “A Better Tomorrow.”
I hear you. Expect more female-centric remakes of classic films for years to come. It’s the culture. lol
In his Hong Kong days, John Woo didn’t a “Hollywood budget” to film some of the best action scenes ever made.
And Omar Sy… And for a streaming shit…
John, you buried yourself with the disastrous The crossing (not only bad but it lost a fortune) and Manhunt. Let The killer go and let’s hope Silent night will be a more than satisfying end to your career.
Is John Woo still in director jail for his 2 part turd The Crossing? Between this and his silent movie starring fake Robocop he might as well give up and make Battle at Lake Changjin 3
Unfortunately not, he was released on parole and made the abysmal ‘Manhunt’ in 2017.
Manhunt had a lot of problems, but it was still fun and even showed nice glimpses of “Girls With Guns.” Considering what we saw was the edited version since Mainland distributors thought the original was unwatchable, it’s interesting how the film could have been much more intolerable.
I’m very interested in Silent Night with Joel Kinnaman, and even if his golden years are behind him, he can still make something good.
Apparently, this had been filming! I was afraid it wouldn’t go forward because of Silent Night under-performing.
The production pictures have been revealed, and it looks like Nathalie Emmanuel is filling in for Chow Yun-Fat, Omar Sy is filling in for Danny Lee, Diana Silvers is filling in for Sally Yeh, and Sam Worthington is filling in for Chu Kong. Tcheky Karyo is also in the film, so he’s either gonna be Omar Sy’s superior, or possibly be filling in for Shing Fui-On which would allow him to ham it up again.
I know nobody else wants this movie made, but I’m gonna hold out hope even if I’m wrong. There’s been many times where I thought a movie would be fun only for it to be shit, but since I liked Silent Night in spite of its problems, I think Woo will deliver something I enjoy.
I’m trying to remain optimistic too, Andrew. Haven’t seen Silent Night yet (skipped it because of the reviews and the people around here refuse to stay quiet in a theater), but I’m a Woo loyalist and I’ll give anything he directs a chance. I’ll be happy if it’s above average.
Ugh! Noisy theaters! That’s why I go in the morning when fewer people are around!
That used to be my MO. I’d go on Tuesday mornings when I was off, get the cheap popcorn and avoid the teenagers. Well, I guess it’s not just teenagers now. People in their 20’s and 30’s do that crap now too. But I like to watch the big stuff with my brother, and my dude’s only off on weekends. C’est la vie.
I understand. It also depends on what part of town you are. Where I am in Washington DC, I have to stay away from downtown and the middle of the city, and go to Virginia where it’s a different crowd.
And yes, the theatre is better with good company.
Dear John Woo.
You should have quit just after the full 4 hour long version of The three kingdoms/Red Ciff. ILOVE that movie, in your top 3 and my favorite war movie ever.
But after Crosding, Manhunt, Silent night, you can f… off. Not face off, f… off.
Omar Sy, pleaaaase…
I don’t expect this to be any good. Woo’s last 4 movies have been trash with Silent Night being a new career low (even worse than Paycheck). But I’m more than happy to be proven wrong even if thats unlikely. Straight to peacock….ffs they couldn’t even secure a Netflix release
I get that most people only like Hard Target and Face/Off as far as his Hollywood films go, but I’ve liked his other English language efforts. I don’t give them gold medals, but I will happily give them silver.
I think Broken Arrow is alot of fun and underrated even if he had to tone down his Woo-isms. I even like the second half of MI2 once the story finally kicks into gear (about the time they shoot Thandie Newton with the virus). But everything else then apart from the 2 Red Cliffs have been terrible. I applaud him for not doing commie movies like Tsui Hark but a remake of The Killer starring the sidekick of the sidekick from the Fast & Furious movies is basically directors jail again
Well, it’s not that they couldn’t *secure* a Netflix release. I’m fairly sure that there was a deal in place with Universal that ensured it would be released on Peacock.
Pretty cool looking trailer, but Jesus Christ! That fucking poster is horrendous! Was a boring plain backdrop with unremarkable poses the best marketing could do? It couldn’t have been that difficult to make something more interesting.
This should have been called another title. Sam Worthington’s character is clearly not Nathalie Emmanuelle’s friend, unlike Chu Kong with Chow Yun-Fat. I’m hoping there’s a friendship story with her and Omar Sy that’s well developed. I get the feeling there isn’t going to be much emphasis on the themes of the original unless the trailer hides them well.
Action wise, there could be some good stuff here. I like how they’re mixing it up with melee combat, and it looks like Nathalie Emmanuelle does lucha libre while firing guns. I hope this succeeds.
A Peacock Original has the same seal of quality as a floating turd. So far the footage looks like it has less budget than an episode of TV on HBO
Let’s be real…the real star of this film is those pants.
LMAO!
It’s not a remake, just a similiar idea. This is how I want to look at it. And the trailer looks surprisingly good!
Yeah, I think that’s the best way to look at it, but I still wish this movie had a different title.
It’ll certainly be confusing to the casual viewer who heard of a certain Netflix movie from David Fincher with the same title.
It is absolutely a remake. But i’m gonna give it a chance and do an apples to apples comparison. Comparing this to Imperial period John Woo isnt fair. Instead this remake should be compared to straight to streaming stuff like Trigger Warning, Heart of Stone, Mother and that Charlize Theron one where she is an immortal. The lead actress was pretty good in Army of Theives BUT John Woo doesn’t know how to direct actresses. We’ll see in a months time. \who knows John Woo might be starting a new phase in his career where he remakes all his classics. A Better Tomorrow starring Vin Diesel and The Rock. Hard Boiled starring John Cena and Jason Mamoa. Once A Theif starring Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel and John Cena
I liked The Old Guard and Mother was OK, but I’m hoping The Killer ‘24 is more in line with better direct to streaming movies such as Kate, The Gray Man, and the higher quality Mother movie, Mother’s Day from 2023.
Woo has hinted at retirement, and while it would be ideal for him to go out with a bang, I’m fine with a good note instead.
Good call on Kate – that was excellent. Totally forgot that was dumped on Netflix. Gray Man however was trash that somehow cost over $200m
This looks like shit.
And…no…John…couldn’t you have avoided the “Wow so new! We can see a bullet flying!”.
I’ll pass, bye bye John!
Ex French football legend turned poor actor Eric Cantona!
It’s gonna be…it’s gonna be…it’s gonna be…it’s gonna be…shittier than I thought!
Good luck, guys!
The international poster is better than Peacock’s. It still has the blank white background that I hate so much and wish would be retired, but it looks like it takes the movie more seriously.
This is giving me major Manhunt and Blackjack vibes. Can we get heroic bloodshed Woo back?
For some reason, I felt like adding https://youtu.be/FHVGD3TjEBM?si=PHZq49td4euK4XtX to the convo.
The good news? The climax of the movie offers some of the tropes you want from a Woo movie. A church, doves, two hand gun action, slomo, cool gun catching. But even then it’s dialed back from a 10 down to a 3 at the most.
But the whole thing looks so ugly. It really looks like a streaming movie. The direction is subpar, for most of the runtime this movie resembles Blackjack more than a proper Woo movie. The score is atrocious, it often undercuts what the movie is trying to do. The acting but everyone is subpar partly cos the dialog is absolutely terrible. And if you thought Chow Yun Fat and Sally Yeh had less chemistry than what was required at least that was offset by CYF and Danny Lee staring into each other’s souls and bromancing the hell out of each other. There’s even less to Emmanuel’s and the singers relationship. It’s absolutely unconvincing that this is the mission/girl that makes her question her occupation/life choices.
Overall this is worse than the recent straight to streaming movies by Alba and Lopez. It’s worse than Silent Night and I can see why it was dumped on Peacock, the 6th best streaming service!
Yeah, I got tipped off by Worldofreel, but couldn’t find the article. So I’m direct-linking to the 50-ish RT score here: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_killer_2024 Still, at least it did better on there than The *Crow* remake….
I took one for the team and watched The Crow 2024. Skargard thats 2 shite movies in a row where you are the “action” star. Seriously I have no idea what they were thinking. They went to serious lengths to distance themselves from Brandon Lee’s performance so why not just use another character and not Erik Draven. In that movie Brandon was a good dude and kind and wanted to help those who were left behind. In the remake Skarsgard is a druggie POS who we hang out with for 45 minutes so we get to know the character and feel something once he and FKA Twigs get murdered. It backfired cos they were pretty unlikable and the movie never finds its groove until the finale where you think why wasnt this the tone of the movie from the beginning. Also goes without saying they didnt really understand the atmosphere and soundtrack of the original and why people still love and adore the movie 30 years later. Its not the worst movie this year (Borderlands) but its probably the most unnecssary.
I actually liked The Killer ‘24. No, it’s not a brilliant film, but it was entertaining.
The movie already had my attention when the opening theme started sounding like a combination of Lowell Lo’s theme from the original and Ennio Moricone. From there, I thought that The Killer ‘24 successfully combined elements from the original film with new ideas without being too “wink wink nudge nudge.”
I know everyone is already shitting all over this movie including Big Mike. He called this film McDonald’s as opposed to the fine dining that The Killer ‘89 was. I wouldn’t call it either. I’d say it was Ray’s Pizza in New York City.
Nathalie Emmanuelle is not an obvious choice for an expert assassin, but she did a good job and showed that she trained hard for the film. She also conveyed that the most effective killer would be someone who doesn’t look like one. It was wise not to make her like Chow Yun-Fat as she had her own characteristics. While the trailer didn’t show her most flattering outfits, the rest of the movie displayed that well especially with that dress with the connectable blade hidden in the shoulder straps.
I thought Eric Cantona was filling in for Shing Fui-On, but it was interesting how they made someone else the villain, and made several other alterations like having the gangsters target the singer for knowing too much, having them buying out the police and framing Omar Sy, and how he and Emmanuelle already had a connection before the main story began.
I was afraid the movie would not go into the themes of the original, but while it wasn’t as in depth, they did bring up key points like how Omar Sy is always prevented from stopping the biggest criminals and envies Emmanuelle for being able to kill them while seemingly answering to no one, just like with Danny Lee and Chow Yun-Fat in the original. They also had convincing respect of one another.
The action was well done in spite of the blood, gun flares, fire, and explosions being digital. The actors weren’t, so I paid more attention to that. I especially liked how martial arts was mixed in with the gunplay, and Nathalie Emmanuelle vs stunt woman extraordinaire, Arelia Agel ended up being a better Black Widow fight scene than Marvel’s movie had.
I hope more people enjoy this movie as long as they’re not expecting zero flaws.
Thanks for the write up, Andrew. =) I just recently subscribed to Peacock (for the Scott Peterson documentary! lol), so I might actually check this out, based on what you said.
Extended preview and free Peacock for two months if you rent or buy The Killer through Fandango at Home: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_LedCTOvDS/