John Woo's New Movie Is Exciting - But Has A Near Impossible Challenge
Director John Woo is helming an English language remake of his 1989 Hong Kongaction classic The Killer, which is both very exciting but also potentially sets up problems for the movie. John Woo is teaming up with Peacock and Universal Pictures to adapt his story of an assassin on his last job, for an American audience. It's not the first time that The Killer has been targeted for the remake treatment. Walter Hill attempted it in 1992 with Richard Gere and Denzel Washington. Later John Woo unsuccessfully tried himself, first as a producer in the mid-2000s, and then as a director in 2018 with Lupita Nyong'o playing the assassin. While the latest news bodes well for The Killer finally being made, the original is a masterpiece of action cinema, and the remake will have an uphill battle ahead of it simply to justify its existence.
The Killer was essentially the movie that brought John Woo to the attention of Hollywood and ushered in his 90's era of US action movies with Hard Target, Broken Arrow, and Face/Off. Mission: Impossible 2 gained him further success, but following the problems of Windtalkers and Paycheck, John Woo returned to Chinese-Hong Kong cinema with historical epics Red Cliff and The Crossing. His last movie was 2017's Manhunt. Prior to filming The Killer remake, John Woo will return to English language filmmaking with Silent Night—another exciting project as it's an action movie told entirely without dialogue.
Related: Every American John Woo Film Ranked From Worst to Best
The problem that the new English language version of The Killer has is that the original is a great movie, begging the question of why remake it in the first place. The Killer has influenced Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and The
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