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  Style over substance January 14, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Johnny To directs with Wai Ka-Fai in this dizzying stylish gun-fest. O (Takashi Sorimahci) is the No 1 hitman in Asia. Andy Lau is Tok, a flashy, leather-cladding killer with a wealth of movie knowledge and more than some expertise with guns, trying to upstage the former from his pole position as Asia's No 1. The plot has to be taken with a pinch of salt (who'd, for example, go out with a stranger in a Bill Clinton mask? And a cop who quits just to write a story on hitmen he can't comprehend?), but the gun-touts are outstandingly bold and ultra-cool. This must be Lau's most hateful role to date, as a smirky, self-admiring, mayhem-bent killer. The backdrop itself is highly cosmopolitan: there're conversations in Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and English, and not everyone fares well in another tongue (Lau's and Lin's Japanese sounds especially grating). In the end, this can't be seen as more than a genre exercise by scriptwriter Wai Ka-Fai, and though this may not be the best of Johnnie To as well, its devil-may-care glitziness and refusal to be pigeonholed as standard fare may make you think twice about it.
 ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN! November 23, 2004
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This movie is so great! This is on my top 5 movies of all time! This movie is definitely worth buying!
Name of the Song August 10, 2004
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
The song in the movie is by Marni And The Men, written by Marni Bacharier...you can find more about them at http://www.tutton.org/marni.html
 Watch it only if you are a hardcore HK movie fan April 4, 2004
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Doesn't even come close to a John Woo, Ringo Lam or Tsui Hark film. Some interesting action sequences though - the opening is excellent. I found Andy Lau's acting a little over the top. Also, it seemed that every character was coincidentally related to another character in several ways. 2 rival assasins and one assasin's boss is the brother of the other assasin? A few of these I'll buy but there were way too many unexplained coincidences. I would have preferred a longer film that probed more info the relationships. Don't bother with this unless you are die hard HK fan - there are much better HK films out there.
Not Bad Actioner, But Definitely NOT the Best Of Johnny To March 10, 2004
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Excuse me for giving only three stars for this film, for I know "Fulltime Killer" is, good as it is, NOT the best of Johnny To, a Hong Kong director whose intense style is not be missed. His best remains "Running Out of Time" (starring the same cool Andy Lau), or "The Mission," especially the latter one. See them first, and remember his name.
"Fulltime Killer" is in fact co-directed with Wai Ka Fai, but the subdued style is definitely that of Johnny To. The film traces the two free-lance killers, "O" (Takashi Sorimachi, popular Japanese actor), and Tok (Lau). O is the top dog of the killers, but Tok, confident of his professional skills, wants to bring him down in his own style. In between comes a female cleak working at a rental video store (beside the escalator which was shown in one famous Hong Kong film), Chin (Kelly Lin), and the determined policeman Lee (veteran Simon Yam).
The gun action of the film is an average one, but sadly, as the story lacks coherent developing, it is often hard to follow what is going on. Johhny To's cool style and oddball humor are not given much chance to be shown, and the result is curiously devoid of tension, even though the actions themselves are decetly done.
Some people might find the languages it uses slightly troublesome, for Andy Lau often speaks Japanese, which is very hard to understand (I am a Japanese, and watched it in the origiunal language). But more lamentable thing is the lack of charisma of Sorimachi as "O" whose one-dimentional performance as a killer with a heart lacks convincing power. And as for Andy Lau, he was much better in "Running Out of Time."
The film is a result of recent Hong Kong film industry, which tries to capitalize on the name of Japanese actors who are gaining popularity in Hong Kong. But I think the casting here has backfired. I do not say "Fulltime Killer" is bad. I only say you can get better ones from To, underrated Hong KOng filmmaker, and that is "The Mission" which you should see first.
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