Fulltime Killer

I can appreciate the fact that if you watch enough movies, you're going to be influenced in one way or another eventually.  That's especially going to be the case for movie fans who grow up to become involved in the movie-making process as adults.  Think of Quentin Tarantino who is a huge fan of martial arts, grindhouse, spaghetti westerns and cult classics of the 1960s and 1970s.  His love for films -- especially those genres -- has affected his films with references left and right if you know where to look.  But at what point do you cease to be original and just one big rip-off of the movies you love?

That was my biggest problem with 2001's Fulltime Killer from director Johnnie To. Discovering To last year with his action flick The Mission, I've enjoyed catching up with the Hong Kong director's filmography.  To a point, all of his films reference other action movies that have come before.  There's nothing wrong with that. It's hard not to reference the movies that have come before.  The key is to add something different, something new, or at least tweak what the audience has seen.  Throw us for a loop, try and confuse us with that new feature. More than that, if all you do is reference older, more well-known flicks, all I'm doing while watching your movie is think of those movies. That's never a good thing if you ask me.

Known as one of the most reliable hired killers in Asia, O (Takashi Sorimachi) has a reputation as someone who can get the job -- any job -- done and to do it efficiently without causing much of a stir.  He's so good though that no one knows what he looks like, even a police inspector, Lee (Simon Yam), who would like nothing more than to get his hands on him. Lee might get his chance when a new hired gun arrives on the scene, Tok (Andy Lau), a bit of an eccentric who takes jobs for cheap and isn't as efficient but still manages to pull the job off. Trying to prove himself as worthy, Tok would like nothing more than to topple O from his perch at the top.  He's going to do everything he can to take him down too, including going after a girl (Kelly Lin) that O has his eye on.

I feel wrong criticizing a director for sticking with what he knows.  The other To movies I've seen all dealt with similar stories, similar characters, but they were successful, entertaining, and exciting in their execution.  They were characters you'd seen before in other movies, but there remained something interesting or appealing about them. Maybe it wasn't even them, but their predicament that made it interesting. The important thing was that you were interested regardless of the reason. With 'Fulltime,' I was never pulled into the movie. There's the established killer, the up and coming newbie, the driven cop obsessed with catching them, the girl caught in the middle.

To his credit, and that's why I can't or won't completely rip this movie is that To does attempt to one-up the formula.  It's not so much on the O character because that character is pretty cookie-cutter.  Still interesting, but definitely been there, done that.  It's with Tok, the killer who wants it all.  There's an interesting if somewhat confusing backstory with his character that could have been fleshed out more or at least explained a little better.  But it's more than that. Tok is just too eccentric, too weird in his actions.  It becomes so over the top that you aren't interested in the character or intrigued at what he's up to.  Eccentric is one thing, but for me at least there has to be something appealing about him.  There has to be something human, something believable even in small does.  Tok becomes too much of a cartoon character though.

Counter that with Sorimachi as O who underplays everything to the point where you could accuse him of sleepwalking through the part.  He's quiet, steely-eyed, and good at what he does, knowing the risks but accepting them as part of his lifestyle.  Like several other To characters, he reminded me a lot of Alain Delon in Le Samourai, a killer with the simplest of lives, a life that revolves around his profession.  Yam's character is interesting in how his character arc from where he starts to where he ends up.  It's surprising where it goes as Lee tries to piece everything together.  Of the three, Sorimachi and Yam end up making the more interesting characters.  Lin as Chin is the wild card, the innocent caught up in the chaos.  Her character makes an odd jump that comes without much reason and never materializes into anything.

Looking for something simple to recommend is easy here if you're searching for a common denominator....yes, action. Crazy amounts of action.  Slightly more graphic than previous To movies I've seen, 'Fulltime' never goes too long without some sort of epic shootout or chase.  Like the characters, it's over the top at times -- even comic book like at times -- and stylized within an inch of its life, but it's fun.  Still, the movie keeps you at an arm's length most of the time, never bringing you in like I would have hoped.  Good but not as good as the other Johnnie To movies I've seen.

Fulltime Killer <---trailer (2001): **/****