Fulltime Killer

Tok ($$ID=Andy Lau$$, surely their male lead of choice) is flamboyant - the Liberace of killers who is out to dethrone a more reflective O (Japanese idol $$ID=Takashi Sorimachi$$) as Asia's best hitman. They are linked by O's part time cleaner (sexy $$ID=Kelly Lin$$, bespectacled and gawky playing against type) a Taiwanese expatriate in HK, who is a Japanese video store attendant, in what is perhaps a nod to Quentin Tarantino's past employment. Tok woos her to get the scope on O. She in turn, is attracted to his campy charisma and the dangerous edge of his profession but still harbours a secret crush on the mysterious O. Albert Lee (a somewhat misplaced $$ID=Simon Yam$$), an Interpol agent completes the melee as a long time follower of O's exploits who is bent on tracking him and Tok down, in the process unraveling the twisted motives behind Tok's intentions and his true background.

Whilst the screenplay is credited to Wai Ka Fai and Joey O' Brien, based on a book by Edmond Pang, the plot is largely similar to "Assassins", Richard Donner's Hollywood take on the John Woo killer oeuvre. Milky Way's stylized flourishes are evident throughout, beginning with O's opening hit in a colonial style railway station (supposedly in KL - but actually Butterworth, Malaysia). He strides through the crowd, in Reservoir Dogs sartorial style, draws with coat flapping like a menacing cape and guns his mark down point blank. Black humour comes in a chatty Japanese expatriate who greets him from the crowd - his best friend in grade school, it turns out - who he kills in cold blood. Killer quip no. 1: In this business you are bound to kill someone you know. Takashi is brooding but nonetheless not too memorable. Tok kills with even greater panache - Andy plays the role slickly but mildly loud in leather and a campy take similar to $$ID=Simon Yam$$'s overdone villain role in $$ID=Ringo Lam$$'s "&&ID= V1175-D||Name=Full Contact&&". There are numerous inside allusions to popular filmlore throughout. Tok's jail cell grenade massacre and O's swinging firehose escape from council flats are a nod to $$ID=Tsui Hark$$'s "&&ID=V0481-D||Name=Time And Tide&&". Tok is a fan of action and killer flicks who stages his own acts in tribute thereof - he plays an erhu like the guitar playing avenger in Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" and wears a Clintonesque mask in imitation of the bank robbers in Kathryn Bigelow's "Point Break". He stabs a triad henchman's hand like Alain Delon does, in a film whose name he can no longer remember - or as another stooge protests, they've never heard of any of the films he speaks of anyway. O's surveillance of his empty apartment and its part time cleaner is a tribute to $$ID=Wong Kar Wai$$'s "&&ID=V1922-D||Name=Fallen Angels&&" and perhaps Milky Way's own "&&ID=V1042||Name=Beyond Hypothermia&&". Why heck his cleaner even mopes and clowns around like $$ID=Faye Wong$$'s character in "&&ID=V1921-D||Name=Chungking Express&&".

But for all its slick action and cleverness, the film meanders. Andy and Simon's attempts at English dialogue are honestly appalling - although well intentioned for a more regional or even global feel. The settings seem to be a jaunt around popular tourist hot spots of Asia. The ending appears seemingly like a half thought, once the twist surrounding Tok's identity is laid bare and Simon Yam's character is strangely reduced from dynamic agent to a mere Beat-like chronicler of events akin to those found in martial arts folklore. Not quite the best of Milky Way's neo noir but a stylish watch nonetheless.