Plot: What’s it about?
When a vengeful old man scours the underworld for the finest assassins, he soon finds himself on the business end of one of their guns. He seeks to have a fellow wealthy man knocked off, but when he sees his own death in a vision he seems to be sure his fate has been sealed. In an effort to have his death avenged the old tycoon establishes a trust fund with a large sum of money inside to reward those who find his killer. Soon his vision becomes reality and he is bumped off by a skilled assassin, so the hunt begins for the others to track down the responsible hitman and collect the reward. Among those in the running are a veteran hitman who finds himself in a rut (Eric Tsang) and a newcomer to the profession who isn’t having much luck (Jet Li). These two band together in order to maximize their chances of discovering just who was behind the murder and collect that large reward. But with a reward that rich everyone else is also looking for the killer and perhaps these two luckless hitmen just don’t have what it takes…
I had never seen this film before this review disc arrived, but since it featured Jet Li and had an interesting storyline I was expecting something good. While this didn’t turn out to be the usual Jet Li film, I was very impressed with the film and it will remain in my personal collection. Jet doesn’t have the same cold, stoic nature in this film like he usually does, but this offers some unique character interaction and such which is always good. This one has some nice action sequences to be sure, but it also has some well done suspense added in at times which makes the movie seem like more than just a simple action flick. You’ll find some martial arts style battles in this movie, but the action is usually fueled by gunplay which again puts Jet in a place we don’t often see him. I don’t think fans will be disappointed with this movie, but if you’re just looking for some martial arts action you’re better off with a different film. I recommend this release as a rental to fans of Jet Li and other looking for a solid action movie, but with a decent disc and affordable price I think die-hard followers should just pick this up for their own collections.
This film was directed by Tung Wei, who makes his feature film directing debut with this movie. But you wouldn’t be able to tell from the film, since Wei’s background in the movies has afforded him many skills behind the camera. He had worked before this on many films as either action director or action choreographer and it shows whenever the pace heats up, but he also handles the other scenes very well. His overall approach is very simple, but this means the shots never distract from the events which is a good thing. He also seems to work well with his actors, as he was able to get terrific performances from them in this movie. I hope to see Wei behind the camera again soon, hopefully in an action driven movie this time around, which I think will fully showcase his skills. This film has a nice cast overall, which is centered on Jet Li and Eric Tsang who provide very solid leading turns. Li (My Father Is A Hero, High Risk) is an action superstar of course, but here he uses his skills as an actor more than usual and the results are very good. He also plays a much different character than usual, but he still comes through. Eric Tsang (Gen-X Cops, Sleepless Town), Simon Yam (Future Cops, The Suspect), and Gigi Leung (Full Throttle, A True Mob Story) also turn in above average performances.
Video: How does it look?
Hitman is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, which is not enhanced for widescreen televisions. This is a nice looking transfer overall, but I do have to say it seems as though the contrast is a few shades too light. This isn’t to an extreme degree by any means, but it does seem like shadow reveal more than they should and colors aren’t as bold as they could be. Aside from that this is a solid transfer that uses a clean source print and shows few compression errors. The colors look bright, but again the light contrast muted them very slightly and flesh tones seem natural and consistent.
Audio: How does it sound?
This release sports an active and very effective Dolby Digital 5.1 track, which should keep your system on its toes. This film has some terrific action sequences and when these are present, the surrounds come to life to let you know. The effects are well placed and sound good, but I wish more surround use was evident. The music comes through well and shows no signs of errors, while dialogue is crisp and clean at all times. You can choose between Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks, while subtitles are available in Chinese and English.
Supplements: What are the extras?
You’ll find the theatrical trailer and that’s the extent of the bonus material.
