YMMV / The Killer (1989)

• Awesome Music: The film has a beautiful soundtrack by Lowell Lo. For bonus points, Lo has said that his music for this film was based on that of Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone. Particularly, the harmonica pieces were inspired by Once Upon a Time in America.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: John Woo pitched the film to producer Tsui Hark, he rejected it, saying that "[n]obody wants to see a film about a killer".
• Angst Aversion: Due to the infamous Downer Ending where nobody wins, in which The Hero Dies, his Love Interest left blinded, possibly for life, and The Lancer giving the Big Bad a brutal Vigilante Execution and later being arrested, some people don't want to see it.
• Complete Monster: Hay Wong Hoi/Johnny Weng is a cowardly, selfish and traitorous Triad boss and the employer of professional hitman Jeffery/Ah Jong. Wong Hoi sends Ah Jong to assassinate his own uncle so he could take over and then double-crosses Ah Jong by sending a group of hitmen after him for being spotted by the police detective Li Ying, gravely injuring an innocent child in the process. He starts to become increasingly more paranoid after Ah Jong tries to assassinate him in revenge and proceeds to mercilessly beat his best friend Sydney Fung/Fung Sei for information. Wong Hoi then unleashes a brutal assault on the church which serves as Ah Jong's hideout, killing the priest and Fung Sei, before taking Ah Jong's Love Interest Jennie hostage and attempting to kill both Ah Jong and Li even after they surrender. During the final showdown, Wong Hoi successfully lands two bullets in Ah Jong's eyes, murdering him and ensuring that his eyes cannot be used to fix Jennie's, and subsequently surrenders himself to the cops in a final desperate act to save his own skin.
• Faux Symbolism: The final shootout has this in spades. The shootout itself takes place in a church, Ah Jong's last place of peace and refuge, with doves flying everywhere at key points in the battle. At one point, Ah Jong gets shot In the Back, and his arms are outstretched in a Crucified Hero Shot. And just to drive home the point that the church is no longer a sanctuary for him and Jenny, Paul Yau blows up the church's centerpiece, a statue of Mary, at which point the Handel's Messiah Overture starts playing.
• Funny Moments:
  • While Li stakes out Ah Jong, Tsang Yeh, posing as a garbage man, gets chewed out by an old lady.
  • After confronting Li inside Jennie's apartment, Ah Jong "leaves" to use the bathroom.
    Ah Jong: (looks outside) Aiya, there's a big rat!
  • Tsang Yeh ends up with Ah Jong "aiming at his ass" from below when Li pursues him.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Ah Jong spends the majority of the movie caring for Jennie to make amends for having blinded her by accident. Jennie, even after knowing who Jong is, returns the sentiment.
  • Ah Jong and Li's developing friendship and respect for each other as the movie continues and ends.
  • Ah Jong and Fung Sei's relationship. The titular character spares Fung even after the latter's apparent betrayal. Fung returns the favour in kind, fighting tooth and nail to get his friend the money back from the Triads.
• Ho Yay: So very much with Ah Jong and just about every male member of the cast. But with Li in particular, who gets absolutely rhapsodic when describing Ah Jong to the other policemen. And then when they're sitting together by the riverside, Li says "Sometimes I really want to do something, but can't."
  Li: He looks determined without being ruthless. There's something heroic about him. He doesn't look like a killer. He comes across so calm... acts like he has a dream... eyes full of passion.
• Memetic Mutation: "Why don't you just shoot me dead?" Very common among Chinese-speaking country. Some netizens posted Chow's face with such subtitle when they are frustrated and going to give up.
• Moral Event Horizon: Wong Hoi crosses this when he betrays Ah Jong, just because the latter is spotted by the police during the hit against his nephew. And if that wasn't enough, later on in the film, he savagely beats Fung Sei, Ah Jong's handler, and takes Jenny hostage in the ending after killing the priest trying to bring her out of the church.
• Narm Charm:
  • The Mexican Standoff at Jenny's apartment manages to be hilariously awkward yet nail bitingly tense.
  • The ending where Inspector Li mourns Ah Jong's death by calling out Mickey Mouse/Shrimp Head. On the outside it may seem pretty silly for a cop who's being taken into custody. Then you remember Inspector Li never learned Ah Jong's full name. He only knew him as Shrimp Head.
• Special Effects Failure: When Ah Jong attempts to assasinate Wong Hoi by shooting at Hoi, who's exiting a carpark. The mannequin portraying Hoi had a little too many squibs going off in the shoulder area, resulting in the manequin's arm falling right off, causing an unintentional blooper when Hoi returns later on with both hands intact (the detached arm also looks pretty fake).
• Tear Jerker:
  • The deaths of Fung Sei, Tsang Yeh, and Ah Jong.
  • The last one was especially wrenching since he didn't even get to say goodbye to his love interest or die in her arms because he's just as blind as she is at this moment and they miss each other when groping for each other while crawling on the ground — a result of Sally Yeh and Chow Yun-fat having to shoot on different days during the scene.

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