"The Killer" was one of the few films in American cinema history to receive an "X" rating for violence alone on its original release; this at a time when Director Woo was seriously considering moving to America.<br /><br />This film is both a farewell to Hong Kong, and a bite-back at the critics of The Killer. It is about why Hong Kong is no longer a decent place to live (from Woo's point of view) and also a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the very violence that his critics so abhorred.<br /><br />It is the best written of Woo's Hong Kong films, the best edited, the best acted, and, yes, the best directed. It is unabashedly 'take-no-prisoners' in its attitude to action - Chow Yun Fat's non-James-Bond performance as an unstoppable cop pretty much out-does every other action Hero in film, except, maybe, Sean Connery's Bond in "Doctor No". The film starts with an over-the-top gun battle in a Hong Kong eatery, and ends with a WAY-over-the-top all out war between cops and robbers in a hospital - all with smart attitude, smart looks, smart direction. Believe me, the bodies can't be counted, but you never have time to worry about it.<br /><br />Yeah, there is the usual Woo sentimentalism, and Tony Leung's performance is a bit heavy-handed; but the positives are so positive - for gun-play action film fans, anyway - that the negatives are easily discounted and forgotten.<br /><br />Put your brain on hold and get ready for a wild ride - Woo knows we want the real deal, and he delivers.