The Killer (Hong Kong, 1989)

Chow Yun-fat plays the assassin Ah Jong, who accidentally damages the eyes of the singer Jennie during a shootout. He later discovers that if Jennie does not have an expensive operation soon, she will go blind. To get the money for Jennie, Ah Jong decides to perform one last hit. Meanwhile, the police detective Li who has been tracking Ah Jong for a long time, is determined to bring him to justice.

Director John Woo has made some of Hong Kong's best action films, and The Killer is one of his biggest highlights. Great shoot-outs and bodies being shredded by bullets are some of the key ingredients in this violence fest. You can clearly see how his action scenes influenced films in the following years, such as Heat from 1995, with a plot that jumps back and forth between the equally likeable good and bad guys, while having the story-threads erupt beautifully in slow-motion bullet-storms that would even make the Wachowski's green with envy.  

Genre: Action/Crimer/Thriller