There was a breach in the definition of power as ‘King of Killers’ burst open a can of worms when he butt heads with Tsukamoto, a former Yakuza leader. A ‘revenge’ fund worth hundred million dollars was in play on his behalf and now is automatically initiated. Coordinating the hunt is on his lead Kono whose voice is kept under the wraps alongside serving as the new head. In the midst of a plan intended to kill a former soldier, Fu gets into self defense when Lo a petty criminal urges Fu to join him in claiming the price on his head. During which Fu bumps into Kiki located at Chang’s office whose dislike for her dad Lo always creates friction hand in hand with her line of work as a lawyer. In the middle of everything that was happening was Inspector Chan who was attempting to capture the corrupt individuals. Secrets of the past start creeping up and led into ending where everyone was present for the hunt of King of Killers.
The movie “Hitman” perfectly illuminates the inconsistent tonal quality typical of some of the best, and some of the worst, Hong Kong Cinema. Unfortunately, it sits firmly in the latter category with its unclear intentions. With the idea of soliciting a revenge fund, there is unfortunately a kernel of a good idea, but this too gets lost in silly action and unfunny sentiment. This is a movie on contract killing, and yet, everyone seems to appreciate this as a responsibility rather than engaging in something constructive.
Jet Li appears to be more or less phoning it in as Fu. Fu is presented as a middle aged soldier from the Golden Triangle except he has a heart of gold that disallows him to be a criminal. Li has no interest in this role and plays it with all the depth of a Forrest Gump in an extreme state of apathy. This near complete incomprehension on Fu’s part creates an absence which is felt in the rest of the love story with Gigi Leung’s Kiki which is unconvincing. Though, her role like most of the cast here is written poorly so aids in nothing. The other one is Simon Yam, who plays Inspector Chan, who also looks like if it was not for the cash incentives, he would rather have not acted. He is also not interesting as he has tons of doubles for the fight sequences but isn’t very dynamic in those either, which stands quiet a lot when he plays the part of a villain.
Luckily, Eric Tsang by this time in his career had become a decent character actor and even succeeds to make something out of the cliched Lo. It’s a role that he can do in his sleep, the sleazy, gold digging conman who later on has a change of heart. He has some of the histrionic scenes and shows up all the other actors in the cast. Keiji Sato as the main bad guy of the movie gets some passable action but unfortunately, is engulfed of the feebleness that encompasses him here.
There have been a few different jokes here and there such as the one related to “Leon” with the only difference being that it is all ordinary content that we have read or seen somewhere else. Action scenes also, have a curious case of not really taking place. Unlike actors which started out as stunt performers such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li would often be criticized for his use of doubles during filming. However, this is mostly to be expected. The issue here is the doubling but that the action seems oddly disjointed. The fact that the screenwriter (Wai, Stephen Tung) was the action choreographer which itself is an accomplishment 5 awards at the Hong Kong Film award is 3rd all time would not make it more pleasing to an extent, even if it was at least nominated (It was not a good year). Considering that there’s big action sequences involved, it’s hard to figure out what exactly went wrong that resulted in such an unrewarding film. It is almost as if the last twist is meant to tie every loose end together but instead it leaves you even more confused than before. Even the end seems shorter than expected, it’s as if the cast was aiming to finish the movie in the shortest possible time.
Ein Kelle has put together a rather dull film here. I don’t think there is any movie critic out there that can praise this malpractice of art. The sole healthy aspect in this residual cache semi flick is the potential insight that Amerika entails. A fusion of greatness alongside mediocrity. A reason for me to remain hooked in to the never ending ebb and tide of this redundant story. Grab the instances that flow higher, dive deep to catch brightly shining stars. The concept is simplistic, yet greatly enjoyable. To conclude it, I would define Diffusion as Nothing more and Nothing less than just an average sci fi flick.
For More Movies Like Hitman (1998) Visit solarmovie.
