A frenetic action movie about a tired-of-life assassin that begins with a hatchet fight? From the director and star of The Swordsman? Uh, that’s a big old hell yes from around these parts. And that’s precisely what we get from Choi Jae-hoon’s The Killer. Not to be confused with John Woo’s 1989 classic of the same name, this is nevertheless also a kickass time. (This latest Killer is an adaption of Bang Ji-ho’s novel, The Kid Deserves to Die, and it’s easy to understand why the title was changed for multiple reasons.)
The past few years, Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival has become one of my favorite cinematic showcases on the calendar. Probably because it caters to all manner of genre weirdness from around the globe. We’re talking horror, action, sci-fi, and more. It also features a combination of things that will get released and an assortment of those you’ll probably never hear from again. It’s movie nerd smorgasbord.
