Despite greatly enjoying his performance in Yimou Zhang's 2002 film Hero, (one of my most memorable cinema visits) I for some reason have never got round to seeing Jet Li's Hong Kong action flicks. In a local DVD shop,I saw two Li DVDs at a good price,which led to me contacting the hitman.View on the film:Doing his own dubbing for the first time in his last Hong Kong flick,Jet Li gives a very good performance as Fu (!),with Li holding the impression that Fu is always one step ahead. Whilst not making them a buddy duo, Li and Eric Tsang's lively performance as Ngok Lo catches the empathy they both share,and makes their partnership one that flows with ease. Offered up high-quality stunt work from Li and the team, director Wei Tung & cinematographer Arthur Wong chop it away for poor artistic ambition.Sticking a big poster of Three Colours: Blue on the screen a number of times, Tung and Wong give the long scenes of Fu and Ngok making attack plans a crisp,glowing appearance which undermines the grit that could be on show in the tale. Closely working with editor Ka-Fai Cheung, Tung presents the action scenes horribly, via the constant use of speeding up footage and jump-cuts that don't let the viewer to follow the battles or give the fights breathing space (you don't need 80 jump-cuts to show Li throwing a simple punch.) Kicking off with an enticing assassination, the writers kick the action and danger aside to instead focus on the timid buddy team-up,which makes this a failed hit.

The Contract Killer is one of Jet Li's best films. Besides the cool action sequences, the movie has effective humor (courtesy of Eric Tsang), and well... more action sequences. Not to mention the movie has one of the most rubbish scripts ever in the history of Kung-Fu/Action cinema. The script is so bad, the sub-villain is a guy with lasers on the tip of his shoes. And the villain eats his diseased grandfather's ashes. Yeah.Anyways, long story short, Jet and Eric must find the killer of old mafioso don Tsukamoto, in order to receive a 100 million dollar reward. Everything else is action and buddy comedy.It is important to recognize the talent and agility Jet demonstrates in his fighting scenes. Although they are far from being his best, the work he puts in here is astounding; heavily inspired by most of Jackie Chan's work as a matter of fact. Jet isn't a killing machine here, or a spiritual white robbed man with a bad haircut. He is but a skillful martial artist that doesn't want to hurt anyone badly, therefore, he resorts to use his surroundings most of the time. Like Jackie in most of his films.It is also important to recognize Eric Tsang. The man is very good in this one; funny, enjoyable and overacted (but in a tasteless way of course). I also liked the musical score and requisite Hip Hop soundtrack. Statement: You are not a Jet Li purist if you haven't seen Contract Killer. I also highly recommended this to anyone that wants to laugh and see some large amounts of ass kicking at the same time.5.3/10

A good action flick, has a lot of problems when you want good martial arts. The movie is about a poor guy, trying to get some money. But has problems, and you see how some comedy appear, and in some moment, also the drama. I want to say that the typical movies from Hong Kong are fine, but this one has poor script, the action could be better, and the characters could be more developed. But considering the action movies from USA, is a masterpiece. Is a good choice if you are tired to see Steven Segal or Van Damme. Is a must for Jet Li fans, as myself. For those who want the bestest, see after this movie Hard Boiled by John Woo.

Jet Li (Hero, Black Mask etc.) and Erik Tsang (Infernal Affairs) star in this wire fu action flick with an identity crisis. We start in kind of Jackie Chan territory with plenty of humour with Li a bumbling incompetent hit-man and Tsang a small time crook getting involved in a multi-million dollar 'hit'. As the film goes on all the comedy moments are forgotten and we begin to move into a serious action flick involving a bit more gun play than the usual Jet Li film, in fact it comes across at times as a cross between a Jet Li film and a John Woo heroic bloodshed type affair.The action sequences are all to the high standard expected of Jet with a few added gun play sequences. Li is very likable in the lead role and Tsang is very good in his sidekick role showing a different persona to his performance in Infernal affairs.Overall a fairly good hong kong action flick but the differing styles clash at times 6/10