A down-on-his-luck and financially strapped ex-soldier named Fu (Li) - is reluctantly is drawn into becoming a hit-man after moving from the country to try and make it in the big city of Hong Kong. Before a mega-rich Japanese businessman is mercilessly assassinated, he smartly planned ahead and offered a hundred million dollars to whoever captures his killer. A whole panoply of money-grabbers come out of the woodwork to try and claim the loot by catching the wily killer, including the murdered tycoon's son Eiji (Sato). While Fu and a charismatic underworld type named Norman (at least in the U.S. version his name is Norman) (Tsang) are trying to work their way through the precarious situation they find themselves in, with the help of Kiki (Leung),a cop named Chan (Yam) is trying to prevent any more bloodshed. Who will find - or become - the "King of the Killers"? Find out today...

We've always been big Jet Li fans, and Contract Killer is a solid showcase for his talents. It was fun watching him go from a thrifty ragamuffin to a dapper killer, but while still continuing to be a good guy at heart, of course. He even helps a group of children win stuffed animals at a carnival, including one lucky kid who gets a Big Bird and a Cookie Monster. Pretty sweet. Much of the transformation of Fu's character was done using a classic shopping montage, which we always love to see.

Director Wei Tung, who is primarily known for being an actor and stuntman, turns in a well-shot, professional-looking product, and the U.S. DVD is in widescreen, which reinforces that. Unfortunately, it's English-dubbed only, with no option for the original spoken language. Another frustrating thing about the DVD presentation is that a lot of annoying rap music is shoehorned in all over the place. In many scenes, funky-fresh beats just randomly start playing, and of course it's all over the opening and closing credits. The lyrics even appear if you turn on the closed-captioning. Here's a prime example, and we quote: "contract killer, yo." Our question is: WHY? Is there someone out there who would enjoy the movie exactly as it is, but the fact that there isn't rap on the soundtrack every two minutes cause him to lose faith and interest in the film? Would that really be a dealbreaker for someone? Of course, the main reason to watch Contract Killer is for the Martial Arts fights, and there are some absolute killers on display. It really is a pleasure to watch Jet Li work his magic. We definitely felt these high-quality and extremely well-executed fights should have lasted longer, and there should have been more of them. But what we do get is top-notch stuff. Not to belabor the point, but watching these beautifully choreographed battles with some piped-in hip-hop is like spray painting over fine art. But honestly it's not really reason enough to avoid seeing this movie, especially considering it's available dirt cheap and is widely accessible.

While not without its flaws, Contract Killer boasts some impressive fights, and is one of the last pager-era Martial Arts extravaganzas.

This excellent Jet Li flick is his last Hong Kong movie before he moved to America and made LETHAL WEAPON 4, and boy, is it a good one. For once the complicated story takes precedence over the action sequences so that this feels like a fully-rounded film rather than just another predictable fight flick. It's a film which throws in a police story, a murder mystery, loads of assassins and bad guys, a romance, plenty of excellent comedy and of course some very fine martial arts battles. In fact the fights here are fewer but better than ever, perhaps because they are so few. Highlights include the predictable but engaging end battle/massacre and the Russian fighter who uses his light ring to blind his opponents (you'll understand if you see it).

The characters are fully developed and the script is chock full of intense situation, personality building, and tons of comedy. Eric Tsang plays Li's mentor Norman Lo and is extremely good in the part, having moved on wonderfully from his turns in such '80s fare as MY LUCKY STARS. Jet Li himself is very good in the leading role, being both wonderful in the action stakes and also more than adequate when it comes to acting as well. The movie is well paced and remains interesting throughout, is beautifully filmed, and is just about as good as you can get for a fight flick. Highly recommended.

A mysterious assassin known as the 'Angel of Death' has being killing various criminals. His latest victim is an elderly Japanese businessman who had committed atrocities during the war. His grandson takes over the business and offers $50,000,000 for the killer and an identical sum for the person who contracted him. This attracts contract killers from around the world. These include Fu, a would be hitman from Mainland China who's previous contracts suggest he is in the wrong line of work. When he turns up be finds himself supported by Ngok Lo, who tells people he is Fu's manager. He sets about making Fu look the part. As the story progresses the various assassins chase down leads before finally those surviving face off in one final fight to get the money. Away from the hunt for the killer Fu gets close to Ngok Lo's beautiful daughter Kiki.

This film was a lot of fun; it combines humour, impressive action and even a little romance. The central story is well told and provides a few good twists before the assassin's identity is finally revealed. The action is hardly non-stop but when the action scenes occur they are impressive. Jet Li does an impressive job as Fu and Eric Tsang is a lot of fun as Ngok Lo. There are also notable performances from Simon Yam as Officer Chan Kwan, the policeman looking for the killer, and Gigi Leung as Kiki; the rest of the cast are solid too. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Hong Kong cinema looking for a nice blend of comedy and action.

These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles. In the version I watched the characters and been renamed with similar western names but in my review I stuck with the names listed on the IMDb.