The Legend of a Professional
Director: Billy Chan
Year: 2001
Rating: 5.5
There are just enough
off kilter moments to keep this film somewhat interesting for a while, but
only barely. It is yet one more story covering that favorite Hong Kong mystical
character – the professional killer. There is a certain coolness about these
enigmatic assassins – an aloofness, a sense of fatalism and most importantly
- usually good fashion sense that defines and romanticizes them.
There is nothing particularly romantic about Anthony Wong’s professional
killer in this film though. He is more of a working man’s killer – a regular
Joe - nothing flashy – no slow-mo killings – no leaping in mid air and firing
- he gets a contract from his deep in the bottle agent, Law Koon-lan, and
does it. Punches the clock, kills someone, punches out. To him it’s just
a job; no different than driving a cab – but with better hours. He lives
in a small apartment and worries about his mother. His mother, Helen Law
Lan, lives in Vietnam, but keeps tabs on her son and worries whether he will
ever get married. Immediately after one of his contracts has been fulfilled
– Wong answers his cell phone and it is his mother telling him she is coming
to Hong Kong to visit and wants to meet his girlfriend.
Of course, Wong’s girlfriend is a fiction to make her happy and now he has
to come up with a real one. He holds auditions. He advertises in the paper
for an actress and after rejecting a number of raggedy looking women, Josie
Ho stumbles into his studio in her short spiky hair on the run from debt
collectors - the not very nice kind – and Wong wants her out like yesterday’s
newspaper. But mom calls and tells him she has come early – so Anthony reluctantly
takes on Josie as his pretend girlfriend.
Surprisingly love doesn’t really bloom – though a grudging respect does –
and when Josie learns about his means of support she wants in. He gives her
a little surprise quiz – and when she survives he takes her on as an apprentice.
Not too surprisingly, Josie realizes she has found the one thing that she
is very good at. Soon the two of them are very busy.
The one thing that made me pick up this DVD as opposed to the myriad of other
low budget Anthony Wong films that have been spewing out like sewage from
a broken water pipe was a picture of Josie aiming a sniper rifle on the back
cover and dressed in a school uniform on the front! Her quiet intense killer
in Purple Storm was easily the best thing about that film and I have looked
forward to more action roles for her. The action in this film is less than
well done – but I have to say that Anthony and Josie make for a cute killing
couple. It all plays out a bit slowly and without a lot of style – and it
hits a number of cliches near the end with a dull thud – but at least both
Anthony and Josie are center stage for the entire film and give solid performances.