Hitman was Jet Li’s last Hong Kong production before he made the migration to Hollywood in Lethal Weapon IV. It’s one of his lesser known films that follow the unfortunate trend of mixing light comedy with Li’s usual butt-kicking screen fighting. Direction and choreography from veteran Stephen Tung Wai guarantees quality action scenes, but the film otherwise loses focus.

The Killing Angel, a mysterious hitman who works for no money and only kills those who deserve to die infiltrates a high-security building and assassinates an aging yakuza boss for crimes committed against the Chinese during World War II. A $100 million “revenge” fund is activated and draws dozens of the world’s top hitmen. Also joining in is Eric Tsang as a conman who recruits Jet Li as his paid assassin. In one of the worst ideas for conceiving a character and his motivations, Li is a former Mainland Chinese soldier with the skills and desire to be a killer, but not the heart. When Tsang sends Li on a test mission to kill a target, Li inadvertently befriends the man’s son beforehand and ends up rescuing the target from other assassins instead. Both men bluff their way along while gathering clues that will lead them to the Killing Angel. But when Tsang’s money scams put a link between him and the elderly man who hired the Killing Angel, he becomes suspect number one. Li puts his martial arts and gun-fighting skills to use protecting Tsang from the grandson of the yakuza boss and his gang of killers, just as the real Killing Angel reappears.

The main draw of this film is to see Jet Li whooping ass, but casting him as a wannabe killer with a heart of gold is a serious flaw that spoils a lot of the fun. There’s no plausible justification for his desire to become a hitman except that he wants the money to help his mother. An attempt to make a joke out of his obsession with collecting small change is made, but beyond this Li just goes through the motions of trying on designer suits and beating up the bad guys. Like most of his Hollywood films, he seems a little lost or out of step with his character.

Eric Tsang on the other hand is in his element as a fast-talking conman who juggles trying to meet his daughter’s expectations with making a big score. The film would have been a decent comedy if it just starred Tsang as the dysfunctional father/criminal. But he’s paired with Li and thus like so many Hong Kong movies, Hitman tries to offer a bit of everything with little effort put towards making sense of it.

Stephen Tung Wai and his crew create some spectacular action sequences that help to make up for some of the film’s other flaws. Simon Yam’s gun fu moves are slick while Jet Li is no slouch either. Li performs the type of disarming locks and deflecting maneuvers that he excels at in most of his contemporary actioners. His showdown with the yakuza boss and his men has Li stepping up to perform as good as he ever has.

Paul Rapovski is Li’s main martial arts opponent in the film. He also appeared in My Father is a Hero and has since gone on to become an action director on the likes of the Mutant X TV series. He’s a cardboard cutout when it comes to character, but he delivers a credible screen fighting performance opposite Li.

With a better script and more developed characters, Hitman could have been a great actioner. Despite a few good scenes, it mostly falls flat with Li delivering the action moves, but floundering through everything else.

by