The Killer (1989 Film) - Themes

Themes

Director John Woo has described The Killer as being about "honour and friendship", "trying to find out if there is something common between two people" and as a "romantic poem". The structure of the film follows two men on the opposite side of the law who find a relation to each other in their opposition of a greater evil, Wong Hoi, the leader of the Triad. Li and Ah Jong's relationship was influenced by the Spy vs. Spy comics from Mad Magazine. Woo recalled "When I was young I was fascinated with the cartoon–I love it very much...the white bird and the black bird are always against each other, but deep in their heart, they are still friendly, and the idea came from that." Woo uses the characters of Ah Jong and Li in the film as a central motif to illustrate moral points. Scenes with this reflective doubling include the hospital sequence with Li and Ah Jong on opposite sides of a hospital hall and in the final battle scene where Li and Ah Jong are in a standoff with Wong. The focus on male friendships in Woo's film have been interpreted as homoerotic. Woo has responded to these statements stating "People will bring their own preconceptions to a movie...If they see something in The Killer that they consider to be homoerotic then that is their privilege. It's certainly not intentional."

Woo is a Christian and instills his films with religious imagery while stating that The Killer is "not a religious film". In the opening of The Killer, Ah Jong is found in a church stating he enjoys the "tranquility". Ah Jong is later found in the church again getting several slugs pulled out of his back showing his intense pain while the altar and crucifix are shown prominently behind him. The idea was influenced by Martin Scorsese's film Mean Streets, Woo stated the imagery was used to show that "God is welcoming, no matter if it's a good or a bad man, everyone is welcome".

Woo draws on animal symbolism throughout the entire film. He filled the church with doves and pigeons, employing doves to represent the spirits of the people. This was the first film where Woo used the dove symbolism and has used it to similar effect in Hard Target and Face/Off. A cat is also used when Ah Jong first meets Jennie on her visit home, and secondarily with Li's partner Chang tries to catch Ah Jong in Jennie's apartment. In Chinese culture, a sign of a cat coming into a home symbolizes an omen of ruin and poverty for its inhabitants. Both Chang and Jennie meet negative outcomes in the film.