Kiss Me Deadly: Hollywood's Baddest Screen Gangsters
The Cool Killer: Chow Yun-Fat
as Ah Jong in "The Killer" John Woo's ode to
Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai" is a bullet-riddled elegy to friendship
under fire, and Chow Yun-Fat is undoubtedly the most charming hit man
ever to blow away a bad guy on screen. With the charisma ... more of Cary Grant and the
steely grace-under-pressure of Humphrey Bogart, he executes his hits like perfectly
choreographed dance numbers (and yes, he only takes contracts on those who
deserve it) and, true to his code, he risks all for innocent bystanders caught
in the crossfire. He's not really a gangster here, but he mixes it up with
organized crime and takes out a good chunk of the underworld when he's ambushed
by a few hundred thugs. The finale, a high-octane shoot-out in a church, where
Chow takes on a small army with the acrobatic flair of a gun-toting
swashbuckler, firmly established Woo as the maestro of mayhem and Chow as the
reigning king of cool in action cinema.
