The Killer
Peacock | Release Date (Streaming): August 23, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 23, 2024
Thanks to a legendary director at the top of his game, this is easily one of the best action movies of the year. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyAug 23, 2024
The direction is energetic, incorporating frantic flashbacks and resourceful split-screen perspectives, and the plot adds several new twists not found in the first movie. Rest assured, this may be a remake, but it’s not a retread. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 23, 2024
The movie works so well — and remains so light on its feet — because it eschews the life-or-death weight of Woo’s original in favor of focusing on the unbridled joys of resurrection. Read full review
70
Screen RantBen GibbonsAug 23, 2024
Fortunately, the acting, action, and pacing of the story override the film's issues to make The Killer an extremely fun and engaging assassin movie. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 23, 2024
[Woo] may have tamped down some of his more sentimental and tragic impulses, but he definitely flexes for the climactic melee in a deconsecrated church, which is beautifully bananas, but also, in a funny way, a personal statement on the intimacy that quality action filmmaking should create. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 23, 2024
It skips the florid romanticism, the thick atmosphere, the grand mythmaking, opting instead for a breezy, silly modesty. It’s fun, ridiculous, and deliriously violent in its own right. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 23, 2024
It’s as if remaking a John Woo movie finally gave John Woo permission to make a true John Woo movie again. Read full review
70
SlashfilmBJ ColangeloAug 23, 2024
The Killer is a pretty cool made-for-streaming action film with solid performances, fun set pieces, plenty of melodrama to go around, and Woo's signature wordplay that may inspire eye-rolls from some but a sensible chuckle from those of us with good taste. Read full review
60
Paste MagazineTara Bennett Aug 23, 2024
It’s the palpable, playful chemistry between Emmanuel and Sy that finally gives this version of The Killer a reason to exist. Their rapport is a little bit sexy, witty and plenty world-weary. Every time they reunite, the film crackles back to life. Read full review
60
The GuardianJesse HassengerAug 23, 2024
It humbly presents the optional but delightful spectacle of watching John Woo have fun again. Read full review
58
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 23, 2024
A mediocre remix that, for all its familiar elements, fails to improve upon a single aspect of its trailblazing predecessor. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 23, 2024
The 2024 version of The Killer is obviously competently made–the Hong Kong director still knows how to stage an action sequence, well into his seventies—but the truth is that this version of the film does absolutely nothing better than the original. It’s a movie that’s generally watchable but almost instantly forgettable, which the best of Woo never is. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerAug 23, 2024
If his new movie feels 25 years too late, it’s also a reminder of what made the original so special in its day. Those who manage to discover The Killer through this serviceable remake would be better off revisiting the one that started it all. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaAug 23, 2024
It has no soul or style, and creates no sense of chemistry between lead actors Omar Sy and Nathalie Emmanuel. They try their best to fill the movie's dead air with charm and anguish. Unfortunately, their best isn't enough. Read full review
50
ColliderMatt DonatoAug 23, 2024
It’s more than just a failure of a remake — it’s disappointing on its own standalone merits, too. Read full review
44
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 23, 2024
It’s good to know that John Woo still thinks the only reason motorcycles were invented was to be shot and exploded in mid-air, but most of this action is merely satisfactory, and even after years of experimentation, CGI bullet hits still look faker than an old-fashioned squib Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerAug 23, 2024
The film can’t stop splitting the difference between dissonant remnants of Woo’s baroque sentimentality (Zee lighting a candle for each life she takes) and snarky Hollywood action idiocy. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJake ColeAug 23, 2024
This remake is absent the far richer character development that made the original as much a melodrama as a shoot-’em-up. Read full review
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