Fulltime Killer review

Part of Metro Tartan's ongoing roadshow of Asian extreme cinema, Fulltime Killer pairs Hong Kong top-biller Andy Lau (Days Of Being Wild) and Japanese TV pin-up Takashi Sorimachi in a stylish, shoot-it-if-it-moves thriller.

O (Sorimachi) is the area's No1 hitman; Tok (Lau) is the young pretender, eager to make his mark. Naturally no town is big enough for the both of them - - especially when Tok makes moves on O's woman (Kelly Lin) - so what better way to sort out their differences than with a shoot-out in a fireworks factory?

The reference points come as thick and fast as the bullets (The Matrix, Pulp Fiction...) and, as you'd expect of any movie so in awe of John Woo, there are more slo-mo gun battles than hours spent on the script. But that's the point: lovers of Asian action flicks know it's style, not content, that counts, and watching bad guys swan around in Hawaiian shirts only ratchets up the tension. As do the one-liners: ""Gotta go and kill some people. Be right back.""