Line #1 Film/FulltimeKiller


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fulltime_killer_movie_poster_2001_1020206727.jpg]]
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3	''Fulltime Killer'' is a 2001 Hong Kong action film directed by Creator/JohnnieTo, starring Creator/AndyLau, Creator/TakashiSorimachi, Kelly Lin, and Creator/SimonYam. It's a strange action-comedy that plays around with flashbacks and points of view, and almost requires multiple viewings to truly understand.
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5	O is considered the greatest hitman in Asia. Outside of the job, he lives a reclusive existence in an apartment in Hong Kong.
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7	Lok is an eccentric, flamboyant assassin who wants to discover O's identity and claim the top title for himself.
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9	Chin answers an ad on a bulletin board and accepts a job as the cleaner for O's flat. Lok soon insinuates himself into her life in what's half a courtship, half an attempt to figure out who O is and how best to kill him. It turns into a bizarre love triangle between Chin, O, and Lok, with none of the three quite sure of the others' motivations.
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11	Finally, there's Albert Lee, an Interpol detective who's out to arrest both O and Lok, and who ends up writing a book about the case.
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13	!!Tropes found in this Film include:
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15	* ActorAllusion: [[Film/ATasteOfKillingAndRomance This isn't Andy Lau's first professional hitman film]].
16	* AnachronicOrder: The early part of the film has a bad habit of not labeling its flashbacks very well at all.
17	* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Lok's epilepsy.]]
18	* ContractOnTheHitman: The film apes the film ''Film/{{Assassins}}'', in that the wild hitman Tok has modeled himself after action films and intentionally imitates the Stallone film in his rivalry with number one assassin O.
19	* FriendlyEnemy: Despite the fact that he's out to kill him, Lok actually likes O a great deal and they're downright chummy by the end of the film.
20	* HitmanWithAHeart: O's style is slow and deliberate, and between hits, he's reclusive and downright shy.
21	* NixonMask: Lok wears one of these when assassinating a target from up-close.
22	* ShoutOut: The final showdown between O and Lok takes place in an isolated warehouse full of hidden weapons that Lok compares to ''VideoGame/MetalSlug''. Both of them turn out to be huge fans of the game and run into the encounter with big smiles on their faces.
23	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Lok ambushes an Interpol strike team near the end of the movie with a Barrett M82 ''anti-materiel rifle''. A graze wound from it is enough to put Lee's partner into intensive care, and it's heavily implied she did not survive.
24	* TwistEnding: The last third of the film takes a weird turn for the bathetic, as we follow an alcoholic Lee as he tries to write a book about the case. [[spoiler: Chin's version of the final showdown between O and Lok involves a shootout in a warehouse that stored fireworks, and O is shot dead after being flash-blinded by an accidental explosion. After she leaves, Lee realizes that Lok's epileptic, so in her version, he would've been driven into a grand mal seizure by the fireworks display. This means the entire thing is something Chin made up to make Lee think that O is dead and Lok is alive.]]
25	* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: The movie following O and Chin's escape from Interpol is a version of events told to Lee by Chin, as Lee attempts to write a memoir on the case. It's only after she's left that Lee realizes that it's probably not an ''accurate'' retelling.]]
26	* WholePlotReference: Lok admits to basing his rivalry with O on the film ''Film/{{Assassins}}''.

Context Film / FulltimeKiller