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Buy it, you won't regret it

The article Jeffery linked to says:

"The Killer reveals some flickering desire—briefly, a fling with a orange-haired pixie brings it out of him—but his partnership with the Agent can never transcend the professional, and his one last romantic gesture is to offer himself up for annihilation."

So he's implying that yes she planned it and yes he knew it was coming? Still not sure myself...

I don't think so... if he knew it was coming, meaning he knew he was gonna die, I don't think he would've tried to escape as he did...

Can a killer stop being a killer even though he's tired?

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Yours Disciplinedly,

Peter

What do you mean? Why not?

I think he only 'offers himself up for annihilation' in the sense that he cannot be intimate with his partner, and has expressed a desire to terminate the partnership. It's a 'romantic' gesture in the round, rather than necessarily being a romantic gesture to his agent per se.

There's a dichotomy between his slavish adherence to type - he takes on the job, and it's hinted to us that it's doom-laden with foreshadowing ten feet high - but his character talks of change, with his final voiceover deviating from his initial one. So depending on your viewpoint he either dies doing what he always did - letting others do the planning for him. Or he actively chooses to break the cycle by doing the very thing (call for an end to the partnership; walk into a job to his death) which will bring change.

Watching this film again on Blu-Ray, I realize two things:

1. There doesn't seem to be many stories out there about the making of this film, at least in comparison to Wong's other films. I've always assumed it was just shot and edited really quickly like Chungking Express was.

2. Leon Lai is a major weak spot. His character doesn't really need to show that much emotion, but imagine how much more interesting his character would seem if he were to be played by Leslie Cheung. That being said, I think Takeshi Kaneshiro more than makes up for Leon Lai's boringness.

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In May's eyes, I'm no different from a can of pineapple.

Leon Lai's character hardly showed any emotion at surface level, but I wouldn't label him outright boring. I think more could've been shown of him. Personally, I felt that we weren't given quite enough of him. I was satisfied with the other characters though. I absolutely LOVE Takeshi Kaneshiro and Michelle Reis in "Fallen Angels".

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"What a difference a day makes."

Have to give this a fresh watch since getting the Blu-ray. Been a while.

There was/is something so magical about this movie. It is absolute perfection. Wouldn't change anything about it.