John Woo's 'The Killer': What happened to dude's arm?

Given the date, I have to waste at least a sentence to say this entry isn't an April Fool's Joke. Which gives me a reason to waste a paragraph for a quick deranged story. I was very young, maybe 11 or 12, and I thought I had a great April Fool's Joke: wake up my mother and tell her my sister had been hit by a truck. I still hate my younger, immature self for this ploy because I'm sure my mother couldn't rest this morning. If an April Fool's Joke is measured by how much you fuck with a person's mind, I scored a big one. I'm done with the shit, and before I leave this matter, fuck your Web sites today. I hope you lose readers, you annoying badgers!

I rewatched John Woo's "The Killer" Sunday with a friend who had not seen it. His reactions to the out-of-control gunfights reminded me of my amazement years ago when I first rented the VHS from Blockbuster. I would go on to rent the VHS five or six times. Then something happened that I will never forget: Blockbuster began selling all of its video tapes. I own the very VHS that changed the way I look at action films. (However, my friend and I watched the DVD, a gift from my mother, God Bless Her Poor Soul Today.)

The violence in "The Killer" is hard to capture with writing. It is silly, extravagant, staged, funny, emotional, and ultimately captivating. Chow Yun-Fat, whose varied facial expressions are a treasure, is the killer. He shoots men as many as 10 times with his two .45s in case the first shot to the head isn't enough. He doesn't seem to reload often enough, but the bullets fly anyway. The way he shoots people are almost stories by themselves. The killer dispatches one man by firing into the legs, the man eventually falling to his knees for a final hole at the bottom of his neck. Another man pumps a shotgun as the killer stomps the end of a table to pop a revolver into his hand for two shots into the man's chest.

And then there's the scene where the killer stops a jeep beside a car. The main villain opens a back door of the car to lean out, and the killer blows the main villain's Entire Fucking Arm off with a hand cannon resulting in a lurid black spray.

Here's the mystery. It is obvious to anyone that the Entire Fucking Arm fell off the man's body like a rotted log. But the main villain continues to have that arm in the film. He continues to fire weapons with the arm. He even presses a gun to the forehead of a hostage with that arm, the sick lucky bastard.

The DVD has a commentary track with John Woo. Excited, I skip to the scene in question for insight on the arm. With slow English, Woo discusses the relationship between the killer and his best friend while the violence occurs.

I was disappointed initially. But upon reflection, it's better this way. The arm completely fucks the continuity of the film, but so do the endless bullets and sparse reloads. It's a humorous and impressive move by Woo, and an explanation would cheapen the laughs and shock. Perhaps this is the reason P.T. Anderson has refused to do a commentary track for "There Will Be Blood." Maybe it's the reason David Lynch only says "Inland Empire" is about a woman in trouble.

It is definitely the reason I am smiling on April Fool's Day.