With all the remakes of foreign films flowing in and around Hollywood lately, it should come as no surprise that one of John Woo’s previous films is about to get a new facelift. Woo’s 1989 film The Killer starred Chow Yun Fat as a hitman who takes one last job in order to try and care for a lounge singer that he accidentally blinded on a previous assignment. Korean-American director John H. Lee (A Moment to Remember) has been hired to helm a new version of the film, which will star an unnamed Korean actor in the primary role. The remake will be set in Los Angeles as opposed to Hong Kong.

Lee had this to say: “I ask myself why they chose me and whether I can top it… but then I realize it’s not about making it better. It’s about making my own version. My strength is dealing with human emotions, austerity and elegance.” This is not the first time we’ve heard about a possible remake of The Killer; at one point Walter Hill (The Warriors) was supposed to direct one, and his script is still floating around out there on the web somewhere. Terence Chang (Face/Off, The Replacement Killers) will produce. Is The Killer a movie that deserves a remake, or does the original still hold up fine today?