I noticed the other day that Sky has a new film on its platform called The Killer. It’s a common enough name for a film, with the most recent example being a 2023 David Fincher film for Netflix featuring Michael Fassbender as an assassin.

But this 2024 film had a vaguely familiar plot and it was only when I saw “A John Woo Film” appear on screen that I realised that this was a remake of Woo’s classic 1989 Hong Kong action film starring Chow Yun Fat. In the new version, the action has been relocated to France, and the eponymous killer is now female with Nathalie Emmanuel playing the lead. The rest of the cast includes familiar French faces like Omar Sy, Tchéky Karyo and, er, Eric Cantona. There’s also the Australian Sam Worthington, for some reason playing an Irish character.

Woo isn’t getting any younger, but even if the Eiffel Tower appears in a few too many shots (seriously, there are parts of Paris where it isn’t visible), this is a vastly better film than the truly terrible Manhunt from 2017, and the less-bad but still not-great Silent Night from 2023. The action scenes are well handled and Woo brings some of his elan to them. He’s clearly aided and abetted by a decent stunt and effects team in Paris.

But this also instantly got me thinking about rewatching the original. And more than that, going back to another classic action film from the period, also starring Chow Yun Fat, Hard Boiled.

Obviously, neither of these films are on Netflix. Nor are they on Amazon Prime for streaming. Indeed they’re not available to buy digitally anywhere either – not on Apple, YouTube Movies nor anywhere else. For Hard Boiled there is a single DVD currently available on Amazon UK from a third party. But only international Blu Rays from countries like Italy or the US. The same applies for The Killer (1989 version) except the remaining DVDs are seemingly deleted and therefore prices start at around £30. For a Blu Ray, you’re looking at £50!

At this point I remember I did already have Hard Boiled on DVD, and dug that copy out. But I don’t have The Killer, having once owned it on VHS! So here’s another classic genre of films that is basically disappearing before our eyes.

Maybe there’s an all singing and dancing 4K UHD re-release of some of these titles coming soon, and the rights owner wants to create scarcity in the meantime. But otherwise, good luck finding these films legally. And it’s another reminder that although streaming brings lots of benefits, the catalogues aren’t nearly as deep as they were when we had physical media.