General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Hitman (1998 film)

Hitman (殺手之王, literally King of Assassins; also released as Contract Killer and The Hitman) is a 1998 Hong Kong action comedy directed by Wei Tung, also credited as Stephen Tung Wai (董瑋), starring Jet Li (李連杰) as a kind-hearted would-be hitman chasing a large bounty alongside a con-man agent played by Eric Tsang (曾志偉)¹^•². It was Jet Li's last Hong Kong film before his move to Hollywood³.

Key fact	Detail
Original title	殺手之王 (King of Assassins); English titles include Hitman, The Hitman, and Contract Killer²^•¹
Director / producer	Wei Tung (Stephen Tung Wai), who also served as action director; produced by Gordon Chan (陳嘉上)²^•⁴
Writers	Chan Hing-Kai, Kam Fu Cheng, and Vincent Kok⁵
Cast	Jet Li, Eric Tsang, Simon Yam (任達華), Gigi Leung (梁詠琪), Keiji Sato⁶
Hong Kong release	April 3, 1998; grossed HK$10,296,825, ranking 21st for the year⁷
Runtime	Reported between about 100 and 104 minutes depending on version⁶^•³
US re-release	2002, cut, dubbed, and retitled Contract Killer by Columbia/Tri-Star¹

Spoilers

Plot

The story turns on a bounty. An old man whose family was ruined by a Japanese trade lord during World War II hires the King of Killers to assassinate him, and the dead man's revenge fund promises a vast reward to whoever kills the assassin². According to the lovehkfilm review, the hit is worth $100 million, and everyone, including the murdered man's grandson, pursues it¹; the Cinemasie database instead states a reward of $1 billion².

Jet Li plays Fu, an ex-soldier and new immigrant from the mainland who is poor, good-hearted, and too nice for the trade⁴^•¹. He accidentally walks into the hitmen's meeting and is taken on by Ngok Lo (Eric Tsang), a con man who acts as his agent and hopes to score big on Fu's coat-tails⁴. Simon Yam plays a cop assigned to watch the hitmen entering Hong Kong, and Gigi Leung plays the agent's daughter Kiki, a budding lawyer who takes a small shine to Fu¹.

Production and context

The film was produced by Gordon Chan for China Star, with production companies including Win's Entertainment and Flea Market⁴^•⁵. Director Wei Tung was a former movie fight choreographer, and he also designed the action⁸^•².

A farewell to Hong Kong. Hitman was Jet Li's last Hong Kong film before he moved to the United States, where Lethal Weapon 4 introduced him to American audiences³^•⁸. It is noteworthy for being shot in sync sound, making it the first time local audiences heard Jet Li's real voice⁹. The Hong Kong industry was struggling in 1998, having lost talent and investment after the handover, and Hollywood films took seven of that year's top ten spots at the local box office⁹^•⁷.

The film nods to the Hong Kong cinema tradition it came from: in a tailor-shop scene Li's character tries on outfits mimicking famous movie hitmen, including Léon from Léon: The Professional (1994) and Mark from A Better Tomorrow (1986)¹⁰.

Reception

Critical response was mixed. The Deseret News found the plot hard to follow and the first hour slow, but credited the film with almost non-stop action in its second half, an elevator-shaft sequence, and a showdown against a samurai-sword-wielding assailant, and noted that Eric Tsang upstaged Li in the dramatic scenes⁸. The Eye for Film review called it a departure from Li's usual formula, an action comedy closer to Jackie Chan's style, and judged it a pleasant surprise with easy-going charm and good comic timing³. lovehkfilm called it uncharacteristically low-key for a Jet Li film but worthwhile for the chemistry between the actors, with good action sequences weighed down by a sometimes confusing and slow plot¹. A Far East Films review found the film well directed but lacking without a Yuen Woo-ping-style action designer, singling out a mid-film fight between Li and a lanky American and a powerful final reel¹¹.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has no critic score on the Tomatometer (0 reviews) and a 39% audience score from 50+ ratings⁵. At the 18th Hong Kong Film Awards it received one nomination, Best Action Design for Stephen Tung Wai¹.

Release history and titles

The film opened in Hong Kong on April 3, 1998, and in South Korea on April 10, 1999; it was not released theatrically in Japan⁷. In 2002 Columbia/Tri-Star brought it to the United States cut, dubbed, and retitled Contract Killer¹. It has since circulated under several English titles, including The Hitman on British home video⁶, and streams on services such as Prime Video and Tubi⁵^•¹².

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026