The Killer is a 1989 Hong Kong action crime film directed by John Woo and stars Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sally Yeh. In the film, an assassin (Chow) accidentally damages the eyes of a singer (Yeh) during a shootout and sets out to perform one-last-hit for her treatment.

Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.