Jeffrey Chiang’s “The Killer Has No Return” is unfortunately an unoriginal and highly derivative work that apes Wong Kar Wai’s influential Fallen Angels. The uncharismatic Wong Hei plays an assassin who has been hired to kill a shady businessman in Malaysia, where a vast majority of the movie is shot. While scouting locations for his attempt, he meets a pretty bar girl named Jenny (Lee Siu-Mei) and they become involved, despite his worry of her getting caught up in his work. All this while, there is a second assassin (Yu Rongguang) stalking Wong in order to prevent the contract from being completed. A series of twists reveal that Wong’s father’s mistress also lives in Malaysia and the local scene, seeking closure for her past once she realizes who Wong is.

If the plot sounds complicated, it is, and is probably not worth multiple viewings to understand what is going on. None of the cast involved are particularly good actors, and the action is limited and stale. Both Wong and Yu fire off hundreds of shots, with barely any finding their mark and most appearing as poorly placed squibs being detonated. The director, Chaing, impersonates Wong Kar Wai’s choppy, blurry handheld camera techniques to such a degree that it almost appears to be a tribute film. Even the plot is similar enough to warrant an investigation. The ending even manages to rip off, to a lesser degree, John Woo’s “The Killer.” For the most part, the only interesting tidbits are the locations in Malaysia and a couple of initial action scenes in Hong Kong bars. Otherwise avoid in favor of the multitude of classics you may have missed.