This funny and interesting Hollywood Hong Kong flick is nearly ruined by one poorly created characters and one glaring continuity edit. Let me explain each. The main character, played by Marky Mark Wahlberg, is a thoroughly awesome hit man who has a soft side: He just wants people to like him. This is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. It doesn't work. Don't get me wrong, Wahlberg does everything he possibly can to make it work. But first time scripter Ben Ramsey and director Che Kirk Wong, directing his first Hollywood flick, do not have the talent to make it so. Their idea of showing Wahlberg's frustration over this character flaw is to have him drink Maalox a couple times during the beginning of the movie. Big whoop. The second problem comes late in the film when Marky and a girl drive a car right over a cliff and land on a tree sort of thing sort of growing out of the side of a cliff. A wide shot shows us there is no way to get down from here. They crawl out the shot-up back window and the next thing you know... Marky's back on dry land! What? How? Wait! It is impossible. It totally ruins the film for many minutes.

But on the plus side is the acting, particularly by Wahlberg but also by several of his co-stars. Wong wisely gets the butt shots (all but Wahlberg) out of the way in an early locker-room scene so that the guys can concentrate on the acting rather than the sex appeal. Wahlberg, of course, oozes it naturally. Wahlberg may be echoing his work in "Boogie Nights" by bringing us a "nice guy" in a "adult" world (in this case violent), but he makes it no less attractive or charming. Wahlberg is a comic and compassionate force to be reckoned with here and we enjoy watching him in every frame of the film, even when the script and direction let him down miserably. Likewise, Phillips is fun to watch here as the bad guy. His scenes with goofy Robin Dunne are particularly amusing. Also along for the humorous ride are Christina Applegate, as Wahlberg's Jewish girlfriend (Lainie Kazan and Elliot Gould are also hilarious as her parents); TV's "Deep Space Nine" star Avery Brooks, as Wahlberg's heavy hittin' crime boss Paris; Bookem Woodbine, as a black man who has just discovered masturbation (and this is "milked" for numerous funny moments); Danny Smith as a video store clerk who early intrusions of goofiness become a developing point in the plot; Sab Shimono as Jiro Nishi, a wealthy Japanese businessman who recently went broke by producing his own film, "Taste the Golden Spray;" China Chow as his kidnapped daughter Keiko; Antonio Sabato Jr. as one of Wahlberg's co- workers, who doesn't get any screen time; and obnoxious Lela Rochon as Wahlberg's other girlfriend. All of these comic characters combine to provide numerous humorous moments. Smith's clerk is over the top and Shimono's hari-kari scene is a high point in the film.

Don't get me wrong, "The Big Hit" has lots of problems. In addition to the continuity error, there is an overwhelming feeling that a better director could have turned Wahlberg's character into so much more. Wahlberg is great here but under the right tutelage he could have created another attention- getting character like Dirk Diggler. But the acting and the humor of the piece, which is it's focus, make this film worthy, in a trifling way.

Note: Music by Graeme Revell. Pop songs by Buck-O-Nine (who cover Joe Jackson's "I'm the Man"), Marky, Sugar Hill Gang, and Fun Loving Criminals among others.

Producers include Wesley Snipes and John Woo (Executive).

Filmed in Canada with a budget of $13 million.

Review written in 1998

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