The
Replacement Killers (1998)
This is a Americanized rip-off of Hong
Kong action flicks that borrows the genres top male
star and then forgets to co-opt the action. Imagine
John Woo on qualude and you get a general idea of
"The Replacement Killers." Of course, Woo dealt us
a similar hand when he directed Jean-Claude Van Damme
in "Hard Target." But, of course, since I love slo-mo,
I like the film. And this flick has everything in
slo-mo, from the action, to the romance, to the plot,
and the dialogue. Nothing moves fast here. when a
dog is shown growling in slo-mo, you know it's got
to be bad.
Top Asian actor Chow-Yun Fat, who is
often billed as Yun Fat Chow in his homeland, stars
here as John Lee, a hired killer with a heart. In
fact, the only reason John kills is because some oriental
Godfather type (Kenneth Tsang as Wei), will hurt his
family if he does not kill. John decides to get out
when Wei puts a hit on an innocent. To get out, however,
John has to team up with forger Mira Sorvino. Up till
now, we thought we were in Hong Kong, but it turns
out it's L.A.
Sorvino looks cool and always dresses
as skimpy as possible but there are no sparks between
her and the Fat Yun one. The just sort of limp through
the movie together, sometimes literally.
First time Director Antoine Fuqua tries
his best and his sense of visual style is stunning.
Everything looks really cool. But if you rent the
video on this, when it comes out, you can play it
with the sound off and listen to your Aphex Twins
CD and have your own music video. You won't miss out
on any acting or plot or dialogue with meaning. You
can probably even keep up with the story from the
visuals.
In "Replacement Killers," all the villains
are ugly. That's how you know the bad guys, they have
pock-marked faces. The heros shoot at everything like
the villains but no body really hits the target until
Fuqua is ready for them to do so. The violence is
staged, like a movie.
"The Replacement Killers" needs a plot,
better action, more believeability, characters who
can actually shoot things with one or two shots, actors
and dialogue. Without these elements, it's just a
cool music video without the music all the time. And,
like I said, I liked it.
Note:
Also with Michael Rooker and Jurgen
Prochnow.
Script by ex-cop Ken Sanzel. Music
by Harry Gregson- Williams.
John Woo, who has cast the Yun Fat
one in many a film, is an Executive Producer.
Review written in 1998
