The Replacement Killers (Special Edition)
After he betrays Mr. Wei, the ruthless crime boss who hired him to avenge his son's death, professional killer John Lee (Yun-Fat) goes on the run. Enlisting the aid of beautiful document forger Meg Coburn (Sorvino), Lee attempts to return to his family in China before they are victimized by his betrayal. But Wei's army of "replacement killers" is hot on his trail, and now both he and Meg are targets of their impressive firepower. With both sides fully armed and determined to fight to the death, an ultra-violent shoot-out breaks out when they finally face off against each other. It's "a seamless fusion of Hong Kong action-adventure style and cool" (The New York Times) that will blow everyone away - including you!
Member Reviews
A Great Film - Surprised by other reviewers!? - ArcAngelMD
The Replacement Killers is one of my favourite films and I am really surprised to see the negative reception here with other Zip reviewers. As a long time fan of Hong Kong action cinema, I felt that The Replacement Killer's was an appropriately stylized, gritty, and action driven homage to these films that accomplished everything it was meant to perfectly. We have power house actors who connect well and have done an excellent job to fill their roles.
The support cast is decent (a few relatively weak ones here or there but nothing atypical) and we have some great production values here. This fits well as a 90's actioner and is a good introduction to Hong Kong cinema in a manner that is approachable to the naive. I highly recommend this film.Far From Perfect But Certainly has Lots of Style - Gregg
Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat (in his American film debut) plays John Lee a man being blackmailed with the lives of his mother and sister back in Shanghai to work for a powerful mob boss in the America. In exchange for the lives of his loved ones he takes on three assassinations. The first two he willingly and of course stylishly undertakes as they are against rival criminals, but the third target is the young son of a police officer who killed the son of the mob boss reluctantly in the execution of an arrest. Unable to take the life of the young boy he knows he must return to China as soon as possible if he is to save his family, to that end he locates a forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to provide him with a passport. Unfortunately before the transaction can be completed the hired guns of the mob boss show up and a running gun battle ensues.
Style wins out over substance in this American homage to the Hong Kong action genre which was exemplified by director John Woo who is an executive producer for this film. The style of the film also owes a lot to music videos as this was director Antoine Fuqua’s first film after a successful career that included Coolio’s “Gangsta Paradise”. Thus we get lots glaring color, blaring music, slow motion, rapid fire editing and some fancy camera work. As far as the performances go, the two stars certainly exhibit considerable screen presence which is helpful as they are given precious little time to actually flesh out their characters. The supporting cast includes Michael Rooker and Jurgen Prochnow and a host of other recognizable faces which helps in the shorthand of an action film.
The film was not successful at the box office and critical reception was poor but it did get a positive review from Roger Ebert.
Apparently the film set a record for bullets fired in an American movie and Chow Yun-Fat blistered at least one of his hands due to the repetitive firing required during filming.BOO - Tinkerbe11
Well I can say that I didn't fancy this movie at all "thriller" please. I was so very disappointed at I really do like Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino. But this movie was a bomb. Bad acting and bad story line. And the romance angle OMG please, they should have just stuck in more bang bang shoot em up scenes. BOO.....
Member Reviews
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A Great Film - Surprised by other reviewers!? - ArcAngelMD
The Replacement Killers is one of my favourite films and I am really surprised to see the negative reception here with other Zip reviewers. As a long time fan of Hong Kong action cinema, I felt that The Replacement Killer's was an appropriately stylized, gritty, ...Far From Perfect But Certainly has Lots of Style - Gregg
Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat (in his American film debut) plays John Lee a man being blackmailed with the lives of his mother and sister back in Shanghai to work for a powerful mob boss in the America. In exchange for the lives of his loved ones he takes ...BOO - Tinkerbe11
Well I can say that I didn't fancy this movie at all "thriller" please. I was so very disappointed at I really do like Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino. But this movie was a bomb. Bad acting and bad story line. And the romance angle OMG please, they should have ...