THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS Produced by: WCG Entertainment Productions Distributed by: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Staring: Yun-Fat Chow (John Lee), Mira Sorvino (Meg Coburn), Michael Rooker (Stan Zedkov), J|rgen Prochnow (Wei's Right Hand Man), Kenneth Tsang (Mr. Wei), Steven Garcia, Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez, Patrick Kilpatrick, Frank Medrano, Til Schweiger, Danny Trejo
Produced by Brad Grey, Bernie Brillstein. Co-Producer: Michael McDonnell. Executive Producers: Terence Chang, Christopher Godsick, Matthew Baer, John Woo. Score by Harry Gregson-Williams, Edited by Jay Cassidy. Cinematography by Peter Lyons Collister. Screenplay by Ken Sanzel, Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Review by R. L. Strong Copyright 1998 R. L. Strong
It happened with Jackie Chan and John Woo. It happened with Director Ringo Lam. It even happened with Hong Kong's answer to Steven Spielberg, Tsui Hark. Hong Kong filmmakers making their first projects for Hollywood are having a hard time finding projects worthy of their talents. Columbia / Tri-Stars latest release of "THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS" is unfortunately no exception to this trend. The plot opens with a stake-out, let by Detective Stan Zedkov (Michael Rooker -'Harry: Portrait of a Serial Killer', 'Rosewood') to capture Chinese drug lord, Wei Tong. Things go bad when the gangsters are tipped off by the early arrival of a police helicopter. A shoot out ensues, ending with Tong being killed by Detective Zedkov. This sets up the films multi-layered revenge plot. At the funeral for his son, Triad Boss, Mr. Wei confronts Det. Zedkov. Zedkov defends his actions by saying that "Tong had made his own choice". Mr. Wei counters, saying "Some choices are out of our hands." John Lee (Chow Yun-fat) is brought in to perform a hit in retaliation against the Detective. John is a cold and calculated assassin. A man "who is perfect in his work". John is not an assassin by choice. He is in servitude to Mr. Wei for some undisclosed debt. John is told that after this last job, his debt will be paid in full. John takes the job, but with a sense of reservation. Positioning himself on a hillside near the Detective's home, John assembles his weapon. He sights his target.. but finally cannot bring himself to perform the hit, his eyes reddening with anguish and guilt, (an absolutely marvelous piece of physical acting, done without the use of optical effects). This act of defiance sets John at odds with his boss. Mr. Wei orders that John and his family in China, be killed. John is now a fugitive from both the law and the lawless. He arranges to meet with a person who can supply him with a fake passport so that he can leave the country and return to China in an effort to protect his Mother and Sister. He meets with Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), a young woman who has made a living on the opposite side of the law. She is now a forger, expert in creating false ID's. Unfortunately, John has been traced to her hideout. A blazing gun-fight erupts, with Meg and John forming an uncomfortable alliance. "The Replacement Killers" is one of the more visually stunning films to come out of a major Hollywood Studio since the '60's. The look of the film is sumptuous. Almost every frame is a painting, with diffused and bold colors used to infuse scenes with emotion and mood. Unfortunately, the film itself is void of those same qualities. Not to take anything away from the film, the film is generally entertaining. The problem is, is that there is an emotional distance in the film. There is no feeling of dread, no feeling of threat, no sense of danger. It's almost as if we were watching a music video. Director Antoine Fuqua is a marvelous stylist, his handling of the visual look of the film and his staging of action scenes is very promising. The film has a tempo and a rhythm that is remarkable in and of itself. But that also serves to point out the films biggest failing, his handling of his actors is almost non-existent. Mr. Chow is a marvel to watch .You haven't seen this kind of screen presents since Steve McQueen. Every time Chow Yun-fat is on screen, your eyes immediately lock on him. His style and screen presents is the most riveting thing in the film. No one handles a gun with more flair. Chow Yun-fat has the grace of Gene Kelly. For the first time in an American film, you believe that using two guns at once is physically possible. While having been a major star in Asia for the past 15 years, the U.S. has not really had the chance to experience this fine actor. It is a testament to his talent and ability that the film is as captivating as it is. Ms. Sorvino is poorly represented in the film. The character of Meg Coburn is bereave of any development. She has no arc to her. That is purely the fault of the script, which places more meaning on the action than on the characters. But it is still a shame that as talented an actress as Sorvino can be wasted like this. The scenes between Chow and Sorvino have a forced, almost staged quality, there is no chemistry between them. Chow Yun-fat's rescue of Sorvino during a car wash shoot-out is remarkably forced, as he has no reason to save her life other than to get his forged passport. There must obviously, be others in Los Angeles that can perform that duty, so the reasoning behind the rescue is sorely lacking. Michael Rooker as Det. Zedkov is given the most ridiculous and out of place facial hair that any law enforcement officer has ever had. Det. Zedkov would look more at home being one of the hired assassins that being an officer of the law. His character is also giving short shift by the script. We know nothing about his character other than he is a Detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, and that he has a son that he adores. While we do see his wife (through the scope of Chow Yun-fat's rifle) we are not introduced to her, therefore we are given nothing to identify with. Det. Zedkov becomes a character servicing the plot, nothing more. Kenneth Tsang ('The Killer', 'Supercop') as Mr. Wei carries his role as well as can be expected. All the script gives us is a man of immoral power and corruption. Again, we know nothing about this man; why he is respected or feared, what his exact illegal business is, and why as a Triad leader, he has hired so many Europeans to work for him. J|rgen Prochnow is completely wasted in the role of Wei's Enforcer. His character is so lacking in development that he doesn't even have a name (no one in the film calls him by name, unless his name is YOU!). Going back to the look of the film. Cinematically, the film has a grand an expressive feel. The use of color to dictate the emotion of the film is nicely developed. The Cinematography by Peter Lyons Collister is remarkable, and the sole essence of the film to show depth and character. With a more developed script and more character development, this technique would have giving us possibly the first post forties 'film noir'. The basic plot of the film has the makings of a fascinating crime drama. The family loyalty / revenge motif that runs through the film is interesting and should have been fully developed. The idea of taking revenge against another by taking the lives of their loved ones is a powerful plot construct. The most glaring disappointment is that John Lee's family is only identified by a faded photograph. There are no conversations with the family via phone or letter, no feeling that John is alone in a foreign land. While it's possible to accept that John Lee is a man who accepts his fate, the film does little to inform us of that. All said, 'The Replacement Killers' is only a serviceable action film. It supplies the requisite gunfights, car chases and explosions one expects from the genre. But the lack of tension and drama severely hamper the film, leaving one with the feeling that they've only seen half of a finished film.
Rated **1/2 out ***** stars. A disappointing debut from Chow Yun-fat, but one that does leave you wanting to see more.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews