THE BIG HIT RATING: 6.5 / 10 --> So-so
Review Date: May 9, 1998
Director: Che-Kirk Wong
Writer: Ben Ramsey
Producers: Wesley Snipes and Warren Zide
Actors: Mark Wahlberg as Melvin Smiley
Lou Diamond Phillips as Cisco
Christina Applegate as Pam Shulman
Genre: Action / Comedy
Year of Release: 1998
Semi-spoof of all action movies, this film attempts to combine the humour of Tarantino's scripts with the action of a John Woo flic. Mark Wahlberg's theatrical follow-up to the highly acclaimed BOOGIE NIGHTS (7.5/10) has Terrence Chang and John Woo of FACE/OFF (8/10) and BROKEN ARROW (5.5/10) fame sitting on as executive producers.
PLOT: Four professional hitmen, who happen to be regular Joes in "real life", kidnap the daughter of a rich Japanese businessman, in order to extort some large money from the gentleman. As per usual, the kidnapping goes somewhat awry, and that's when the cookiness and action takes over.
CRITIQUE: Flawed attempt at combining humour and action in one picture. LAST ACTION HERO (7.5/10) was a film that handled this genre successfully, but this picture just doesn't have enough real wit, or stand-out action to merit that moniker. I laughed out loud at some parts, and cringed at others (like when someone asks one of the hitmen how much money they make and he replies "we make a killing"....haha, I think not). The action sequences were all very good, but not enough were spread around the entire picture. Also, the best scenes are in the first 10 minutes, and then a very cool action scenario that rolls off the last 20 minutes.
Lou Diamond Phillips was the standout in the cast, whilst delivering a bad guy rendition that flip-flopped between the Gary Oldman pimp in TRUE ROMANCE (9/10) and Samuel L. Jackson in PULP FICTION (7.5/10). Mind you, he did have most of the funny lines in this passable piece. Wahlberg was so-so, as was the rest of this purposely generated stereotypical cast. The soundtrack was very good, as was the style of the picture, but I guess the biggest problem was its lacklustre script (many weak attempts to correlate the idea of "bad guys doing regular things" with successful screenwriting didn't pan out). If interested in this story, I suggest you wait until it comes out on video, since nothing of great interest is worth the trip to the movie houses for this so-so adventure through the land of cinema.
Little Known Facts: Christina Applegate was one of the last people to see late actor River Phoenix alive the night that he passed away in front of the Viper Room (Johnny Depp-owned bar in Hollywood) from an apparent overdose of drugs. Lou Diamond Philips' real name is Lou Upchurch, he was born in the Philippines, and was left by his wife Julie Cypher in 1990 (after four years of marriage) after she hooked up with singer Melissa Etheridge. This film was China Chow's first film experience. She has modeled for designers Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and was rumoured to be dating Mark Wahlberg after the release of this picture.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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