Their films realized mainstream attention in the early 90's, when John Woo films like The Killer and Hard Boiled became popular attractions at art-house and university theaters. Quentin Tarantino adopted Hong Kong techniques for his movies, as did other American filmmakers. The Hong Kong revolution began in earnest in 1996 with John Woo's hit U.S. film Broken Arrow and the first major release of a Jackie Chan film in this country, Rumble in the Bronx. Woo had another hit in 1997 with the sensational Face/Off, while Michelle Yeoh made an auspicious appearance as James Bond's sidekick in Tomorrow Never Dies. Now, with The Replacement Killers, Chow Yun-Fat makes his first appearance in American film.
Let it be said that Chow's entrace in the film, striding into a dance club wearing suit and shades, is in itself almost worth the price of admission. The man just oozes star quality. As the loud music continues, he quickly dispatches his victims with his patented two-fisted shooting style. Then, unfortunately, the plot begins.
Chow is John Lee, a hitman working for dangerous Chinese mobster Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang). Lee is indentured to the man, but he has only one hit left to go. Wei orders Lee to avenge the death of his son, who was killed by policeman Stan Zedkov (Michael Rooker). Lee has his victim in his sights (in a scene perhaps lifted out of Face/Off) but can't pull the trigger. He knows that Wei will have no qualms about killing his family in China, so he needs to get there right away to save them. For that, he needs a set of counterfeit papers, and so he visits a forger, Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino).
It isn't that Sorvino is badly cast as the forger. She can wave her gun and shoot as stylishly as the rest. It's just that the role is poorly conceived from the start. An example of a good forger is to be found in The Day of the Jackal, both the novel and the film. Someone in such a dangerous profession would certainly not have so vulnerable an office as Coburn does. I may not have much practical knowledge about the criminal underworld, but I do know that I would take much greater precautions if I ran a counterfeiting operation.
Of course, in any Hong Kong-style action film, the plot is only the canvas upon which the action scenes are painted. There are some very nice shootouts in The Replacement Killers as Wei sends his goons (led by the evil-looking Jurgen Prochnow) to dispose of Lee and Coburn. The film is not directed by a Hong Kong veteran, but by Antoine Fuqua, whose previous directing experience consists of music videos and commercials. (Joke stolen from Harry Knowles: "Fuqua? Well, Fuqua too!") Fuqua has the look right, but the action seems superficial, without the soul found in films by bonafide Hong Kong directors. I'll take his work over 80's-style action any day, however.
In any case, the main reason to see this film is to see Chow Yun-Fat's introduction to American film. He is an action hero who thinks and feels, and still kicks butt in exhilirating fashion. Mira Sorvino is okay as his sidekick and she does look smashing. Michael Rooker is a great menacing good guy, while Jurgen Prochnow is an even better menacing bad guy. The film's main faults are a thin screenplay and too-derivative direction.
I would like to see Chow in another film, preferably one where he spent less time shooting and more time brooding. He is too good for The Replacement Killers.
Two-and-a-half stars
(Quiz answers: Cobra (Stallone), Commando (Schwarzenegger), and McBain (Rainier Wolfcastle of The Simpsons).
Copyright 1998 by Dale G. Abersold
