The Replacement Killers starts late one night during a drugs bust on the dock's, cop Stan 'Zeedo' Zedkov (Michael Rooker) shoots Chinese smuggler Peter Wei (Yau-Gene Chan) in self defence but Peter's father & crime-lord Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang) is rather upset about his son being killed by a cop & orders John Lee (Chow Yun-Fat) to kill the cop's seven year old boy in revenge. John cannot bring himself to do it though which also upsets Terence Wei & John is soon added to his hit list, John needs to get out of the US & back to China & hires forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to knock him up some fake papers. However before she completes them Wei's men catch up with her & John, after a shoot-out John & Meg are left stranded on the run from Wei's men & influence as he wants them both dead at any cost...
Directed by Antoine Fuqua I personally think that The Replacement Killers is a very shallow & forgettable HK action style US action thriller that I didn't like when I saw it in the cinema back in '98 & still didn't like it when I saw it again last night. The Replacement Killers is yet another one of those films available in more than one version, there's the common theatrical cut which was widely released & then there's the 'Extended Cut' (interestingly not known or advertised as a 'Director's Cut' anywhere) which runs for around ten minutes longer give or take a couple of minutes & I will be basing my comments on the ordinary theatrical cut which is the only version I have ever seen. The plot is very thin, it contains all the hallmarks of a John Woo Hong Kong action flick dealing with themes likes trust, betrayal, honour, family, loss & revenge but The Replacement Killers is a very shallow & forgettable US attempt at copying that distinctive John Woo action style. The character's are paper thin (although to be fair to it the 'Extended Cut' apparently has more development), the dialogue is sparse & almost minimal & the actual action scenes are surprisingly poor & lacklustre. Virtually every action sequence in The Replacement Killers is the same as the last with constant shoot-outs between bad guy's who can't shoot straight & good guy's who rarely ever waste a bullet. It becomes very tiresome & I found it pretty tedious too, I just thought it was a poor story with poor repetitive action scenes & overall I am really struggling to say anything particularly positive about this film.
Apart from a shot up car & an exploding van at the end every action scene in The Replacement Killers feels exactly like the last with lots of people shooting at each other. OK sure the locations change but various people jumping over things, sliding across the floor & dodging bullets are essentially exactly the same from one scene to another. I usually like the big budget brainless Hollywood action films & find them very entertaining but this I just couldn't get involved with or get into at all. Although the shoot-outs are well choreographed they are fairly flat & repetitive in my opinion. The film tries to be very cool with lots of dance music, stylish cinematography that keeps the camera moving & darting about & there's lots of posturing & posing as various character's wear the latest sunglasses, carry & shoot using two guns instead of one & dress in sharp suits but there's absolutely no substance to go with the style.
According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $30,000,000 which amazes me, I can't really see where all that money went at all. There are no big Hollywood stars, not much in the way of action & I don't understand why this cost so much to make. Shot in Los Angeles in California. The acting is alright but no-one is given too much to do, this was Chow-Yun Fat's US feature film debut, Sorvino is OK while Michael Rooker is wasted in nothing more than a cameo.
The Replacement Killers is a Hong Kong style action thriller that I thought was actually pretty poor all round, a really shallow & dull plot along with some repetitive action scenes kill it for me.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua I personally think that The Replacement Killers is a very shallow & forgettable HK action style US action thriller that I didn't like when I saw it in the cinema back in '98 & still didn't like it when I saw it again last night. The Replacement Killers is yet another one of those films available in more than one version, there's the common theatrical cut which was widely released & then there's the 'Extended Cut' (interestingly not known or advertised as a 'Director's Cut' anywhere) which runs for around ten minutes longer give or take a couple of minutes & I will be basing my comments on the ordinary theatrical cut which is the only version I have ever seen. The plot is very thin, it contains all the hallmarks of a John Woo Hong Kong action flick dealing with themes likes trust, betrayal, honour, family, loss & revenge but The Replacement Killers is a very shallow & forgettable US attempt at copying that distinctive John Woo action style. The character's are paper thin (although to be fair to it the 'Extended Cut' apparently has more development), the dialogue is sparse & almost minimal & the actual action scenes are surprisingly poor & lacklustre. Virtually every action sequence in The Replacement Killers is the same as the last with constant shoot-outs between bad guy's who can't shoot straight & good guy's who rarely ever waste a bullet. It becomes very tiresome & I found it pretty tedious too, I just thought it was a poor story with poor repetitive action scenes & overall I am really struggling to say anything particularly positive about this film.
Apart from a shot up car & an exploding van at the end every action scene in The Replacement Killers feels exactly like the last with lots of people shooting at each other. OK sure the locations change but various people jumping over things, sliding across the floor & dodging bullets are essentially exactly the same from one scene to another. I usually like the big budget brainless Hollywood action films & find them very entertaining but this I just couldn't get involved with or get into at all. Although the shoot-outs are well choreographed they are fairly flat & repetitive in my opinion. The film tries to be very cool with lots of dance music, stylish cinematography that keeps the camera moving & darting about & there's lots of posturing & posing as various character's wear the latest sunglasses, carry & shoot using two guns instead of one & dress in sharp suits but there's absolutely no substance to go with the style.
According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $30,000,000 which amazes me, I can't really see where all that money went at all. There are no big Hollywood stars, not much in the way of action & I don't understand why this cost so much to make. Shot in Los Angeles in California. The acting is alright but no-one is given too much to do, this was Chow-Yun Fat's US feature film debut, Sorvino is OK while Michael Rooker is wasted in nothing more than a cameo.
The Replacement Killers is a Hong Kong style action thriller that I thought was actually pretty poor all round, a really shallow & dull plot along with some repetitive action scenes kill it for me.