Tristan James A mindless action movie, from a mindless action director Antione Fuqua, this being his second directorial debut. Those who are fans of Chow-Yun Fat and the Hong Cong action genre will be more than able to enjoy this more than decent American interpretation of the energetic direction of John Woo. However, those not familiar with the genre, (which is considered most people), will have trouble toning in to this action thriller due to the lack of a fully constructed plot.Now that I have written my critic consensus on the movie itself, I will give my personal opinion on this extremely underrated American take on most John Woo Hong Cong Action flicks. Personally, this movie doesn't have many problems in terms of an action movie, it is just overlooked due to its motivation of the story that leads to the action. Performance wise, I had never seen Mira Sorvino is any other films, but her performance was satisfactory due to her smart remarks and corniness, she also has great chemistry down the line with Chow-Yun Fat's character. I also happen to be a fan of Chow-Yun Fat, who in most cases, gives his best performances in Hong Cong action flicks, but this performance is not to be overlooked, as he might not say much, but in this case letting the handgun do most of the talking is just fine with me. My final thoughts of the film is that it is much worth seeing due that all Chow-Yun Fats masterpieces are made in China. Personally, I would say just make an exception, you more than likely will not be disappointed, and if it does, it was worth the try.

FlashCallahan John Lee owes a debt to Mr. Wei, a Notorious LA drug-lord. When a cop kills Wei's son during a drug bust, Wei instructs Lee to kill the cop's seven- year old son while they are at play. Lee can't pull the trigger, and he knows Wei will punish him by going after Lee's mother and sister in Shanghai. To reach them fast, Lee needs a hot passport. He seeks out Meg Coburn, an expert in counterfeit ID.But Wei's men are already on Lee's trail, and they must fight them off, evade the cops, face the titular hit men imported to finish Lee's job.....If the film were about The Replacement Killers, then it would have starred Trejo and Schweiger, sounds more intriguing. But that would be if it was made now, and the film would have sounded a lot like a romantic comedy if it were called John and Meg.But to get maximum enjoyment from this movie, you really need to take Chows earlier movies he did with John Woo, because if you go into this expecting something like that, you will find that you will dislike it a lot.Its a big explosion of a film, light on plot and narrative, huge on big, loud set pieces, wonderful mid nineties techno soundtrack, and very clunky dialogue.And its a lot of fun, Fuqua gives the audience very little time to breath between set pieces, and Chow is as cocky as you'd expect him to be, and you will forget Sorvino won an Oscar two years prior to this.All In all, a big dumb, loud summer action film, very cool to look at and to listen to, but it will rot your brain if watched lots and lots of times.

videorama-759-859391 Cool new wave action extravaganza, you can wonderfully wile your 87 minutes away, easily, sees Asian superstar, Chow Yun Fat, (and this guy can act) break into the Hollywood market, but this movie doesn't do it for him, thanks to a not so original story. Supercool hit man Fat, turns down and job, and rightfully so, when asked to take out the little boy of a cop, (Rooker in top form) responsible for killing the son of a mafia boss. In walking away from this job, he brings a whole ton load of trouble on himself, when the boss's associates come after him, weapons blazing, which makes for great action sequences, with Chow Yun Fat setting a new standard in coolness. A young woman forger (Sorvino-loved her) gets caught in Fat's dilemma, and the two team up, proving a great match against our baddies. Sorvino, a rebel here, who grew up hard, can really dish it back at New York's finest, I really admired her independence and defiance. She grows on ya. Chow too, sees to it, the little boy stays unharmed, as the new merciless replacements arrive, one of them real scary, and it's the much less known one. As an action spectacle, this movie, too cool for school, rides a lot on coolness, but is evidently let down, cause of it's weak story. Performance wise, I really loved Rooker in this as cop and family man, who you don't want the bad guys to lay a finger on them. This film just doesn't cut it as a successor for Fat, while his following pic, The Corrupter was of much better ilk. Why? Story. Cheap forgettable opening sequence here, amidst titles, too, doesn't actually inspire a quality pic is to ensue, either.

zardoz-13 A deadly Chinese assassin with a sense of scruples and a woman who forges passports team up in freshman director Anton Fuqua's gritty crime thriller "The Replacement Killers" that marked Chow Yun-Fat's American film debut. Naturally, Chow plays the killer with a conscience who has no qualms about terminating his targets with extreme prejudice until he is required to kill a seven year old child. As it turns out, the man who hired John Lee is crime kingpin Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsung of "Die Another Day"); he wants to see the man, Detective Stan Zedlov (Michael Rooker of "Mississippi Burning"), who killed his son lose his own son. "A child is irreplaceable," Wei assures Lee who is an outsider. "Scar City" scenarist Ken Sanzel penned this straightforward shoot'em up. "The Replacement Killer" is neither as exciting as either "The Killer" or "Hardboiled," but at 88 lean, mean minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome. "Poetic Justice" lenser Peter Lyons Collister makes everything look dark and polished in this high body count actioneer. "The Rock" composer Harry Gregson-Williams furnishes an atmospheric orchestral sound track score that enhances the suspense. Lee has Zedlov's son in the sights of his rifle when he decides that he cannot kill a child, so he asks his friend for the name of somebody not associated with Wei who can create a passport for him. No sooner has John Lee gone to visit Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvina of "Mighty Aphrodite") who has an office in the Olive Building than Mr. Wei's henchmen are on to him. A brief but lethal shoot-out ensues with our hero making a clean getaway, but the police nab our heroine. Four of Wei's gunmen die in the shooting. Detective Zedkov doesn't have enough to arrest Meg so he lets her hit the street again in the hope that she will take him to what he wants. John Lee visits Meg again and they go to the car wash business that Eddie owns where they find not only his dead body but also Michaek Kogan (Jürgen Prochnow of "Beverly Hills Cop 2") and more gunmen. Zedkov and the cops show up after the main shoot-out but our hero and heroine manage to escape. "Don confuse luck with skill," Wei reprimands Kogan after the assassin eludes the villains at the car wash. Wei has Kogan hire the eponymous murderers. Til Schweiger plays Ryker, and Danny Trejo is cast as Collins. They arrive by airliner and try to ice Zedkov at a movie theater when he has his son with him. Lee and Meg show up to thwart their plans. Ryker dies, but Collins survives the fracas. At this point, John Lee decides to remove Wei as his primary source of trouble. Along the way, Meg helps him obtain is forged documents and firearms. They make a good team when they go into action gunning for the bad guys. Mind you, this potboiler isn't any great shakes, but you'll be entertained, especially if you're a die-hard Chow fan.