HK superstar gun-holder Chow Yun Fat's
Hollywood debut, The Replacement Killers, may not be one of his best films, but
at least it was quite enjoyable. Teaming a cutting-edge American filmmaker with
a charismatic international superstar, one of Hollywood's hottest leading
ladies, and the patent-holder of stylish, operatic cinema, The Replacement
Killers on paper possesses all the credentials to be the fiercest of an
explosive new breed of film-one that brings Asian-style filmmaking and
philosophy to America's mean streets, but they just couldn't put all that hype
on to the camera. Although Chow doesn't really have to act much in this role, he
does do pretty well in several emotional scenes. Mira Sorvino, an Oscar Nominee,
is also terrific and pretty in her role and portray herself into quite an
interesting character, despite her chemistry with Chow was quite questionable.
Tsang, despite having presence in his small role, just doesn't have that
menacing villainous-gangster look as Jet Li did in Lethal Weapon 4. Chow, with
limited English abilities delivers his lines in a convincing fashion. One of the
best scene would be the film developing sequence and the John Woo's style action
in the blue room. It definitely reminds us of some cool John Woo's style shots.
However the terrific built of tension up to the final showdown was somewhat
disappointing as it was at least 10 minutes short of expectations. Well, this is
no Face/Off or Chow's earlier gun feast - Hard Boiled, but it is a satisfying
enjoyable popcorn movie and a pretty good debut for Fat Gor.
77.5%
=
11.25