The Replacement Killers

Infobox Film
name = The Replacement Killers


caption = Chow Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino.
director = Antoine Fuqua
writer = Ken Sanzel & Amy Tan
starring = Chow Yun Fat
Mira Sorvino
Michael Rooker
Jürgen Prochnow
Til Schweiger
music = Harry Gregson-Williams
producer = Bernie Brillstein
Brad Grey
eproducer = John Woo
distributor = Columbia Pictures
budget = $28 million [http://www.boxoff.com/dec97story1.html Interview with Chow Yun-Fat] from the December 1997 issue of "Box Office"]
released = 6 February 1998 (USA)
runtime = 87 min.
98 min. (extended version)
language = English
amg_id = 1:160428
imdb_id = 0120008

"The Replacement Killers" is a 1998 American action film, directed by Antoine Fuqua in his directorial debut. It stars Chow Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino. The film was Chow's American debut, but not his first shot on American soil; he previously appeared in John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow 2", which was filmed partially in New York.

The film earned $8 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. and a total of $19.2 million in U.S. box office [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=replacementkillers.htm "The Replacement Killers"] from Box Office Mojo]

An "Extended Edition" DVD of the film with approximately 11 minutes of additional footage was released on April 25, 2006.

Plot Summary

John Lee (Chow Yun Fat) is a hitman hired by a Chinese Triad boss named Wei (Kenneth Tsang) to kill the 7-year old son of an L.A. cop (Michael Rooker) who killed Wei's son during a shootout. He finds his conscience won't allow him to do it, and the Triad boss Wei responds by threatening Lee's family back in China as well as hiring other hitmen to finish the job of killing the child. Desperate to return and protect his family, Lee turns to forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to provide him with a new passport, but Wei's men track them down and shoot up her office before she can complete the papers. Now Coburn and Lee must outrun both the new hitmen and the police while finding a way to save Lee's family as well as the officer's.

Critical response

Among Rotten Tomatoes critics, only 10 of 28 (36%) rated it "Fresh", though, the website's "Cream of the Crop" reviews were 60% favorable. Roger Ebert, included in the latter group, liked the film's "simplicity of form and its richness of visuals." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980206/REVIEWS/802060303/1023 "Chicago Sun-Times" Review of "The Replacement Killers"] by Roger Ebert] He continued:cquote|There's a certain impersonality about the story; Chow and Sorvino don't have long chats between the gunfire. They're in a ballet of Hong Kong action imagery: bodies rolling out of gunshot range, faces frozen in fear, guys toppling off fire escapes, grim lips, the fetishism of firearms, cars shot to pieces, cops that make "Dragnet" sound talky. The first-time director, Antoine Fuqua, is a veteran of commercials and music videos; with cinematographer Peter Lyons Collister, he gets a sensuous texture onto the screen that makes you feel the roughness of walls, the clamminess of skin, the coldness of guns.

"The Replacement Killers" is as abstract as a jazz instrumental, and as cool and self-assured.

Stephen Holden, in a review for "The New York Times", was less impressed, calling it a "seamless fusion of Hong Kong action-adventure style and cool, Los Angeles street chic...that is otherwise devoid of content". [ [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9E03E2DA153DF935A35751C0A96E958260 Ethical Killer Teams Up With a Gun-Toting Forger] , a February 1998 review from "The New York Times"]

References

External links

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