by Ryan Martinez

Jan 25, 2000

Well. Ok here was my situation undergoeing this movie. I went to this movie with two people. My companion for the movie wasn't too crazy about going to see it, but she couldn't think of anything better, and she refused to go see Spice World, so off to Replacement Killers we went. I must say that for a action movie, there was action. But there seemed to be a serious lacking in story line. Just because John Woo Executive Produced this movie, obviously didn't mean much. There were some great action scenes in the movie, but I just believe that if they would have put a little more time into the story line, it would've been one of the greats. John Woo always likes to incorporate a somewhat story to his action films. This he pulls off famously. This director however, did not.

 

by Rick Gagliano

Jan 25, 2000

First of all...I liked it! Now this film is not for everyone, but if you like Jackie Chan movies you will like Yun-Fat (and his name sounds cooler too.) Produced by John Woo (Broken Arrow and Face/Off), this film is a joy to watch. The basic storyline surrounds a cop who kills the son of an extremely rich and powerful gangster/criminal and now the rich guy wants revenge. So the rich guy hires an assassin, Yun-Fat, to even out the score. Yun-Fat has a change of heart and refuses to do the killing and in return becomes one of the hunted also. Yun-Fat runs into Sorvino and they team up for an hour of shoot-em-up scenes. Now the scenes are not full of gore (like the Vice-President), but are exciting to watch. Now the people I saw this film with didn't enjoy the movie and couldn't stomach Yun-Fat, but, if your movie diet can handle a dose of Yun-Fat, then I am confident you will have fun. One set-back...this was a short-film...only 88 minutes long, but the bottom line here is...if you can shoot a couple of hundred people just as well in 88 minutes as you can in 120 minutes without losing the quality of said shootings, then 88 is fine with me.

 

by Justin Zyduck

Jan 25, 2000

PLOT: Chow-Yun-Fat's character tries to get a fake passport off of Mira Sorvino to go back to China and save his family from an evil crime lord. The crime lord finds out about this and tries to kill them.

SYNOPSIS: I have written quite a few reviews for this site, and I have never rated any of them "Stay Away" until now. The movie's only saving graces are that it had a good soundtrack and was only about 90 minutes long. Other than that, I hated it.

I went to see the movie with two friends and someone who tagged along. One friend and I hated it, the other two loved it. The two who liked it said they liked it because it had guns. My friend and I didn't like it for several reasons. There is no plot. The characters are stiff and have no memorable lines. The "Replacement Killers" only showed up briefly, and they were stereotypical thugs (one was big strong guy, other was greasy haired guy with crusifix necklace). The action sequences weren't exciting; it was just Chow-Yun-Fat standing around and shooting people. And finally, I felt like I've seen this movie before. It's a cookie-cutter movie that might have been saved if John Woo had directed it instead of only Executive Producing it.

GRADE: C-. If they make a soundtrack, buy it. It'll have more substance than the movie.

 

by Brett B

Jan 25, 2000

‘The Replacement Killers’ is Hollywood’s first real attempt to emulate the most successful Hong Kong action films. John Woo is on board as one of the producers and Chow Yun-Fat plays the lead. The plot, for what it’s worth, is about a hitman, John Lee (Yun-Fat), who reneges on a job to kill the young son of a cop. After failing to complete the job Lee realises he has to get out of the country or he’ll be killed. He seeks the help of a document forger (Mira Sorvino) and from that point on the shooting starts. The plot’s not great but it does surfice as a vehicle for some fantastic action. ‘The Replacement Killers’ looks and sounds great. It’s pure style. Some of the action sequences aren’t quite as good as such classics as ‘Hard Boiled’ and ’The Killer’, but the production values are a lot higher. Having Mira Sorvino on board makes a nice change from the male-dominated Hong Kong pictures too. All-in-all ‘The Replacement Killers’ is a good film and a must see for lovers of Hong Kong style action.