The Replacement Killers

The Replacement Killers (1998)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Mira Sorvino, Michael Rooker, Kenneth Tsang, Jurgen Prochnow

From: Columbia

As sometimes occurs, messageboard discussion spurned my viewing of a film. The past few days, there was discourse concerning both this and The Big Hit (which I won’t watch soon but perhaps one day years in the future that’ll occur) concerning hazy memories of late 90’s video store rentals. Despite being the proper age-a teen in the late 90’s… yes I’m old!-neither were ever rented by me.

The opening w/ The Crystal Method blasting in a club as Chow Yun-Fat stylishly gunned down fools got this started on the right foot. He’s an assassin hired to kill the son of police officer Michael Rooker as a revenge killing… before anyone panics, Rooker kills a criminal in self-defense so it’s justified; the killer’s father is the one who hires Chow. He develops a conscience & won’t murder a 7-year-old boy. That’s why he’s on the run, needs the assistance of forger Mia Sorvino to flee the country, and that’s when the titular replacement killers enter the picture.

In less than 90 minutes-I wish more pictures like this were so economical-Antoine Fuqua (in his debut, believe it or not) created a movie full of style, was fast-paced, had a nice cast full of familiar faces, and had action beats which weren’t epic like in Hong Kong yet was still delightful. Fat does duel-wield pistols by the end, much to my gratification. I bemoan Chow not succeeding in Hollywood due to no fault of his own… I should shoulder a tiny part of blame as both this and The Corruptor (another pretty good time) could have been viewed on the big screen in ’98 by myself but failed to do so. Why Sorvino did not have a better career in Hollywood is again due to no fault of her own, but of course is much more horrifying if you don’t know the reasons.

On a lighter note, especially these days I greatly appreciate a serious movie that don’t constantly wink at the camera, is shot well, features some quality lighting for the aesthetics, has a nice score/soundtrack, the team of Til Schweiger & Danny Trejo, and Mr. Magoo! As lamented by me many times by this point, I wish there was more modestly-budgeted R-rated theatrical movies out in the United States for me to view… then again, the effort for me is to go & see those when they’re available.