The Replacement Killers (1998)

How sad is this?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

John Lee (Yun-Fat) is an expert marksman/gunman/assassin/gun enthusiast who works for crime lord Mr. Wei (Tsang). All his life he's followed the orders of his superiors, but when his latest hit is meant to be carried out not just on a hardworking cop named Zedkov (Rooker), but also his seven-year-old son, Lee finds he can't pull the trigger. In order to disappear and get back to his family in China, he needs forged documents, so he goes to see Meg Coburn (Sorvino), an expert in such things. Soon enough, Wei sends many waves of goons to kill off the unlikely duo. When an underboss, Kogan (Prochnow), can't kill them fast enough, Wei sends for "The Replacement Killers" - played in the movie by Schweiger and Trejo - to kill not just Zedkov but also Lee and Coburn. This all sets the stage for lots and lots of gun shooting. Who will get killed and who will get replaced? Find out today...It seems pretty obvious, especially looking back now, that The Replacement Killers was an attempt to bring John Woo-style action to Hollywood. Woo did act as executive producer, after all, but did not direct the film. That, in this case, went to Fuqua, and this was his first feature-length production after a career making MTV videos in the 90's, and it really, really shows. There is a lot of style and flash, but not much of a narrative structure, as you might expect from a background like that, and certainly on someone's first attempt. (Evidently there was more character development at one point, but it was left on the cutting room floor). If this all sounds like negative criticism, it's not. The movie is lightweight and entertaining, and without a doubt it delivers the action goods.Chow-Yun Fat is one of the coolest cats around, and no one looks more awesome shooting guns or putting on sunglasses. In the 90's there was an attempt by Hollywood to also put Jackie Chan in theaters, and that was appreciated, but seemingly did not last long. We, of course, enjoyed seeing Operation Condor (1997) and Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) on the big screen. If it could be done with Kung Fu, why not Gun-Fu? And who better to play the classic "killer with a conscience" than Chow-Yun Fat? With endless gun battles and slo-mo moments (slo-moments?...actually that would be misleading as there are no slow moments in the film), all set to the sounds of the prerequisite late-90's electronica such as Tricky, The Crystal Method and Death in Vegas (apparently Portishead was unavailable), how can you lose? If you're a fan of action setpieces (and who isn't), you don't.Such things as described above were tried unsuccessfully before, i.e. Killing Time (1998), but, thankfully, The Replacement Killers gets the simply-plotted assassin shooting movie right. There's enough cannon fodder for the good guys to shoot at and it never really lets up. Backing up Fat and Sorvino is an impressive cast of Comeuppance favorites: Michael Rooker as the cop, Danny Trejo as one of the Replacement Killers, the fascinatingly-named Clifton Collins Jr. is the "Machine Gun Joe" character, Patrick Kilpatrick as a baddie, Jurgen Prochnow as another baddie (looking a lot like Robert Davi here), and, in blink-or-you'll-miss them goon roles, action mainstays James Lew and Al Leong. And at only 84 minutes without the credits, it all comes in at a good running time. More movies - hell, ALL movies - should be 84 minutes. Kudos to the production for a reasonable length here.So while wags may complain that there's not much substance and the whole thing is like an extended music video, those people are missing the point. There's no time to waste as The Replacement Killers remains fast-paced, enjoyable fun.

Saw this way back when, but it hasn't aged well and now just seems kind of mediocre rather than gripping. The cinematography is crisp and stylish and the acting is solid, but the plot is actually wisp thin and the casual ultra-violence is really heavy, which has lost some of its appeal to me as I have aged. With age and wisdom it's clear now that this film is mostly fluff and little substance, but I was a lot shallower way back when, and either I just didn't notice or didn't care. This is basically a simplistic high-body count, high-voltage, action movie in which it's pointless to count the bullets, especially given that firearm magazines don't seem to be constrained by reality. If that's what you're looking for you won't feel like you've wasted your time watching this, but I doubt you'll be left feeling that you've just experienced a cinematic masterpiece either. It is what it is, which in my book is now only slightly above average for a movie of this type.

I remember my dad renting "The Replacement Killers" sometime around 1999 or 2000 from blockbuster for me and him to watch. I was very young at the time and I did not remember a thing about the movie. I watched this movie today on netflix. Chow Yun-Fat plays John Lee, a contract killer working for Terence Wei, a ruthless Chinese mafia boss. John baulks at an assignment requiring him to kill the seven-year son of a cop; Wei sends other killers after the cop and his son, and after John to punish him for his disobedience. John seeks a false passport from forger and petty criminal Meg Coburn (played with grit and street-smarts by Mira Sorvino) to return to China to protect his mother and sister from Wei's revenge. John ends up kidnapping Meg while trying to stay one step ahead of Wei's thugs and the police. I thought this film was fairly decent the acting was pretty good, the camera angles were good, decent action and not a bad soundtrack to go with it. About the action there were no physical fights, just a lot of nonstop gun fights. I'm not really a fan of Chow Yun-Fat but his performance in this film was pretty good, but i wish he had more dialogue.

I have watched this movie so many times that I can't remember how many. Although I have read that Sorvino and Chow didn't get along very well during the filming, you would never know it based on the chemistry between the two of them on the screen. They are perfectly paired. The gunfight scenes in this movie are some of the best I have ever seen. More bullets fly than you can ever possibly count, and Chow Yun-Fat can shoot two guns with more determination than anyone else in the industry. He moves like art in motion. I have seen many of Chow's movies, and I consider this one to be one of his best, so if you like John Woo Hong Kong action movies you need to watch this one and watch the sparks fly.