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The Replacement Killers (1998)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 10/25

10/25: Not bad...not bad...not bad.

After seeing Antoine Fuqua's name as the director of The Replacement Killers and proceeding to watch the first thirty minutes, I thought at first he could do better but didn't realize it's his very first film. That's impressive.

Yeah, there's the ubiquitous knockoff feel of John Woo's style while evoking similarities with his greatest Hong Kongese film ever: Dip huet seung hung. Yet I like The Replacement Killers more than any Hollywood film John Woo did afterwards. The cinematography is well-done and controlled, having been shot on location in Los Angeles.

So far, I'm not sure what to make of Chow Yun-fat. It's the stoic personality of his that I have trouble with, but he's tolerable. Instead, Mira Sorvino supplies it and is the main reason why I initially went for the film. She's impressive, being much better and cooler than Geena Davis when it comes to action-adventure. The only surprise is Mira Sorvino didn't kiss Chow Yun-fat at the end. Was that done on purpose to avoid a controversy of romance between a white female and an Asian? By the way, that's Clifton Collins, Jr., who plays Loco; he's weirdly credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez.

The first half starts off okay, but the second half is when I finally appreciated how everything came together in all elements of filmmaking. That's why Antoine Fuqua is a better director than John Woo. As an added bonus, he made sure to tone down on the cheesy stuff which explains why Face/Off kept faltering a lot despite the strong story and the outstanding performances by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.

All in all, I prefer The Replacement Killers over John Wick.

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