Genres

Visitors Review

BroadswordCallinDannyBoy 2012-05-19 19:26:42

Good stuff

When the son of a powerful underworld boss, Mr. Wei, is killed in apolice raid he swears vengeance. John Lee is the hit-man assigned withthe task to carry out the hit, but despite a successful career as acontract killer he finds himself unable to pull the trigger. Even moreupset, Wei sends in a duo of ruthless assassins, the replacementkillers of the title, to kill both John and carry out his assignment.This is the first feature length film for a successful music videodirector so it probably doesn't look so hot, but don't be fooled: thisis one terrific action movie. Antoine Fuqua serves up a very assuredand stylish direction while keeping the film going at an exciting pace.The shootouts are spectacular and are among the most furious seenoutside of Hong Kong cinema. The film's performances are also strongand while the action makes the film exciting, they make the filminvolving.The film is not to high on the originality scale as Chow Yun-Fat hasplayed the self-conscious hit-man going against a ruthless underworldmany times and the screenplay is for the most part predictable, but asan action movie it works very well. 8/10Rated R for intense violence, and profanity

David Neilson 2012-05-19 12:23:25

Action films aren't SUPPOSED to be boring, are they?

Sheesh! Chow Yun-Fat has the silky charm and coiled rage of a tiger, andMira Sorvino has great legs, but they are both wasted in this dull, HongKong action flick-wannabe. The film, about a hitman (Yun-Fat) who refusesto kill a young boy and becomes hunted by mercenaries, is the cinematicequivalent of a fast-food restaurant's neon sign. Flashy and colourful,noisy and shallow, "The Replacement Killers" is never as cool or as excitingas it could have been.There's one great sequence - a shoot-out in a car wash - and any film withMichael Rooker in it isn't completely worthless. Most of the film, though,is a cluster of pedestrian action scenes centred around a group ofcharacters with no depth. Sorvino is on autopilot as the brash,hard-as-nails chick; the villains are instantly forgettable; and Yun-Fatonly gets to glower.To tell you the truth, I have no desire to write any more about this movie. Having never seen an actual Hong Kong action movie, I can only guess they'rebetter than "The Replacement Killers." In any case, you'd be better offrenting one of those.

2012-05-19 19:17:36

Great Replacement Entertainment

This review is from: The Replacement Killers (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I enjoy this action packed movie every time that I watch it. Watching this movie in Blu Ray is an extraordinary experience. The richness of the video is outstanding. I want to watch the movie even more now that I have it on Blu Ray format.

Paul Dallimore 2012-05-19 04:25:19

Chow Yun-Fat comes to America!

I remember seeing this movie in a near empty cinema! After viewing it againrecently, my perception of the film remains unchanged.Even though John Woo gets a production credit, this film lacks the overallinput of the HK action flick king.True to form, Chow Yun-Fat looks cool. The action sequences are very welldone, but the plot is too thin and the characters are not allowed the roomto develop.Overall a bit of a slow start for Chow in Hollywood.3/5.

2012-05-13 13:36:18

One of the most intense, action-packed films EVER!

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo can mean only one thing: an incredibly cool action film! This is one of the best DVD movies I have seen to date. Grab a copy!

gary clegg 2012-05-13 10:17:29

forgettable, uninspired, not bad

an instantly forgettable film, with instantly forgettable characters andplot.tells the story of a hitman who has to do one last job so he can returnhomeor something? has a crisis of conscience when the cop he is to kill istherewith his son. he cant go through with it thus incurring the wraith of thebig boss, mr wei who wants him dead. the film is really three or four gunfights tagged together with little dramatic inbetween. We never care forthecharacters, never are bothered what happenes to them as we can predict theoutcome of the film after the first 5 minutes. its obvious sorvino and fatwill end up liking and respecting each other, obvious fat will kill all thebaddies thus gaining his redemption, obvious rooker will have a heart andlet our protagonists escape. overall the film is uninspired paint bynumbersrubbish which is admitedlly easy to watch. like alot of more recent filmsthese days the film isnt bad, just very very average and forgotten as soonas the credits role

2012-05-10 03:35:33

well if you say who cares about drama, it has cool gunfights

i wouldn't say that, the gunfights are weak and hollywooded up. see A Better Tomorrow 2 for a real gunfight. this movie has more squibs going off on walls and windows than people. antoine did a miserable job trying to make chow yun fat act like sylvester stallone or clint eastwood. he's got more talent than this. but not to say every chow movie has to be like a hong kong john woo movie, but it looks like thats what they were going for and they failed. see it on HBO, chow yun fat is the only reason to watch it even if they limit his acting skills bigtime. check The Killer out for a good chow movie.

moses-11 2012-05-09 16:53:47

Good enough for Hollywood.

The Replacement Killers was good enough, but that's it. I came to expectmore from John Woo, who executive produced it (whatever that means).Chow-Yun Fat was excellent, of course. I wanted to hear him speakEnglish,and he did a remarkable job. He's more fun to watch when you don't havetoread the screen every time someone talks. Action flick. Bang bang. Bigguns. High body count. It just makes me want to see his new film withMarkWahlberg, whom I have a newfound respect for - Boogie Nights was quitegood.

Sean Finnigan 2012-05-03 04:45:32

THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (1998)

Tarance Wei son is killed by a detective, so he decides to hire John Leetokill the detective's son. John can't do the job and figures his familywillbe in danger. He attempts to get to China and meets up with Meg. The twobecome partners in this action packed movie. The movie has a lot of stylebut there isn't real strong substance. The action scenes are quite goodandthere are funny scenes throughout the movie and the final action scene wasdone quite well. I give this movie 3/5. Rated PA

2012-05-02 14:50:11

The Replacement John Woo

This review is from: The Replacement Killers (DVD) - Chow Yun-Fat, in the DVD featurette: "I shot over 556 rounds with two guns. Next morning I cannot hold my chopstick. My hand's too shaky." Just goes to show that even masters of gun-fu can come down with horrifying finger cramps.In 1998 THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS was supposed to usher in Chow Yun-Fat as the new action hero in the American box office, except that it didn't really work out that way. Chow Yun-Fat is big, big noise in Hong Kong cinema, and very well deserving of his superstar status there. He and director John Woo pretty much made their rep on elegant thrillers like A BETTER TOMORROW, HARD-BOILED, and THE KILLER. But the icon could've picked a better vehicle than THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS to make his Hollywood debut.It's another story about a remorseless killer whose conscience finally catches up with him. Chow Yun-Fat plays cool professional hit man John Lee, forced to undertake contracts for Los Angeles-based (?) Asian crime boss, Mr. Wei. His first two kills for Mr. Wei were no big whoop, the victims being criminal scum, but then Lee balks at his third target, a police officer spending time with his seven year old child (this is the same cop who had shot up Wei's son). Lee understands that his botched assignment has just landed him in serious doodoo with his boss. Now fearing for his family's safety and urgently needing to get the eff out of the U.S. Lee scrambles to get his hands on a passport. Which is where sultry document forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) comes in. Sucks for Meg that she promptly becomes, by association, an objective of Wei's vendetta. Lee and Meg go on the run. Cue the bullets. Cue the slo-mo violence.THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS is the sort of cinema you pop in when you don't want to strain the brain too much. This movie is pretty mindless stuff, with flimsy dialogue, a skimpy plot, and unelectrifying chemistry between the two leads. I couldn't get into the plot device involving Lee's concern over his mother and sister's plight. Frankly, since all we ever really see of the mother and sister is an old faded photo, who gives a crippitycrap? I certainly wasn't emotionally engaged.I guess I buy Mira Sorvino as the hardened forger, and it's because she's either good enough as an actress that she sells her role or because I'm a dude and this hottie for most of the film scampers around in a sexy black slip, boots and red, red lipstick, and waving a gun and an attitude. That's pretty damn hot. But again it's disappointing that she and Chow Yun-Fat doesn't click as well together. But I did laugh for a bit, seeing as how John Lee paid Meg a thousand dollars to forge a passport and all she ends up doing is gluing his photo on to one. Yes, Meg sure has got them mad forging skills.By the way, the film title refers to two assassins later hired by Mr. Wei to finish Lee's job and to also take out Lee and his family. This is important only in that one of these "replacement killers" happens to be Danny Trejo, an hombre with a distinctive face who usually ends up playing supporting role bad guys (although he's the star of the upcoming MACHETE). It's always a nice surprise when I see him popping up in a film.When you get right down to it, I like this movie. John Woo co-produced it - I wish he'd directed it - and there's some here of what he'd cut his teeth on. Antoine Fuqua, formerly a music video director, apes John Woo's sensibilities, but Fuqua is no Woo, and so there's a certain polish or follow-thru or something missing. Still, this is the legendary Chow Yun-Fat taking up a familiar role and he brings his smooth elegance to the action sequences. I feel okay with the world whenever the dapperly dressed Chow Yun-Fat is whirling around and getting trigger-happy with a gun in each hand. What's missing is the man's sense of humor, that sly personality. Chow Yun-Fat instead comes across as truculent and understated to the point of being monotone. I haven't seen THE CORRUPTOR, but we do see a lighter side of Chow in BULLETPROOF MONK. Still if you want to see how charismatic this dude is, I recommend his native films, especially HARD-BOILED and THE KILLER.THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS, like most of its type, is basically a showcase for one flashy action sequence after another, with scenes of occasionally forced exposition serving as the linking mechanism. Character development, it simply falls on the wayside. Chow Yun-Fat does his stony-faced killing machine thing, and, as ever, he moves with fluid grace, rendered even more poetic in dramatic slow motion. Even though I consider this flick to be John Woo Lite, there are plenty of cool poses and stylized visuals here. But, still, imagine how much more impactful those images would be if the viewer were more invested in the characters. I say, 3.5 stars out of 5.

2012-05-01 01:38:46

The Debut

This is CYF's hollywood debut. I thought this wan an exceptional movie. People complain about the story being too thin but I thought it was good. Plenty of action as well which you expect from CYF films. One of my favorite movies.

2012-04-30 08:41:09

So much squandered potential

I was intrigued by "The Replaement Killers." After seeing "The Professional" I became interested in the premise of a hit man with a heart. That the movie chose not to take this route was the first of many disappointments. It turns out that the hit man isn't really a professional at all. Instead he is killing in order to save his family. The first two killings went flawlessly, but when he is assigned to kill a child rather than criminals he can not bring himself to do it. That too is an interesting premise, albeit a much more familiar one, and it raises a separate set of questions: Why did he get involved with the crime-boss? If he has only killed two people how did his skill become so remarkable? However, I must admit that I rented this because I felt a little blood-thirsty tonight and by the end it was definately quenched. It's just a shame that it didn't answer some very important questions. It did EARN its one star, I was moderately entertained but I felt two stars was too generous.

Alex Brown 2012-04-29 15:42:44

Well, its what I expected really!

Yay, blood, gore, shootups, hitmen, whoopee.If you go for that.Let's just say it's not particularly unsurprising the lack of Oscarnominations this film got.Chow Yun-Fat is OK enough, but to be honest it's a predictable, silly anddull film.

JappyBoy 2012-04-29 07:27:03

Chow Yun-Fat kickin butt.

Most people think this movie is mindless and pointless, and one of Chow'sworst. I think people look to deeply into the film. This film is not abouthavin an indepth story or plot line. It's not a movie that's supposed to makeyou ponder on life. It's just a flashy movie showin Chow kickin butt tokickin music, period. Sure, it might not be good compared to "The Killer" or"Hard Boiled", but it is still a "fun" movie to watch. And that's whatwatchin a movie like this is for, fun, not thought. To those people whocriticized it for all that was wrong I say: "Sit down, shut up, and watchthe movie. Don't compare or think about what your watchin, just watch it."

2012-04-28 21:13:20

perfect intro to Chow Yun-fat

This review is from: The Replacement Killers (Unrated Extended Cut) (DVD) Although Europe and Asia knew him as a great action star the US hadn't really seen Chow Yun-fat at work. This is a great showcase for his skills as a actor although he doesn't say many lines.....it's what he doesn't say but does that will get your attention. I highly recommend this movie and I'm sure it will lead to you searching for more action from Chow Yun-fat.

quake-4 2012-04-28 07:45:55

Not Enough Gunfights

This movie, despite what you think it may be about, is really aboutgunfights. There are more gun battles in this film than there were in theCivil War. Pistols capable of shooting dozens of rounds without reloading,criminals who could not hit their target (even wounding it) despite blazingaway with - oh let's say - a billion rounds of ammunition, and a hero thatis capable of killing them by the dozens. Did you know that you cannot beshot if you drop and roll? Yes, it's true, the gangster shootout version ofduck and cover during an atomic attack. Drop and roll deflects all bulletsheaded your way. So, if you like gunfights with automatic andsemi-automatic weapons, and the only reason your life has meaning is to seegunfights with automatic and semi-automatic weapons, then this, believe me,is the movie for you.

2012-04-25 03:34:22

Great action flick!

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo are a winning combination for action. Very stylish and well filmed.

2012-04-24 21:38:33

if you want blood, action and techno music, just buy it!

This movie is one of a kind, john woo is at his best. If you want blood,action and techno music, just buy it!.

Angry_Arguer 2012-04-23 10:32:09

The Blown-Away Gangster

If action movies are characters, then 'Die Hard', 'Mad Max 2', and 'TheKiller' are my dominant heroes. 'The Matrix' is the villain. Junk like'The Replacement Killers' is one of many low-level thugs that get blown awayby the heroes in their battle of wits/survival/pure fun.Compare Antoine Fuqua's MTV-style with John Woo's. Woo has influenced manyHollywood folks including Michael Bay, the Wachowski bros., and QuentinTarantino, but none of them understand his depth. Going from 'Replacement'to 'Training Day' and 'Tears of the Sun' and the upcoming 'King Arthur' onlygoes to show how devoid of stimulation Fuqua is in hiswork.Woo began with drama, or at least tried, and chivalry. Considering he's oneof the 10 best visual directors ever, I'd love to see him handle materialmore mature than the usual flying bullets. Image what he'd have done with'Gangs of New York'.So, sadly, 'Replacement Killers' is not hard-boiled, not killing, and won'tmake a better tomorrow for any film viewer. Chow has done better movies and'Bulletproof Monk' only goes to show that Hollywood doesn't know how to usehim. 1 out of 5.

anonymous 2012-04-23 07:51:36

Worst movie I ever saw

Now I've seen some of Chow Yun-Fat's Hong Kongese movies and I canunderstand why he's so popular there. Some of his movies are really good.BUT this. What the heck was this movie anyways. The worst movie I ever sawin my life. It had no plot, no real story, just something even I couldhavemade up in 5 minutes, no good action , no acting, NOTHING. It sucked. Ifyoulike PURE action and nothing else. And I mean 'nothing else' then watchthis.But let me warn you. I'm very tolerant with movies. I love many actionmovies with no meaning at all, but this movie sucked too much. And theaction scenes also sucked. IT SUCKS.