REPLACEMENT KILLERS, THE

SYNOPSIS:
A professional assassin finds himself the target after he refuses to make a hit for a mob boss. John Lee (Chow Yun-Fat) is a renowned assassin who's hired by Mr. Wei (Kenneth Tsang) a powerful mob boss who wants LA cop Stan Zedkov (Michael Rooker) bumped off, after Zedkov killed Wei's drug dealer son in the line of duty. But Lee finds that he can't complete the job once he sees that Zedkov has a young son of his own. Thus, Lee himself becomes a target as Wei tells his right-hand man (Jurgen Prochnow) to take care of both the cop and the assassin. Hoping to quickly leave the country, Lee visits Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), a document forger who starts to make him a passport when Wei's men storm in and attack. Now on the run, Lee and Meg must fend off the relentless, gun-toting thugs who want to kill both of them, while preventing the murder of Zedkov's son.

"With bullets galore from all angles, Replacement Killers chalks up lots of well executed action, but little heart or tension, in this first outing from director Antoine Fuqua. Trying to emulate his success in Hong Kong, Chow Yun-Fat’s first American film has plenty of action for the fans, but his English is heavily accented is at times somewhat difficult to understand. Chow is reminiscent of a gentle giant, with great screen presence - muscle with conscience: he exudes a spiritual calm, even as he is nimble by foot with a fast gun pointing in every direction. And he wears the dark shades well. (They say Quentin Tarantino borrowed his look after seeing him in one of his films.) The characters are one-dimensional - black or white - but hey, this is mindless entertainment, where you’re not supposed to think much. Mira Sorvino is effective as the street wise passport forger, who wears a symbolic razor blade around her neck, to symbolise her craft perhaps, or perhaps her razor-sharp reflexes. Sorvino hasn’t really shone since her Oscar-wining role, but this one suits her better than her role in the doomed Mimic. The look of the film is terrific, but it’s all on the surface, and very little emotion is expended - either in terms of drama or caring for the characters. Harry Gregson-Williams’ complex and often exciting music score works well, ranging from violin passages to rhythmic, climactic orchestrations. The ending reeks of emotional insincerity, and the film leaves the viewer less than satisfied, in spite of all the good points."
Louise Keller