By Laura Bond
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 12, 1998

'Replacement' Filler

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures Arizona Daily Wildcat John Lee, played by Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat, and Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) watch each other's backs in John Woo's latest film, "The Replacement Killers."

Chow Yun-Fat has already killed all of the bad guys in Hong Kong. As the star of John Woo-directed films like "Hard Boiled" and "A Better Tomorrow," Yun-Fat has single-handedly taken out whole armies of assassins, gangsters and evil powerlords.

That's one possible explanation as to why this internationally known badass has made the jump across the water to star in Anton Fuqua's crime thriller, "The Replacement Killers."

"The Replacement Killers" hails itself as a pioneer in a "brave new genre of cross-over motion pictures," equal parts Hong Kong-style action, solid acting, cool cinematography and a lush visual style. In truth, "Killers" is a mediocre action film, heavily reliant on a formula plot and stock characters.

John Lee (Yun-Fat) is your typical action hero: noble, spiritual, good-hearted, yet more than willing to pump lead into any sucker foolish enough to get in his way. Lee is an assassin who experiences a moral epiphany when he refuses to kill the child of a Los Angeles police man, a hit ordered by the vengeful, and unforgiving, Mr. Wei (Kenneth Tsang).

So begins a series of bullet battles between Wei's gun-toting goons and the all-powerful Lee. Yes, there are a few close calls, but even a militia's worth of automatic submachine guns aren't enough to keep Lee down.

Mira Sorvino, a talented actress with a weakness for lame scripts (remember "Mimic"? Neither does anyone else.) has little to work with as Meg Coburn, a "tough" petty criminal with a talent for forging documents. Despite Meg's assurances that she is a "feminist pioneer," she finds herself as Yun-Fat's hapless hostage, a victim of circumstance who constantly needs to be rescued. Sure, he's ruined her life and held her against her will, but after Lee smokes all the villains and decides to head back to China, Meg's oh-so-sad to see him go.

The tone of the film is aided by well-styled set dressings and creepy lighting which gives everything an unsettling dank, dreary feeling. If I didn't know the setting was LA's Chinatown, I would place this story on the same city block as Pitt and Paltrow's apartment in "Seven."

Neat little gadgets, like a briefcase that fires bullets and an urban gangster's handy travel kit (complete with foam compartments for guns, cell phones, beepers, etc.) are nice details which give the film some life.

Also interesting is a scene in which the camera assumes the perspective of a police officer who has just been shot by a really, really, really bad guy: there is an upside down view of the killer approaching, then one final blast, then blackness. This little trick is pretty disturbing, especially since the gun man is played by Danny Trejo, who first showed himself as the scariest looking person in the whole entire world as the head vampire in "From Dusk Till Dawn."

Too bad executive producer John Woo didn't assume more of a directorial role, as this film could've really benefited from a more brisk and creative vision. Without anything new to add to the action genre, this film is only occasionally interesting and often fatally predictable, destined to stay in the mind only until the next big-bucks action flick comes along.