THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS

A Mere Substitute

  HK superstar Chow Yun-Fat, who has made several action classics with such directors as John Woo and Ringo Lam, makes his debut in an American film. It can't help but be a disappointment.  

As directed by newcomer Antoine Fuqua, it's just a very well crafted version of the same old thing. Chow resurrects his hitman character from The Killer and takes him to LA for a job. Meanwhile, cop Michael Rooker leads a raid on Triad drug dealers, during which he's forced to kill the son of the powerful gangster Mr. Wei (played by Chow's fellow HK veteran Kenneth Tsang). Wei instructs his right hand man (distressed-faced Jurgen Prochnow) to hire Chow to take revenge. Chow takes the job in order to fulfill his debt to Wei, but then has an attack of conscience and aborts the hit.   This means that he now becomes a target. In order to get back to China to protect his family from Wei, Chow seeks out tough-talking forger Mira Sorvino to get a new passport (why the expert killer doesn't have his escape route prepared is a mystery). But Wei's gunmen trail him to Sorvino's place, where primo mayhem ensues. When our heroes escape, Wei calls in the Replacement Killers to complete his revenge against Rooker, Chow, and the now-implicated Sorvino.  

Psychotronic fave Danny Trejo (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn) and German actor/writer Til Schweiger (Knockin' on Heaven's Door) play the title characters, a very scary duo who think nothing of blasting away at innocent bystanders in pursuit of their targets. Superior bloody shenanigans fill out the running time, with time outs for Chow to bond with Sorvino and friendly-enemy Rooker, and wring his hands over his situation.  

Although he's overly fond of close-ups, Fuqua (with the help of producer Terence Chang) manages to engineer quite a few outstanding exchanges of gunfire - including shoot-outs set in an arcade and a car wash. This, along with the fine international cast, helps boost the film above the norm. But Chow Yun-Fat deserves a much better script than this one.  

P-stars Chow, Sorvino, Rooker, Trejo and Prochnow; plenty gun fu; exploding UPS truck; bullet in the head; desecration of religious icons.

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The Movie Madness section and its contents are ©2007 Brian Thomas