THE AISLE SEAT - "THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS"
by Mike McGranaghan
Chow Yun-Fat has been called the Clint Eastwood of Hong Kong. He has starred in a long string of action films like The Killer and A Better Tomorrow. He has won the Hong Kong equivalent of the Best Actor Oscar several times. His fans include filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). What sets Yun-Fat apart is that - unlike Jackie Chan, who is basically a stuntman - he is a capable actor. I first saw him in John Woo's Hard Boiled, a furiously-paced, ultra-violent shoot-'em-up epic. What struck me was the actor's macho cool; like Eastwood, he is unflappable on-screen - the kind of guy you know not to mess with.
The Replacement Killers marks Chow Yun-Fat's American debut, although the movie looks and feels just like a Hong Kong action movie. It moves like a bullet, is light on things such as plot, and has a style that is somehow gritty and glossy at the same time.
The film begins with an American cop (Michael Rooker) foiling a major drug deal and killing the head dealer in the process. The dealer's father is a powerful Asian crime boss, and he puts out a hit on the cop's 7-year-old boy as retaliation. Yun-Fat plays John Lee, the killer brought in to assassinate the boy. He tries, but can't bring himself to kill a child; by crossing the mafia boss, he puts his own life in danger. To get away, Lee decides to leave the country, but needs forged documents to do so safely. He visits a forger named Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino). As she begins to fake his passport, a bunch of goons arrives to shoot the place up. Meg then finds herself caught up in Lee's attempt to escape with his life intact and stop the replacement killers from carrying out the contract on the little boy.
I can't believe I wrote so much about a movie with a paper-thin plot. As fans of the genre know, Hong Kong action movies are not about plot, though. I often say that movies can't coast by on energy alone; they require a strong story to really succeed. But the truth is that action movies are kind of an exception. If they thrill you in some way, they have done the job.
The Replacement Killers is a perfect example of this. The premise (such as it is - and it isn't the least bit original) is merely an excuse to have a lot of intricately staged shoot-outs and high-caliber stunts. And it works. Watching the movie is like drinking 20 cups of coffee; you get an empty but undeniable surge of exhilaration. The director here is Antoine Fugua, whose prior claim to fame was directing a music video for Coolio. While I usually decry video/commercial directors brought in to make big budget movies, Fugua is well-matched with the material. He is a director who focuses on pacing and energy; this movie has a pulse. The film's climactic battle is punctuated with glowing neon, swirling camera movements, and the unshakable cool of Chow Yun-Fat. It isn't high class filmmaking but it sure is thrilling.
As much as for the action, The Replacement Killers is notable for its performers. Something about the pairing of Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino excites me. They are about as unlikely a couple as you will get, yet it's a great match. John Lee is a tough guy with a sensitive soul; Meg Coburn looks like a cookie, but she's got an iron will. The beauty of the casting is that Yun-Fat and Sorvino also project these same qualities. By making the characters two sides of the same coin (and hiring actors with the same attributes), The Replacement Killers discovers a brain in its own head. When so many action flicks dumb everything down, here's one that finds craft in a hack's genre.
I often feel guilty for enjoying a movie like The Replacement Killers. It's really very violent. I find violence appalling in real life, yet I won't deny that I got a charge out of this film. Maybe this is rationalization, but as violent as they are, Hong Kong action movies often have an anti-violence theme. This one is no different; John Lee wants to renounce a life of bloodshed. Or maybe movies like this just want to have their cake and eat it, too. The bottom line is that, as an entry in the action genre, The Replacement Killers is as intensely cool as its star.
(
out of four)
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