Movie Review: The Replacement Killers (1998)

The Replacement Killers is a sound action movie, about as sound as can be, really, completely rounded, and lean. Nothing is out of place; it hits all the right buttons, at all the right times, and clocks out sometime under an hour and a half, the ideal length for an action movie, I believe. Even the generically obligatory romantic subplot is all but eliminated by pacing. Now, I generally prefer martial arts films to these assassins-with-a-heart-of-gold-for-hire parables, but I can always appreciate a slick machine like this one, even if it swaps out the kung-fu ballet for bullets. Chow Yun-Fat is an inscrutable, mute hitman, who balks on assignment when he realizes the cop he's been sent to kill has a loving family, much like his own. His failure to complete this assignment means his employer now has to hire replacements to take out the cop and him, so Yun-Fat locates a document forger, played by Mira Sorvino, to help him get a passport and get out of the country. Of course, she becomes a target as well, just as soon as Yun-Fat walks through her door. Thankfully, though, she is more than capable of protecting herself, and she doesn't need to be babysat as the two of them dodge bullets around town, gradually learning to trust each other. True, the shootouts do get a bit ridiculous, in terms of the number of bullets fired as well as the often acrobatic way in which those bullets are discharged, but every action is clearly laid out and more than competently filmed, and that's all I ask.