The Replacement Killers
The Replacement Killers
R | 06 February 1998 (USA)
The Replacement Killers Trailers

Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.

Reviews
RyothChatty ridiculous rating
Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
KineticSeoul So this is Antoine Fuqua's directorial debut and it's obvious he is a fan of Hong Kong action cinema. And he did the best he could to emulate John Woo's style of action and gunplay or gun-fu. And the results are pretty darn cool, especially for a movie from the 90's. He even hired Chow Yun-Fat as an assassin working for the Chinese mafia. This is a very short action movie, but it's full of cool and stylish gun-fu action while taking on that cinematic flare. So if you want to watch a short but pretty good emulation of John Woo's action movies this might be worth the watch for you.7/10
Comeuppance Reviews John Lee (Yun-Fat) is an expert marksman/gunman/assassin/gun enthusiast who works for crime lord Mr. Wei (Tsang). All his life he's followed the orders of his superiors, but when his latest hit is meant to be carried out not just on a hardworking cop named Zedkov (Rooker), but also his seven-year-old son, Lee finds he can't pull the trigger. In order to disappear and get back to his family in China, he needs forged documents, so he goes to see Meg Coburn (Sorvino), an expert in such things. Soon enough, Wei sends many waves of goons to kill off the unlikely duo. When an underboss, Kogan (Prochnow), can't kill them fast enough, Wei sends for "The Replacement Killers" - played in the movie by Schweiger and Trejo - to kill not just Zedkov but also Lee and Coburn. This all sets the stage for lots and lots of gun shooting. Who will get killed and who will get replaced? Find out today...It seems pretty obvious, especially looking back now, that The Replacement Killers was an attempt to bring John Woo-style action to Hollywood. Woo did act as executive producer, after all, but did not direct the film. That, in this case, went to Fuqua, and this was his first feature-length production after a career making MTV videos in the 90's, and it really, really shows. There is a lot of style and flash, but not much of a narrative structure, as you might expect from a background like that, and certainly on someone's first attempt. (Evidently there was more character development at one point, but it was left on the cutting room floor). If this all sounds like negative criticism, it's not. The movie is lightweight and entertaining, and without a doubt it delivers the action goods.Chow-Yun Fat is one of the coolest cats around, and no one looks more awesome shooting guns or putting on sunglasses. In the 90's there was an attempt by Hollywood to also put Jackie Chan in theaters, and that was appreciated, but seemingly did not last long. We, of course, enjoyed seeing Operation Condor (1997) and Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) on the big screen. If it could be done with Kung Fu, why not Gun-Fu? And who better to play the classic "killer with a conscience" than Chow-Yun Fat? With endless gun battles and slo-mo moments (slo-moments?...actually that would be misleading as there are no slow moments in the film), all set to the sounds of the prerequisite late-90's electronica such as Tricky, The Crystal Method and Death in Vegas (apparently Portishead was unavailable), how can you lose? If you're a fan of action setpieces (and who isn't), you don't.Such things as described above were tried unsuccessfully before, i.e. Killing Time (1998), but, thankfully, The Replacement Killers gets the simply-plotted assassin shooting movie right. There's enough cannon fodder for the good guys to shoot at and it never really lets up. Backing up Fat and Sorvino is an impressive cast of Comeuppance favorites: Michael Rooker as the cop, Danny Trejo as one of the Replacement Killers, the fascinatingly-named Clifton Collins Jr. is the "Machine Gun Joe" character, Patrick Kilpatrick as a baddie, Jurgen Prochnow as another baddie (looking a lot like Robert Davi here), and, in blink-or-you'll-miss them goon roles, action mainstays James Lew and Al Leong. And at only 84 minutes without the credits, it all comes in at a good running time. More movies - hell, ALL movies - should be 84 minutes. Kudos to the production for a reasonable length here.So while wags may complain that there's not much substance and the whole thing is like an extended music video, those people are missing the point. There's no time to waste as The Replacement Killers remains fast-paced, enjoyable fun.
zardoz-13 A deadly Chinese assassin with a sense of scruples and a woman who forges passports team up in freshman director Anton Fuqua's gritty crime thriller "The Replacement Killers" that marked Chow Yun-Fat's American film debut. Naturally, Chow plays the killer with a conscience who has no qualms about terminating his targets with extreme prejudice until he is required to kill a seven year old child. As it turns out, the man who hired John Lee is crime kingpin Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsung of "Die Another Day"); he wants to see the man, Detective Stan Zedlov (Michael Rooker of "Mississippi Burning"), who killed his son lose his own son. "A child is irreplaceable," Wei assures Lee who is an outsider. "Scar City" scenarist Ken Sanzel penned this straightforward shoot'em up. "The Replacement Killer" is neither as exciting as either "The Killer" or "Hardboiled," but at 88 lean, mean minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome. "Poetic Justice" lenser Peter Lyons Collister makes everything look dark and polished in this high body count actioneer. "The Rock" composer Harry Gregson-Williams furnishes an atmospheric orchestral sound track score that enhances the suspense. Lee has Zedlov's son in the sights of his rifle when he decides that he cannot kill a child, so he asks his friend for the name of somebody not associated with Wei who can create a passport for him. No sooner has John Lee gone to visit Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvina of "Mighty Aphrodite") who has an office in the Olive Building than Mr. Wei's henchmen are on to him. A brief but lethal shoot-out ensues with our hero making a clean getaway, but the police nab our heroine. Four of Wei's gunmen die in the shooting. Detective Zedkov doesn't have enough to arrest Meg so he lets her hit the street again in the hope that she will take him to what he wants. John Lee visits Meg again and they go to the car wash business that Eddie owns where they find not only his dead body but also Michaek Kogan (Jürgen Prochnow of "Beverly Hills Cop 2") and more gunmen. Zedkov and the cops show up after the main shoot-out but our hero and heroine manage to escape. "Don confuse luck with skill," Wei reprimands Kogan after the assassin eludes the villains at the car wash. Wei has Kogan hire the eponymous murderers. Til Schweiger plays Ryker, and Danny Trejo is cast as Collins. They arrive by airliner and try to ice Zedkov at a movie theater when he has his son with him. Lee and Meg show up to thwart their plans. Ryker dies, but Collins survives the fracas. At this point, John Lee decides to remove Wei as his primary source of trouble. Along the way, Meg helps him obtain is forged documents and firearms. They make a good team when they go into action gunning for the bad guys. Mind you, this potboiler isn't any great shakes, but you'll be entertained, especially if you're a die-hard Chow fan.
Marcus Geebs I remember my dad renting "The Replacement Killers" sometime around 1999 or 2000 from blockbuster for me and him to watch. I was very young at the time and I did not remember a thing about the movie. I watched this movie today on netflix. Chow Yun-Fat plays John Lee, a contract killer working for Terence Wei, a ruthless Chinese mafia boss. John baulks at an assignment requiring him to kill the seven-year son of a cop; Wei sends other killers after the cop and his son, and after John to punish him for his disobedience. John seeks a false passport from forger and petty criminal Meg Coburn (played with grit and street-smarts by Mira Sorvino) to return to China to protect his mother and sister from Wei's revenge. John ends up kidnapping Meg while trying to stay one step ahead of Wei's thugs and the police. I thought this film was fairly decent the acting was pretty good, the camera angles were good, decent action and not a bad soundtrack to go with it. About the action there were no physical fights, just a lot of nonstop gun fights. I'm not really a fan of Chow Yun-Fat but his performance in this film was pretty good, but i wish he had more dialogue.
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