Whenever it's announced that a given film marks the cinematic debut of both the director and the screenwriter, there's definitely going to be some apprehension from studio heads and viewers. With one having only cut his teeth on music videos and TV commercials and the other having only written a TV pilot, the lack of collective movie experience might make one think this could be a real bomb. Featuring both a legendary actor, and a director serving as executive producer, however, one begins to believe that the film might yet survive the attack of the freshmen. It only partially does, and while the movie technically dazzles, as a moviegoing experience it falls rather short.
That is, of course, unless massive amounts of gunfire, choreographed with many deaths, can satiate your cinematic appetite. If that's what you're looking for, then this film is for you. Featuring Chow Yun-Fat, a legendary Hong Kong actor with a resume of gun-blazing violent films, "The Replacement Killers" showcases weaponry as much as people, and the guns have a much greater visceral impact on the audience than the characters or plot. Many had high hopes of converting American audiences into becoming fans of Yun-Fat, a long-time favorite of Asian markets, but this wasn't the vehicle to do it ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," arriving two years later, was the one to do that).
Perhaps the film would have worked better had executive producer John Woo remained behind the camera instead of the checkbook. Also a legend in Asia, director Woo has had a successful career that recently migrated onto American soil with his hits "Broken Arrow" and "Face/Off." While much of his style is present in this film, first-time director Antoine Fuqua doesn't capture any of the fun. After cutting his teeth on TV commercials and various music videos (Coolio's 1995 video "Gangsta's Paradise), Fuqua has jumped headfirst into the maelstrom of big screen productions.
The picture does look wonderful and has all sorts of varying camera angles and more than its share of slow motion footage (thanks to cinematographer Peter Lyons Collister). It's evident that Fuqua studied Woo's and other director's films as he's definitely captured the correct look and mood. Although the film visually works, it never connects with the audience on anything more than its visceral shock value. Even all of that -- the rampant and relentless shooting -- isn't that shocking after years of seeing similar footage in countless other films, or after the repetitive gun battles present here.
The problem is that Fuqua (who later went on to direct "Bait" and "Training Day") and first-time screenwriter Ken Sanzel (a former cop with personal gun battle experience -- a perfect fit for this film) have fashioned a frenetic piece without much of a story or real characters. What little bits of plot are present merely serve as a bridge between the numerous gun battles that occur every fifteen or twenty minutes. The characters don't have much to do other than shoot or duck (from those shooting at them), and while that certainly requires some great reflexes and timing, it doesn't do much to tax one's acting skills.
All of that's too bad for Chow Yun-Fat who was hoping this film would be his big introduction into America. Far more of a stoic actor, Yun-Fat, at least in this role, didn't over many viewers. That's not really his fault, it's just that his character is written as a remorseful, but lethal assassin who isn't given many opportunities to show us the lighter side. His "humaneness" comes from the fact that he doesn't kill one particular person (although he does dispatch many others), but even Mira Sorvino's character sarcastically welcomes him "to humanity" for not killing a kid.
Speaking of that Academy Award winning performer (Best Supporting Actress for 1995's "Mighty Aphrodite"), this was her second foray into the action/suspense genre (after "Mimic"). Unfortunately, her effort isn't much better than the first. Playing yet another near humorless character, Sorvino isn't given much to do other than act tough, shoot some guns, and not get shot herself.
While she does an okay job at that, we don't care one bit about her due to the way her character is set up and behaves. Likewise, we have no interest in any chemistry (of what little there is) between her and Yun-Fat's character. She says, "Somewhere along the way I developed a problem in watching you die," but we never for a moment believe it. This only hurts the film as it turns it into nothing more than a big screen arcade game where "our character" has to shoot all of the bad guys without being shot himself.
It doesn't help that the rest of the cast plays nothing more than stereotypical villains whose only collective goal is to kill many people. I've said this many times before, but it's so much better to include a "fun" villain into the proceedings than your run-of-the-mill thug (think of the original "Die Hard").
As this movie stands, we don't care squat about who these bad guys are, or what they're doing. Instead, we simply know that they'll eventually die from bullet wounds -- the only question is in what order. By default, we're supposed to feel for Michael Rooker's police officer character, but only because we know his family is in danger. Even so, that's never played to its best benefit and the result is that we don't care about him or anyone in the film.
Then there's the fact that the film takes itself too darn seriously. While on the surface it doesn't look any different from those other films, it's vastly inferior. Yes, they all involve gobs of gunfire and killings, but the others usually have some wildly inventive plot and at least one "fun" or interesting character. This film has neither.
Of course, some of you out there might be complaining that such films aren't supposed to be about characters or plot development. They're about lots of people shooting thousands of bullets and killing many other people. Well, this film quite effectively provides that type of "entertainment." There are many moments filmed in slow motion as Yun-Fat slowly spins around, a gun in both hands, and takes out the bad guys. Although some moments are visually interesting, few of them are truly engaging (other than guessing how many people will be shot in any given scene) and after a while the relentless gun battles simply numb one's brain.
Perhaps it was that numbing effect that kept me from figuring out why Yun-Fat's character can often shoot people dead with one shot from a long distance, while at others he can't hit them with a hail of gunfire at close range. Nor can the bad guys hit Lee or Meg with thousands of bullets fired from machine guns.
What's that? Oh yeah, these films aren't supposed to make sense. If they were, however, wouldn't it seem strange that a trained assassin couldn't hit his targets with the first or second shot? I'd hazard a guess that if one took a statistical look at the number of bullets fired versus the number of people shot, he wouldn't be doing that well. Then again, if he were a perfect shot, he'd quickly kill everyone and the movie would end. If that happened, how would we get to hear those "wonderful," yet stereotypical kung fu movie sounds that artificially amplify certain movements in the film (the overemphasized sounds added to knives being pulled out, ammo clips inserted into guns, etc.)?
While this production looks good -- like any given souped up music video -- and has enough stimulating visual elements to keep one interested throughout the less than ninety minute run time, it just doesn't work. Yet, like those music videos and TV commercials that look great and immediately grab your attention (people walking in slow motion to a hip, techno soundtrack, etc.), after a while all of it gets rather boring. That's partly because of its repetitive nature, but also because we're aware that beyond all of the flash and dazzle the film lacks any substantive depth or weight.
Those who like movies that showcase choreographed gun battles will probably enjoy this film. While those moments are occasionally engaging, however, one will likely wish as much or more work had gone into the characters and plots as well.
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