"...check mate..."
THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (R) 
Reviewed February 14, 1998 - Check out The Replacement Killers web site.
JarodKane@aol.com
gives this film stars: "Are
you going to review this movie? It's not great storywise but it's visually
stimulating similar to most of Ridley Scott's flicks. And Chow Yun Fat
is a great actor. For those of you who are not familiar with his work,
he did a film years back which actually was shown in the U.S. called "An
Autumn's Tale." It garnered very good reviews from quite a few noteworthy
critics. Go rent it and you'll know what all the fuss is about with this
actor. The movie showed that CYF is a gifted actor with tremendous range.
I will be truly saddened if people do not go see Replacement Killers because
for the first time in a long long time, since Bruce Lee, there is a genuine
actor from the Asian Pacific who really projects screen presence and charisma.
Folks, CYF is the genuine article." (2/11/98)
Every once in a while a "reader response form" comes in for a film we haven't yet reviewed, and Jarod's message (above) represents one of those times. Well, it's movie review time for The Replacement Killers here at Fuzzy Films, and I'm happy to say that I agree with Jarod's comments.
Starring Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino, The Replacement Killers (TRK) is low on plot but very high on style and action. Fat, one of Asia's hottest action heroes, stars as John Lee, a professional killer who gets himself in trouble by refusing to complete an assignment. Kill or be killed, as they say, and when Lee decides to spare the life of his target (a cop's seven-year-old son), all guns turn on him. Sorvino, who plays small-time documents forger Meg Coburn, gets swept into the fray when Lee asks her to fake a passport for him, and the two become partners as they fight off the "replacement killers" sent to terminate them and the seven-year-old boy.
Okay, so much for plot. As is often the case with action flicks, gunplay is the real focus of this movie, and when you watch the gunplay in TRK you'll start to see why Chow Yun-Fat has earned such a name overseas. With a quiet but powerful intensity that the Schwarzenegger's of the world could only hope to attain, Fat shows that he can battle with the best of 'em. It doesn't even matter that he hardly says a word during the film--just watch his face and you'll know exactly what he's saying. Sorvino, who is herself no slouch in the "screen presence" department, complements the action well and rounds off a visually appealing, stylishly produced film that has guns blazing all the way.
Fans of Hong Kong-influenced, John Woo-style action films, look no further...
Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!
scot@tmsinc.com gives
this movie stars: "CYF
has a very strong presence, and manages to do a good job of acting even
when he doesn't speak (apparently, he started the movie with very little
command of English). I though much of the movie was overdone (they were
buying blanks by the crate for this one) and not very coherent, but there
were some great scenes, especially the intro, where CYF goes after a target
in a dance club (it's a good thing he doesn't speak here; the music in
the backround (The Crystal Method's Keep Hope Alive) is perfect for the
scene)." (9/1/98)
Ohho@wouldilie.com
gives this movie stars: "It's
O.K. I like Chow Yun Fat." (4/13/98)
