The Replacement Killers 
International superstar CHOW YUN-FAT (John Woo's
Hard-Boiled) makes his Hollywood debut with Oscar®-winner MIRA SORVINO (1995 Best Supporting Actress,
Mighty Aphrodite) in
THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS, a fierce and explosive action thriller from director ANTOINE FUQUA (
Training Day).
After he betrays Mr. Wei, the ruthless crime boss who hired him to avenge his son's death, professional killer John Lee (Yun-Fat) goes on the run. Enlisting the aid of beautiful document forger Meg Coburn (Sorvino), Lee attempts to return to his family in China before they are victimized by his betrayal. But Wei's army of "replacement killers" is hot on his trail, and now both he and Meg are targets of their impressive firepower. With both sides fully armed and determined to fight to the death, and ultra-violent shoot-out breaks out when they finally face off against each other. It's a "seamless fusion of Hong Kong action-adventure style and cool" (
The New York Times) that will blow everyone away -- including you!
My ThoughtsI first saw this one a few years ago when I rented the movie. I decided to pick this one up when I found it fairly cheap. The plot is rather weak. The movie is mainly one fight after another. The fights are done very well and things are entertaining, but this won't appeal to people hoping for a stronger plot or some sort of mystery or suspense.
There is action in almost every scene of the movie in some form. There are numerous fights and shootings and a few explosions. The action scenes are done well, though some of them really aren't realistic. Thanks to all the fights and shootings, there is a lot of violence in the movie. Characters are hurt or even killed and blood is all over the place at times. The violence may be too graphic for some people. John and some of the minor characters are hitmen, so it does make sense for the movie to be more violent. There isn't any romance added to the movie. John and Meg eventually get along better, but there is no sex or romance to the relationship.
The character development is about as nonexistent as the plot development. That is normal for many movies like this, and people probably weren't watching for well developed characters. The characters of John and Meg end up being somewhat interesting.
The movie works as an entertaining action movie, though some people will be bothered by the weak plot.
I did get a review posted on Epinions.
The Replacement Killers
