The Replacement Killers is a 1998 American action film directed by Antoine Fuqua in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Chow Yun-fat (his international film debut), Mira Sorvino, Michael Rooker and Kenneth Tsang. The film was released in the United States on February 6, 1998. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Ken Sanzel. Veteran action director John Woo co-produced and choreographed the action sequences. The film is set in modern-day Los Angeles and follows an emotionally disillusioned assassin who is forced to settle a violent vendetta for a ruthless crime boss. The film marks the American acting debut for Chow, as his previous film credits included Hong Kong action cinema only.
The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Columbia Pictures, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, and WCG Entertainment Productions. The Replacement Killers explores assassination, violence and the influence of triads in modern society.[3] The film score was orchestrated by Harry Gregson-Williams; the soundtrack was released by the Varèse Sarabande music label on March 10, 1998.
The Replacement Killers premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on February 6, 1998, grossing $19.2 million in US ticket receipts and $39.5 million worldwide from a $30 million budget. It has a 38% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a consensus of "mixed reviews" on Metacritic.
Plot
During an orchestrated drug bust at a marine loading dock, LAPD detective Stan Zedkov kills Triad lieutenant Peter Wei.
Looking to exact revenge for his son's death, Peter's father, Terence, sends for professional assassin John Lee. Paying off an old debt, Lee has already killed two targets for Wei, who now tells him that this third and final job will settle the obligation. However, Lee's conscience prevents him from completing his final assignment: to assassinate Zedkov's seven-year-old son Stevie before the detective's eyes.
Realizing that his actions will result in retaliation against his mother and sister, Lee prepares to return to China, enlisting the help of old friend Alan Chan, a monk in a local Buddhist temple, to make arrangements to have his family moved to a secure location. Infuriated by Lee's disobedience, Wei orders his head lieutenant, Michael Kogan, to lead the hunt for Lee, and has his people in China begin the search for Lee's family.
No longer able to use the Triad network to get out of the country, Lee searches for alternative means outside Wei's sphere of influence, and looks to skilled forger Meg Coburn for a new passport. Before she can finish the job, Wei's men storm Meg's office, destroying the computerized tools of her trade in the ensuing shootout. Lee escapes; Coburn is picked up by the police, unsuccessfully interrogated by Zedkov, and released as bait so the detective can see who tries to kill her. Meanwhile, Wei hires two skilled out-of-town contract killers named Ryker and Collins to take over the hunt for Lee and the Zedkov contract.
Lee finds Coburn when she returns to her destroyed office. Having been made aware that the Triads are involved, Coburn wants out, but Lee forces her to finish her original task of creating a forged passport. Traveling with Coburn, and with the two "replacement killers" in pursuit, Lee gets pictures from a photo booth and phones Alan, who offers the use of his passport. When Lee arrives at the temple, he discovers that Alan has been tortured to the point of death. Alan tells Lee that his family was moved to Canton—but he told his torturers they were in Shanghai.[3] Lee has little more than 24 hours before his family is found. The monk gives Lee his passport before dying in his arms.
Holed up in a hotel, Coburn finishes altering Alan's passport for Lee. The two exchange stories, and Coburn becomes sympathetic to Lee. Feeling compelled to stop the killing of Zedkov's son before leaving the country, Lee forces one of Wei's men to reveal the plan, which is to kill Stevie while he and his father are at a movie festival inside a cinema. Lee and Coburn, who insists on helping, arrive barely in time to prevent Ryker and Collins from killing the boy, and Ryker is killed by Lee in the subsequent gunfight.
Concerned that Lee and Coburn will make their way back to his base of operations, Wei makes plans to flee the country and hunt down Lee's mother and sister himself. However, when two guards open the main gate for Wei and his entourage to leave in a limo, Lee is just outside. He launches a two-handed handgun assault while Coburn surfaces moments later, driving a truck through the melee, incapacitating Michael, and later killing him. When Collins fires from a high perch on Lee and Coburn, Lee soon outflanks Collins, killing him from behind. Finally, Lee corners Wei on a fire escape platform. Though both men have emptied their guns, Lee is first to reload. Wei promises Lee that the boy and Lee's family will still die, but Lee replies, "Not in your lifetime," and kills him. Though Zedkov arrives before Lee and Coburn can get away, he lets them go, taking only their guns.
Coburn reluctantly bids goodbye to Lee at the airport, presenting him with one last gift, passports for his mother and sister.[3]
Production for the film began on February 10, 1997 in downtown Los Angeles. The first shoot was set in the historic Mayan Theater, refurbished as a trendy nightclub and cast with hundreds of extras for the film's opening scene.[4] The eight-story, nearly condemned Giant Penny building in the middle of LA served as the location for a police station interior, a hotel room, and Meg Coburn's office. A chaotic gunfight was filmed amid the spray, brushes, and hoses of Joe's Car Wash, also in LA.[4] A Chinatown-like streetscape of damp, narrow alleys and blinking red neon lights was created for the night-time finale, where Yun-Fat shot off 546 rounds of two-fisted shooting; the repetitive action left his hands blistered and shaking.[citation needed] More gunplay took place in a video arcade replicated at the original Lawry's California Center[5] (now the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens),[6] just north of downtown LA. Lee's tranquil Buddhist temple was fashioned under this same roof.[4]
Director Fuqua stressed to his team that the aim was to design a "Taxi Driver for the 1990s".[4] In addition to physical training, Mira Sorvino, who had never handled a gun prior to this film, took weapons training to prepare for her role. Sorvino, who majored in Asian studies at Harvard, speaks Mandarin, and lived for eight months (1988–89) in Beijing, where she studied Chinese, taught English, and saw Chinese films, including Hong Kong action films,[4] felt The Replacement Killers brought her a step closer to her goal of making a film in Mandarin and working with a Chinese director.[4] Prior to the start of filming, Sorvino had blown out her voice from screaming in reshoots of Mimic; Fuqua liked the effect and asked her to keep it, which required Sorvino to yell prior to each day's shoots to burn out her voice.[7]
Music
Soundtrack
The original motion picture score was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. Alan Meyerson mixed the sound elements for the chorus, while Richard Whitfield edited the film's music. The soundtrack for the film was released on March 10, 1998 by the Varèse Sarabande music label.[8] In an interview with Hideo Kojima, he stated it was the film's soundtrack that lead him to hire Harry to work on the soundtrack of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
The Replacement Killers: Original Motion Picture Score
The Replacement Killers: Original Motion Picture Score
No.
Title
Length
1.
"John's Theme"
2:43
2.
"Stalked"
3:58
3.
"The Temple"
2:28
4.
"He Means Business"
3:16
5.
"Kill or Be Replaced"
2:18
6.
"We Have Visitors..."
2:11
7.
"John Reflects"
2:04
8.
"Surreal Shoot-Out"
3:57
9.
"John Traps His Man"
3:47
10.
"Race Against Time"
3:04
11.
"The Heavies Arrive"
2:53
12.
"Final Confrontation"
3:38
Total length:
36:17
Additional music
In addition to the film score by Harry Gregson-Williams, several modern songs by cutting-edge artists were included on the soundtrack (although never officially released as a cd) including:
The Replacement Killers premiered in cinemas on February 6, 1998 in wide release throughout the US, and had a five-week theatrical run.[10]
Home media
Following its cinematic release in theaters, The Replacement Killers was released on DVD and VHS by Columbia TriStar Home Video in the United States on July 1, 1998. Special features for the DVD include scene selections and the featurette specials; Chow Yun-Fat Goes Hollywood along wth an edited HBO special: "Where the Action is".[11] A VHS format edition was released on March 30, 1999.[12]
On March 5, 2002, a Special Edition DVD was released. Features include: digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video; widescreen presentation; audio in English 5.1 (Dolby Digital), Spanish, French, Portuguese; subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai; director's commentary; HBO making-of, Where the Action Is; deleted scenes; alternate ending; exclusive featurette, Chow Yun-Fat Goes Hollywood; theatrical trailers; filmographies; animated menus; and scene selections with motion images.[13]
A UMD version of the film for the Sony PlayStation Portable was released on August 9, 2005. The disc features DVD quality picture; languages in Chinese, English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai, with viewing options for color and black and white.[14]
An extended-cut DVD adding approximately 10 minutes to the film was released on April 25, 2006. Special features include: Chow Yun-Fat Goes Hollywood; digitally remastered picture and sound; and an edited HBO special, Where the Action Is.[15]
The widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray version of the film was released on September 11, 2007. Special features include: The Making of the Replacement Killers: Where the Action Is and the exclusive featurette, Chow Yun-Fat Goes Hollywood.[16] A supplemental viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand is available as well.[17]
Reception
Box office
During its February 6, 1998 US opening weekend, the film ranked second place, grossing $8,046,553 at 1,936 locations.[10] The film Titanic came in first place during that weekend grossing $23,027,838.[18] Its revenue dropped by 49% in its second week of release, earning $4,068,335. For that particular weekend, the film fell to sixth place still screening in 1,936 theaters. Titanic remained in first place grossing $28,167,947 in box office revenue.[19] During its final week in release, The Replacement Killers opened in a distant 21st place with $131,727 in revenue.[20] The film went on to top out domestically at $19,204,929 in total ticket sales through a 5-week theatrical run.[10] For 1998 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 90.[21] Worldwide, the film grossed $39.5 million in all territories.[22]
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reports that 37% of 38 sampled critics gave the film a positive review; the average score is 5.3 out of 10. The consensus summarizes: "Chow Yun-fat makes his dubious English-language debut in The Replacement Killers, a stylish but muddled knockoff of the Hong Kong shoot-em-ups that earned the star his international renown."[23] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 42 based on 22 reviews, which it classifies as "mixed or average reviews".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[25]
"What I liked about the film was its simplicity of form and its richness of visuals. There's a certain impersonality about the story; Chow and Sorvino don't have long chats between the gunfire. They're in a ballet of Hong Kong action imagery: bodies rolling out of gunshot range, faces frozen in fear, guys toppling off fire escapes, grim lips, the fetishism of firearms, cars shot to pieces, cops that make Dragnet sound talky."
—Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times[26]
Among some of the positive critiques, Roger Ebert writing in the Chicago Sun-Times called it "as abstract as a jazz instrumental, and as cool and self-assured."[26] Discussing the film's style, he remarked that it was a "high-gloss version of a Hong Kong action picture, made in America but observing the exuberance of a genre where surfaces are everything."[26] In Variety, Leonard Klady viewed the film as being a "big, loud music video that's not particularly interested in content. It's a rudderless style piece; as the old saw cautions, accept no substitutes."[27] Regarding the film's set design and production qualities, he noted that, "while an apt homage, the set pieces here are technical but not visceral, feeling manufactured rather than organically integrated into the plot."[27]
Russell Smith of The Austin Chronicle said the film was "so numbingly ritualistic that even the well-choreographed gun battles, probably the most Woo-like aspects of the film, lose much of their potential impact."[28] Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden noted that although the film's "seamless fusion of Hong Kong action-adventure style and cool, Los Angeles street chic has a certain seductive charm, it is the only charm of a movie that is otherwise devoid of content."[29] Edward Guthmann in the San Francisco Chronicle said that "As pointless blast-athons go, The Replacement Killers isn't bad. It's beautifully shot by first-time feature director Antoine Fuqua, whose eye for sensual surfaces, deft camera moves and elegant framing was refined with commercials and music videos."[30]
Desson Thomson of The Washington Post stated that "Without Chow Yun-Fat, who makes his American screen debut here, there'd be nothing to say about The Replacement Killers. Antoine Fuqua's action movie is entirely free of surprise. It breaks no rules."[31] He did however muse that "Chow's pretty face and cool presence are inescapable. You don't enjoy this movie, so much as you conduct a road test for the Hong Kong actor. Yes, he can survive in an English language picture!"[31] In The San Francisco Examiner, Walter Addiego perceived that the film "remains a counterfeit of a Woo movie, even though Woo himself co-produced it. He turned the directing chores over to first-timer Antoine Fuqua, whose previous work was limited to music videos and commercials, and it shows." He added, "The script, by Ken Sanzel, is the work of someone who's seen Woo's movies and wasn't particularly moved by the experience."[32]
Crew's response
In retrospect, Antoine Fuqua said: "'The Replacement Killers' was a good and bad experience. It was great because Chow Yun-Fat is the coolest guy in the world. He was just beautiful. Mira Sorvino was cool. It was fun working with Mira. But the difficult thing was learning the studio system, learning all the things that go along with that system. There are a lot of people that have a lot of say, especially when you're that young in the studio world. You learn that it is a business. I think for me, what I learned was I still love making movies, and I know what I don't want to do. The thing that I learned the most out of that movie was what I don't want to do."[33]
Ken Sanzel, who wrote the movie, said: "The script bears very little resemblance to anything I would have written; only the bare bones of the plot really survived. I think that Chow Yun-Fat was incredible, but for me the movie was a series of otherwise bad decisions. I’m glad that people enjoy it, but it was really Antoine Fuqua’s sensibility top to bottom, which is not at all mine (aside from the fact that we both love the work of Michael Mann, though apparently for very different reasons).[34]
Mira Sorvino said: "I loved working with Antoine, and it was fun to do an action movie. It was kind of like being a kid and playing cowboys and Indians, or cops and robbers. And I enjoyed the role of Meg. I thought she was fun to do."[35]
John Woo Yu-Sen is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. He is a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films and the gun fu genre in Hong Kong action cinema, before working in Hollywood films. He is known for his highly chaotic "bullet ballet" action sequences, stylized imagery, Mexican standoffs, frequent use of slow motion and allusions to wuxia, film noir and Western cinema.
Chow Yun-fatSBS, previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor. He has collaborated with filmmaker John Woo in five Hong Kong action films: A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), The Killer (1989), Once a Thief (1991) and Hard Boiled (1992), and in the West for his roles as King Mongkut in Anna and the King (1999), Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995).
The Killer is a 1989 Hong Kong action and crime film written and directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sally Yeh. Chow plays assassin Ah Jong, who accidentally damages the eyes of singer Jennie (Yeh) during a shootout and sets out to perform one last hit for her treatment.
The Corruptor is a 1999 American action thriller film directed by James Foley, written by Robert Pucci, and starring Chow Yun-fat and Mark Wahlberg. The film was released in the United States on March 12, 1999.
Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Anthony Wong. It follows a police inspector whose investigation of a brutal Triad leader entangles him in the complex world of undercover policing.
Once a Thief is a 1991 Hong Kong heist comedy film directed by John Woo, who also wrote the screenplay with Janet Chun and Clifton Ko. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Kenneth Tsang and Paul Chu. The film was released on 2 February 1991, before the lucrative Chinese Lunar New Year holiday season.
Portuguese hip hop, more commonly called hip hop tuga, is the Portuguese variety of hip hop music. It differs from mainstream hip hop because it has strong influences from African music, from Lusophone Africa, reggae, zouk and fado.
City on Fire is a 1987 Hong Kong action film directed by Ringo Lam, who also produced with Karl Maka. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, and Sun Yueh. Following A Better Tomorrow (1986), it helped establish Chow's popularity as an action star in Asia and to a lesser degree, North America.
Antoine Fuqua is an American film director known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with The Replacement Killers. His critical breakthrough was the 2001 crime thriller Training Day, winning the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Director.
Kenneth Tsang Kong was a Hong Kong actor. Tsang's career spanned 50 years and included a variety of acting roles. Tsang won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2015.
Danny Lee is a Hong Kong actor, film producer, screenwriter, director, action director and presenter. He is known for frequently portraying Hong Kong police officers in films such as Law with Two Phases, The Killer and The Untold Story, as well as being a Shaw Brothers alumnus, having starred in martial arts and action movies produced by that studio such as Infra-Man.
Red Cliff or Chibi is a 2008–2009 internationally co-produced epic war film, based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and the events at the end of the Han dynasty and immediately prior to the Three Kingdoms period in Imperial China. The film was directed by John Woo, and stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, and Lin Chi-ling. It was Woo's first major film since 2003's Paycheck and his first Chinese-language feature since 1992's Hard Boiled, also starring Leung.
Candice Yu is a Hong Kong film actress and occasional singer best known for her films with Shaw Brothers Studio of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first wife of Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat.
Confucius is a 2010 Chinese biographical drama film written and directed by Hu Mei, starring Chow Yun-fat as the titular Chinese philosopher. The film was produced by P.H. Yu, Han Sanping, Rachel Liu and John Shum.
The Head Hunter is a 1982 Hong Kong action film directed by Lau Shing-hon and starring Chow Yun-fat and Rosamund Kwan. The film is also known as Long Goodbye in the United States.
City War is a 1988 Hong Kong crime action film directed by Suen Chung and starring Chow Yun-fat and Ti Lung in their third collaboration after A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2.
Office is a 2015 Hong Kong-Chinese musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Johnnie To and starring Chow Yun-fat, Sylvia Chang, Eason Chan and Tang Wei. The film is an adaptation of the 2008 play Design for Living, which was created by and starred Chang. Office premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in China on 2 September 2015 and in Hong Kong in 3D on 24 September 2015.
Project Gutenberg is a 2018 Hong Kong–Chinese action film written and directed by Felix Chong, and starring Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok.
Marta Dias is a São Toméan Portuguese singer of jazz, world music and fado who has recorded several solo albums and has additionally recorded and toured extensively with guitarist António Chainho. She has also appeared on several Hip hop releases, including the Ithaka song, Escape From The City Of Angels, which appeared in Columbia Pictures's feature film release, The Replacement Killers in 1998.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
