best movie i've ever seen.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

When the son of Triad leader Terence Wei is killed by Detective Stan Zedkov he is determined to get revenge so sends his best hit-man, John Lee, to kill Zedkov's young son. John has the boy in his sights but can't pull the trigger. He is now in trouble; having failed Wei he wants to get back to China so he can protect his family from Wei's inevitable revenge. To do that he needs fake documents so goes to see forger Meg Coburn. Wei's men aren't far behind and the two of them end up on the run together. As they run Wei brings in even more killers.This might not be as thrilling as some of the films Chow Yun-Fat made in Hong Kong with director John Woo but it is still pretty good. Chow Yun-Fat is the epitome of cool managing to make his character sympathetic even though it is clear he is a hired killer; the fact that English isn't his first language isn't a problem. Mira Sorvino does a fine job as Meg Coburn; she might not look like an action star but she pulls it off impressively. The action is exciting with lots of shootouts; it is filmed stylishly without appearing too over-the-top… at least within the context of an action move. The story is pretty simple; which to my mind was a good thing; who wants to waste time on a complicated plot that needs lots of exposition when the film is all about the next shootout! Director Antoine Fuqua does a fine job creating what feels like a Hong Kong action film in Hollywood. Overall I wouldn't say this is a must see but if you want action it is worth checking out… and if you enjoy this check out some of Chow Yun-Fat's other films such as 'The Killer' or 'Hard Boiled'.

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

Saw this way back when, but it hasn't aged well and now just seems kind of mediocre rather than gripping. The cinematography is crisp and stylish and the acting is solid, but the plot is actually wisp thin and the casual ultra-violence is really heavy, which has lost some of its appeal to me as I have aged. With age and wisdom it's clear now that this film is mostly fluff and little substance, but I was a lot shallower way back when, and either I just didn't notice or didn't care. This is basically a simplistic high-body count, high-voltage, action movie in which it's pointless to count the bullets, especially given that firearm magazines don't seem to be constrained by reality. If that's what you're looking for you won't feel like you've wasted your time watching this, but I doubt you'll be left feeling that you've just experienced a cinematic masterpiece either. It is what it is, which in my book is now only slightly above average for a movie of this type.

I went into this movie expecting heaps of action and I was a little disappointed but if there was any more then there would not have been a reasonable plot. The Replacement Killers is a mix between Hong Kong Cinema and Hollywood. The ending is good but still very Hollywood though the action and the story in a sense is very Hong Kong. The main character, John Lee, is a hired killer that has a special weapon, and that is the hand gun. He doesn't run round with machine guns blowing away villains, nor does he jump into a martial arts extravaganza, but just relies upon his pistols. Thus there are a lot of gunfights in this movie as the police and a criminal organisation try to put down this rogue killer.John Lee is a professional assassin who has been blackmailed by a criminal organisation to kill people for them. The son of the boss, Mr Weing, is killed in a drug bust and Mr Weing decides that he wants the son of the cop who killed his son dead. This is an eye for an eye mentality. The problem arises when John Lee discovers that the person he has to kill is a seven year old boy. Thus he refuses to do the job, angers Mr Weing and is hunted down to be punished.This movie is about style and pride in one's job. John Lee is a killer but there is a line he does not cross. He only kills those that he has been paid to kill and those who are trying to kill him. He is not ruthless, which Mr Weing considers to be a flaw, and will not kill innocent bystanders nor will he kill children. One gets the impression that John Lee did not want to start killing anyway.There are a number of similarities between the Replacement Killers and the Killer. The Killer is far better than the Replacement Killers could ever think of being because Replacement Killers has been dragged down by the Hollywood dream world where as the Killer has no such restriction. One big difference we can see between the two movies is that John Lee is much more in control of his situation. Jeff was continuously on the run and in the end the fight came to him. John Lee began on the run but then took the fight to his enemies and defeated them. Victory was fleeting in the Killer, but victory was absolute in the Replacement Killers.