Plot: What’s it about?
It starts out as John Lee (Chow Yun-Fat) is walking in a night club to kill a man he was hired to kill and some of his friends seem to get in the way. John is a hit man that was hired by what seems to be the Chinese Mafia. The leader of the Mafia, Terence Wei, (Kenneth Tsang) is having him do his dirty work in order for John’s mother and sister to remain in safe hands back in China. It is part of a deal that the two have made. A drug bust goes awry and the son of the Mafia leader is killed by a cop. (Michael Rooker) The leader wants the cop who killed his son to know his pain. John’s next job is to kill the cop’s son and in doing so his obligation to Mr. Wei would be completed. John goes to do this, but he can’t kill a boy who’s life is just beginning. By not doing the job the Mafia is now after John. Feeling that his family is in grave danger in China he goes to get a fake passport so he can get to China in order to protect his mother and his sister.
John goes to a woman who forges documents named Meg Coburn. (Mira Sorvino) While there they are caught up in a shoot out with some of Wei’s men who are looking for both John and Meg. The two of them escape, but Meg is taken under custody by the police. She is not arrested because Meg is the bait for the cops to get the big fish. Meg goes back to her apartment and she is visited by John who takes her at gun point in order for her to make him a passport. Mr. Wei has now brought in some Replacement Killers to take out John and Meg, but most importantly to kill the officer’s son. The ending results in a several cool fun fights and of course some killing.
This is a pretty fast paced and action packed movie. The running time is only 90 minutes so it keeps your attention going for the most part. The camera angles and some action sequences are pretty slick and well done. The movie is enjoyable for action fans and is a pretty good looking and sounding DVD. This movie is worth a rent and to buy if you like action movies. You should be able to find it for $20, even though the list price is a little high at $30, over the internet. I wouldn’t recommend paying anymore than $20 unless you really like this movie.
Video: How does it look?
This is a 16:9 enhanced picture that looks great. I didn’t notice any grain or any other negative qualities in the picture. The dark scenes come across clean and the few day time scenes look just as good. Another great picture from Columbia Tri Star.
Audio: How does it sound?
Being an action movie where a few hundred bullets are fired you should expect a pretty good audio mix. Well that is what you get here. Bullets fly across the sound field and the bass is pretty deep, but not as deep as I have heard in other action movies. A very well done 5.1 sound, but falls just short of reference material. There are plenty of shoot outs in this movie and different places where they take place. Who would have thought that a car wash would be a good place for a shoot out?
Supplements: What are the extras?
You get a two and a half minute theatrical trailer and a five minute featurette that is an interesting look at the movie and also inclued interviews with Mira Sorvino and Chow Yun-Fat.
