12.13
One of those days…
Wanted to watch a movie… but not really. Wanted something running in the background with lots of action while I web surf.
My “Go To” movie for such things? “The Replacement Killers“. I have it in both DVD and Blu-Ray (which I completely forgot purchasing. Must have been a $10 special.). Last night I watched the DVD.
Tonight I’m watching the BR. (It has a few extra minutes / added scenes that actually help explain some things in the movie that made no sense.)
And yes, I CAN tell the difference, even on my tiny 37″ HDTV at 1080i (I bought it a year before 1080p screens were in my price range -now they’re cheap – could buy 2 now for what I paid for mine.).
(movie spoilers below)
Not a whole lot of plot.
Cop kills Bad Guy’s son during a drug bust (the son was an adult). Bad Guy (the head of some US Chinese gang who seems a bit more civilized than the cop even if he is “not nice”) sends someone to kill the cop’s son (a little kid) as revenge.
Assassin Guy (Chow Yun-Fat) refuses to kill the kid (apparently he’s being blackmailed by the Bad Guy to do the assassination and killing a kid is his ‘Just Say No’ point.) and goes on the run. He tries to get a passport and the Bad Guy’s minions catch up with him while Forgery Girl (Mira Sorvino – is she really 5’10″? She looks tiny next to Chow Yun-Fat) is making him a passport. He drags her along.
Lots of gun fire along the way as both of them shoot their way out of trouble. And rescue the cop’s kid.
Happy ending for Assassin Guy and Forgery Girl – he heads off to China to rescue his family from Bad Guy’s minions (even though Bad Guy is dead by that point) and she has a new friend.
Mira Sorvino is the least believable of the actors in this movie. She runs around shooting a gun like Angelina Jolie (in one of HER action movies) but without the “sexiness” of AJ or the toughness AJ can display as an action hero (And at least AJ always seems to be having fun while she’s doing it. Sorvino looks like she’s in pain.).
And as for the “tough gal” dialog? Sorvino can’t do it believably.
This is like watching Uma Thurman trying to be Emma Peel. Thee role isn’t a good fit. Maybe I should be watching “Kill Bill” instead — where Uma Thurman redeems her action hero street cred?
Or maybe that’s just the dialog in this movie? It’s not so bad that its good but good it isn’t. There are Disney kiddy shows with better dialog.
