The Replacement Killers

The John Woo school of the ballet-of-bullets gets a full dose of Sam Peckinpah under the steady hand of director Antoine Fuqua’s finely framed tale of revenge. This director has balls to spare!

Stylized in rainy blues, greens, and reds Chow Yun-fat is understated as John Lee, a professional assassin who comes to grips with his humanity when he’s called on to kill the seven year-old son of a Los Angeles police officer. The pace quickens when Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), a document forger, is pulled into the fray. The plot is secondary to the action, but oh what action–engraved bullets, sexy shoot-outs, and gallons of the glowing, glistening, hot blood of the evil assassins trying to knock off our seductive Asian and Caucasian duo. Chow Yun-Fat dresses better than James Bond, and Mira Sorvino understands grace under pressure like a nouveau Emma Peel.

Rated R. 88 mins. (B) (Three Stars)