The Big Hit
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Movie Reviews of The Big Hit
Movie Review: Silly, but undeniably fun.
Summary: 3 Stars
I remember first seeing the previews for The Big Hit and thinking to myself, "this is going to be one terrible film." Then I actually rented it, and found myself enjoying the movie immensely. Oh, it's one silly action film, but it's fun usually for all the right reasons, so that's why I'm recommending it. And this says a lot, believe me, because I find 3/4's of the movie's cast utterly revolting (Antonio Sabato, Jr., Christina Applegate, Bokeem Woodbine, Lela Rochon, and Elliot Gould all in the same movie, and I still somehow enjoyed it).Mark Wahlberg stars as Melvin Smiley, a hitman with a heart of gold, sort of. Outside of his dubious career, he's a relatively nice guy with an airhead fiancee (Applegate). Anyway, his hitman buddies, specifically Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), devise a plan to kidnap Keiko Nishi (China Chow), the daughter of a super-rich Japanese businessman, not knowing the man has just went bankrupt (shown in a hilarious scene). Anyway, they have to store Keiko at Melvin's house, and he's forgotten that his fiancee and her parents are visiting for the weekend. To make matters worse, Keiko is the goddaughter of the hitmen's boss, Paris (Avery Brooks), who's looking to crack down on the guys who kidnapped her.
The Big Hit desires to work as an action and comedy, and succeeds quite well at both. The shootouts are pure Hong Kong-style (no surprise, it's directed by Kirk Wong), outrageous but cool to watch. The fight scenes are kinetic and well-choreographed, with the performers displaying some nice, agile moves without really going into all-out martial arts (by this, I'm referring to the final fight in the video store). None of the action is superspectacular or completely memorable, but it's all exciting and lots of fun, which is what it should be.
Director Kirk Wong also shows a capbable hand at humor. For once, the majority of the film's jokes actually work. Even a long-running gag involving Melvin and his overdue rental of King Kong Lives pays off in the end. A lot of people are going to find this humor stupid, but for me, it was stupid and funny. Some of these jokes probably wouldn't naturally be funny, but the cast (particularly Lou Diamond Phillips) pulls them off with a great sense of comic timing. Hell, I even laughed during that obvious "tracebuster" joke.
As I said before, most of the cast members are those I generally try to avoid when I watch movies and they're terrible here, but they're offset by the film's leads, thankfully. Mark Wahlberg is not a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but he's likeable and perfect for this part. The lovely China Chow is a spirited foil for Wahlberg, she's smart, funny, and sassy, and also the film's most genuinely likeable character. Naturally, the film progresses by developing some romantic chemistry between her and Wahlberg, and to my surprise, those scenes actually work.
Stealing virtually the whole film is Lou Diamond Phillips (who I've always liked), who's hilarious as the two-timing hitman Cisco. Off the top of my head, I believe this is his only comic performance to date, and he's so good at it, I wish he'd delve into the genre more often. The always solid Avery Brooks has a few throwaway scenes, but it's always nice to see him in a role outside of Deep Space Nine. All in all, The Big Hit was a good time, never truly excellent as an action/comedy (it needs more even plotting and less superfluous characters) but just enjoyable enough, and that was good enough for me.
Movie Review: MUCH MORE FUN THAT IT should BE!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
WARNING: THIS REVIEW IS RATED PGIs the film flawed? Oh YEAH!! Are there ridiculous lapses in logic? You bet!! Is it fun? I think so.
I'm not quite sure how to describe this movie. It's about a likeable hitman, who kicks serious butt and racks up a huge body count, but he's the only person we care about in the movie. His co-horts are untrustworthy and (gasp!) lazy, and his two girlfriends are both horrid in their own special ways.
The movie is an action comedy...but not in the way we might expect (a la Rush Hour or its ilk). It is obvious the budget was low, so the makers of the film decided the whole tone of the film should be cheesy.
But almost everyone in the movie gets into the style of silliness, and thus a non-finicky viewer has an amusing 90 minutes. Here's one example of the ever-shifting tone: Mark Wahlberg (our likable hit man) is coming home to his fiancee (Christina Applegate...a jewish princess with an over-the-top accent and really tight pants). He is driving with a chopped up body in the trunk, and pulls into his suburban driveway...except its not his house, just one that looks exactly like all the other houses in the neighborhood. Someone yells out "Wrong house!" and Wahlberg pulls back out and into the right driveway. The scene takes about three seconds, but it's funny because it's incongruous. How many hit men live in suburbia...at least in movies?
Everyone in the movie is WAY OVER THE TOP in their performances. Lanie Kazan actually seems reserved...if that gives you an idea. Elliott Gould is totally gross and very funny. Bokeem Woodbine is amusing in the role of a thug with a fixation on masturbation. Lou Diamond Phillips is totally unlikeable as a character, but gosh darn it, he sures seems to be having fun. The whole film is a lark.
It also plays right into Mark Wahlberg's strengths. Wahlberg seems to have the "nice guy" act down very well. It's why Boogie Nights worked so well...he was just so innocent and likeable. In PERFECT STORM and THREE KINGS, it was his innocent nature that worked for him. As soon as he starts getting serious or pensive or angry...it stops working. And in FEAR, with Reese Witherspoon, he tries sinister and comes off silly. He takes the "aw shucks" nice guy attitude to the nth degree in THE BIG HIT, and we really root for him.
This is not a movie for film "criticism." It would totally fall apart under scrutiny, whether for logic, continuity or artistry. But if you're in the mood just to have a little fun, and like guns going off, and cars crashing, and a bit of satire while you're at it...you could do worse.
Movie Review: The Big Hit's Big Ultimate Be All Review By Critic M.A.
Summary: 3 Stars
Hong Kong action fans will you be pleased or not? Check out the review. First off let me state that my review score is based on the movie alone and is excluding the special features. This Movie is the combination of east meets west. Only one word can really describe what The Big Hit is, BIG! This movie has a diverse ensemble cast including Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate, Avery Brooks, Bokeem Woodbine, and Antonio Sabato Jr., and an all-star Hong Kong production team-featuring director Che-Kirk Wong (Director of Jackie Chan's Crime Story), executive producer John Woo (Director of The Killer, Hard-Boiled, MI2, and Face Off), and Hong Kong-based stunt consultant Lau Chi-ho (The Killer, Bullet in the Head). Also this movie is produced by Wesley Snipes (Blade 1 & 2). When you hear about this movie and look at the cover of it you come away under the impression it's an all out action film. When you view it, it's a totally different thing. This is a hip-hop/Hong Kong/action/comedy if you will; action seekers will find this to be a more comedy-based film. There's very little action in this one. There is a quite good action sequence at the very beginning I should note to HK action buffs as honorable mention, but it's not long and runs at approx. 6 min. in this 91 min movie. Excellence goes out to Mark Wahlberg for this one, he does it nicely. He finishes this aw inspiring hotel shootout rolling down a banister reminiscent Chow Yun-Fat sliding down a banister in Hard-Boiled it is awesome. There is another action sequence at the very end but is quite bland and not very exciting. This movie won't please everybody I am assured. But, if you're looking for a film with good fun it's here. Also if you're a generation-x type of person like me and are in to the whole gen-x type of movie genre that are new, abstract, and cool you'll get a kick out of it.
...Now there are two versions of this film a The Big Hit DVD with a movie and special features and a The Big Hit (Superbit Collection) DVD which has superior picture and sound quality over any DVD on the market today but has no special features at all. The choice is yours, but if you want my opinion get the one with the special features because the picture quality is good enough and you don't have to sacrifice all the extras...
Movie Review: Bizzare if not mediphorical
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Big Hit" is one of those movies which draws two types of people to see it; the people that understand it, and the people that don't understand it. Frankly, I don't understand it the least. Is this suppose to an action flick, or a comedy? Or maybe it's a Kung-Fu flick with all American actors? Either way you put it, it's bizzare if not mediphorical.Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg plays what-seems-to-be an average social worker. But really, he's a somewhat cold-blooded hitman. The film's over the top beginning shows some "bang, Bang" and "boom, boom" here and there, that seems a little too violent for an action (3 of the hitmen have a conversation as their targeted man lies their bleeding and dying horribly, where then one of them does a pose as he shoots him in the chest. Bizzare) Lou Diamond Phillips co-stars, in probably one of the most wierdest roles, as a gold-tooth Latino assassin that is more laughable to look at then to actually pay attention to his character development. Christina Applegate makes a small appearance as Wahlberg's hyper active Jewish fiancee, who is constantly giving him a headache...well, more of a stomach ache: for some reason, throughout the film, Wahlberg's character is suffering from some kind of a acid reflux, thus craving an addiction almost to Pepto Bismal and Mallox. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone else but John Woo (Executive Producer) fans.
Movie Review: See, Dirk Diggler works for Captain Sisko and is dating Kelly Bundy...
Summary: 3 Stars
The Big Hit (1998) Poor Mark Wahlberg. He just wants everyone to like him, but when you're a contract killer with a money grubbing fiancee (Christina Applegate), a greedy girlfriend (Lela Rochon), a tough no-nonsense boss (Avery Brooks) and a weaselly coworker (Lou Diamond Phillips) who'd sell his mom for a quick buck, you're not likely to find yourself a happy man. So goes the plot of this goofy action comedy from the producers of Broken Arrow. Though the script to this is at times amusing, with assassins who pause in the middle of a hit for a coffee break, and Wahlberg forced to extreme slapstick measures to keep a kidnap victim he's been stuck with hidden from his fiancee and her stereotypical Jewish parents (Lainie Kazan and Elliot Gould), it also gets smug in its attempts to be hip, which works against the movie as a whole. Also, it's lucky this is a comedy, because while there is some good stuntwork involved, too many scenes are cartoonishly computer assisted to be taken seriously at all. If you see this in the right frame of mind it would probably tickle you, but if not it'll more likely annoy you. If you do see it, you will have to give Lou Diamond Phillips some points for pulling out all the stops as the flamboyantly flaky Chico. But if the premise seems shaky to you, you should probably avoid this one. Also starring Antonio Sabato Jr.