THE BIG
HIT
RATING: 6.5 / 10 --> So-so
Review Date:
May 9, 1998
Director:
Che-Kirk Wong
Writer:
Ben Ramsey
Producers:
Wesley Snipes and Warren Zide
Actors:
Mark Wahlberg as Melvin Smiley
Lou Diamond Phillips as
Cisco
Christina Applegate as Pam Shulman
Genre:
Action / Comedy
Year of
Release:
1998
Semi-spoof of all action movies, this film attempts to combine
the humour of Tarantino's scripts with the action of a John Woo
flic. Mark Wahlberg's theatrical follow-up to the highly
acclaimed BOOGIE NIGHTS (7.5/10) has Terrence Chang and John Woo
of FACE/OFF (8/10) and BROKEN ARROW (5.5/10) fame sitting on as
executive producers.
PLOT:
Four professional hitmen, who happen to be regular Joes in
"real life", kidnap the daughter of a rich Japanese
businessman, in order to extort some large money from the
gentleman. As per usual, the kidnapping goes somewhat awry, and
that's when the cookiness and action takes over.
CRITIQUE:
Flawed attempt at combining humour and action in one picture. LAST
ACTION HERO
(7.5/10) was a film that handled this genre successfully, but
this picture just doesn't have enough real wit, or stand-out
action to merit that moniker. I laughed out loud at some parts,
and cringed at others (like when someone asks one of the hitmen
how much money they make and he replies "we make a
killing"....haha, I think not). The action sequences were
all very good, but not enough were spread around the entire
picture. Also, the best scenes are in the first 10 minutes, and
then a very cool action scenario that rolls off the last 20
minutes.
Lou Diamond Phillips was the standout in the cast, whilst
delivering a bad guy rendition that flip-flopped between the Gary
Oldman pimp in TRUE ROMANCE (9/10) and Samuel L. Jackson in PULP
FICTION (7.5/10). Mind you, he did have most of the funny lines
in this passable piece. Wahlberg was so-so, as was the rest of
this purposely generated stereotypical cast. The soundtrack was
very good, as was the style of the picture, but I guess the
biggest problem was its lacklustre script (many weak attempts to
correlate the idea of "bad guys doing regular things"
with successful screenwriting didn't pan out). If interested in
this story, I suggest you wait until it comes out on video, since
nothing of great interest is worth the trip to the movie houses
for this so-so adventure through the land of cinema.
Little Known Facts:
Christina Applegate was one of the last people to see late actor
River Phoenix alive the night that he passed away in front of the
Viper Room (Johnny Depp-owned bar in Hollywood) from an apparent
overdose of drugs.
Lou Diamond Philips' real name is Lou Upchurch, he was born in
the Philippines, and was left by his wife Julie Cypher in 1990
(after four years of marriage) after she hooked up with singer
Melissa Etheridge.
This film was China Chow's first film experience. She has modeled
for designers Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and was rumoured
to be dating Mark Wahlberg after the release of this picture.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge
Garabedian
Movie Reviews starting with "B"
Jason Overbeck's Review of The Big Hit
Related Reviews:
Mark Wahlberg: