Amazon.com

Film fans might someday recognize 1997 and '98 as the years Hong Kong came to Hollywood. Stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh all appeared in major Hollywood projects and directors John Woo, Ronny Yu, and Tsui Hark directed Face/Off, Bride of Chucky, and Knock Off, respectively. Another entry into this new era of entertainment is The Big Hit, directed by Che-Kirk Wong (who also directed Jackie Chan in Crime Story), executive produced by John Woo, and produced by Wesley Snipes. Mark Wahlberg leads this all-American cast in a played-for-laughs macho blowout. Rounding out the testosterone brigade are Lou Diamond Phillips (sprouting a gold-capped tooth and a dirty mouth), Bokeem Woodbine (who, according to this DVD's director audio track, wore extra socks where it counts), Antonio Sabàto Jr., and Avery Brooks. Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a nice-guy hit man with an ulcer and a severe insecurity problem. He's short on cash due to the spending habits of his unsuspecting fiancée Pam (Christina Applegate) and his girlfriend-on-the-sly Chantel (Lela Rochon). He and his crew decide to do a little freelancing and cook up their own heist to make a little mo' money--specifically by kidnapping Keiko (China Chow), the daughter of a Japanese businessman whom they target for ransom. Little do they know her dad is broke and she's the goddaughter of their boss. The Big Hit has action scenes aplenty (one of the stunt coordinators worked on Woo's The Killer and Bullet in the Head) and the same cornball sense of humor as other films in the Hong Kong action genre. Slick pacing and over-the-top humor made this movie a miss with the critics but a fun ride for fans of Hong Kong-styled action. --Shannon Gee ... Read more

Reviews (86)

"Hit" and Run
When four hitman decide that they are going to kidnap the boss's daugter and ask for ransom, problems arise, when Melvin (Mark Wahlberg) is set up to take the fall. At the same time, he is set to meet his girlfriend Pam's (Christina Applegate) parents, all three of whom, know nothing about his true line of work This under appreciated action/comedy from Che-Kirk Wong, has more going for it, than most folks think it does. The trick to watching this, is to just watch the movie, for its fun factor. If you expect it to be a dramatic look at hitmen and the mob--forget it. The action sequences are well done and fun to watch. The movie is a breezey 91 minutes and that's also a plus. Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, and Antonio Sabato Jr. have good on screen chemistry. The rest of the players fit pretty well too It's nice to see some of them break out into more of a comedic role then is the norm for some of the cast.

The DVD extras include an enjoyable commentary track with the director, writer, and producer of the movie. The handful of deleted scenes are very good too. It also has the theatrical trailer (just as you might expect). The film is presented in both widescreen and fullscreen formats, so that viewers can choose their poison in that regard If you like action comedies then I would certainly recommend THE BIG HIT to you. Give it a shot.

Very amusing and very action-packed!
This movie was a real blast, both with the action and more so with the sometimes childish but often funny spoof element! Mark Wahlberg plays Mervin Smiley, a sexually insecure potential hitman who works for godfather Avery Brooks(Sisco from Deep Space Nine to you Trekkies!), along with assorted colleagues. When Smiley finds he is several thousand in debt due to women messing him around for his money and failed hits, he decides to kidnap a Japanese girl, the daughter of an industrialist on the verge of hara-kiri after his movie flops! It just so happens that this girl is the god-daughter of his boss. As if that wasn't enough, his copy of the video KING KONG LIVES is overdue! Oh dear . . . The results are fast, frenetic and hilarious. Elliot Gould appears as the on-the-wagon father of another potential fiancee(Christina Applegate, who is a real hottie). And when his bosses learn of his unauthorised kidnapping, the fun bursts into stylised action with gunfights and explosions galore! John Woo produced this, and it shows well! This has something for Hong Kong action fans, something for teenage airhead humour freaks and a little bit of girl power for chick-flick lovers. Everyone will enjoy this, in other words!

Total Crap
This movie is total garbage. My friend brought it by and we watched it and it was so bad I had to come on here and write a review. The acting is crap, the storyline sucks, it is an attempt to make a "cool, hip" hollywood movie that failed miserably. The writing and dialouge are terrible, this movie doesn't even deserve 1 star. Total B movie crap.

What can I say? I dig the film.
I've trashed more than my fair share of big, brainless action flicks for being stupid, unbelievable, and nasty. But for some reason, either by merit of the film itself or some fluke in my taste, I like THE BIG HIT. If the former is true, here is why.

There are those of us who peruse the direct-to-video bins of action and horror movies in a desparate search of fun. THE BIG HIT, although released theatrically, is everything that you desire while looking at direct-to-video crap, but never get, and its infinitly better.

Make no mistakes: this movie is vulgar, crass, and shameless. It even crossed my line with the vomiting scene, but I managed. The film finds hit man Melvin Smiley set up to take the fall for a major screw-up by his hipster co-workers whilst dealing with being a pushover to his fiancee and girlfriend.

Maybe the fact that this film has such a plot, a plot that is relevant to the action and interesting is what makes it exciting. The characters are stimulating and provided vibrant dialogue. Through the pretty routine directing, it's Ben Ramseys script that makes the thing so fun. The action sequences are pretty by the numbers, as I've mentioned, but there are moments or rhythm and sublime carnage beneath the rest of it.

The film has a hard-hitting and pulsating score by Graeme Revell, which is also notable in its genre for its themes and concentration on doing more than making noise.

Be warned: those who do not tolerate profanity, violence, and general disregard for morals (these are hit men, after all) should not view. If you do not fall into that category, and like a bit of ultra-violence brimming with wit and style, there is a very good chance you will like this movie, and almost NO chance that you will regret seeing it.

Or like I said, it might have just been a fluke in my tastes...

Silly, but undeniably fun.
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. ... Read more

Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format. ... Read more

Reviews (86)

"Hit" and Run
When four hitman decide that they are going to kidnap the boss's daugter and ask for ransom, problems arise, when Melvin (Mark Wahlberg) is set up to take the fall. At the same time, he is set to meet his girlfriend Pam's (Christina Applegate) parents, all three of whom, know nothing about his true line of work This under appreciated action/comedy from Che-Kirk Wong, has more going for it, than most folks think it does. The trick to watching this, is to just watch the movie, for its fun factor. If you expect it to be a dramatic look at hitmen and the mob--forget it. The action sequences are well done and fun to watch. The movie is a breezey 91 minutes and that's also a plus. Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, and Antonio Sabato Jr. have good on screen chemistry. The rest of the players fit pretty well too It's nice to see some of them break out into more of a comedic role then is the norm for some of the cast.

The DVD extras include an enjoyable commentary track with the director, writer, and producer of the movie. The handful of deleted scenes are very good too. It also has the theatrical trailer (just as you might expect). The film is presented in both widescreen and fullscreen formats, so that viewers can choose their poison in that regard If you like action comedies then I would certainly recommend THE BIG HIT to you. Give it a shot.

Very amusing and very action-packed!
This movie was a real blast, both with the action and more so with the sometimes childish but often funny spoof element! Mark Wahlberg plays Mervin Smiley, a sexually insecure potential hitman who works for godfather Avery Brooks(Sisco from Deep Space Nine to you Trekkies!), along with assorted colleagues. When Smiley finds he is several thousand in debt due to women messing him around for his money and failed hits, he decides to kidnap a Japanese girl, the daughter of an industrialist on the verge of hara-kiri after his movie flops! It just so happens that this girl is the god-daughter of his boss. As if that wasn't enough, his copy of the video KING KONG LIVES is overdue! Oh dear . . . The results are fast, frenetic and hilarious. Elliot Gould appears as the on-the-wagon father of another potential fiancee(Christina Applegate, who is a real hottie). And when his bosses learn of his unauthorised kidnapping, the fun bursts into stylised action with gunfights and explosions galore! John Woo produced this, and it shows well! This has something for Hong Kong action fans, something for teenage airhead humour freaks and a little bit of girl power for chick-flick lovers. Everyone will enjoy this, in other words!

Total Crap
This movie is total garbage. My friend brought it by and we watched it and it was so bad I had to come on here and write a review. The acting is crap, the storyline sucks, it is an attempt to make a "cool, hip" hollywood movie that failed miserably. The writing and dialouge are terrible, this movie doesn't even deserve 1 star. Total B movie crap.

What can I say? I dig the film.
I've trashed more than my fair share of big, brainless action flicks for being stupid, unbelievable, and nasty. But for some reason, either by merit of the film itself or some fluke in my taste, I like THE BIG HIT. If the former is true, here is why.

There are those of us who peruse the direct-to-video bins of action and horror movies in a desparate search of fun. THE BIG HIT, although released theatrically, is everything that you desire while looking at direct-to-video crap, but never get, and its infinitly better.

Make no mistakes: this movie is vulgar, crass, and shameless. It even crossed my line with the vomiting scene, but I managed. The film finds hit man Melvin Smiley set up to take the fall for a major screw-up by his hipster co-workers whilst dealing with being a pushover to his fiancee and girlfriend.

Maybe the fact that this film has such a plot, a plot that is relevant to the action and interesting is what makes it exciting. The characters are stimulating and provided vibrant dialogue. Through the pretty routine directing, it's Ben Ramseys script that makes the thing so fun. The action sequences are pretty by the numbers, as I've mentioned, but there are moments or rhythm and sublime carnage beneath the rest of it.

The film has a hard-hitting and pulsating score by Graeme Revell, which is also notable in its genre for its themes and concentration on doing more than making noise.

Be warned: those who do not tolerate profanity, violence, and general disregard for morals (these are hit men, after all) should not view. If you do not fall into that category, and like a bit of ultra-violence brimming with wit and style, there is a very good chance you will like this movie, and almost NO chance that you will regret seeing it.

Or like I said, it might have just been a fluke in my tastes...

Silly, but undeniably fun.
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. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great movie - dubious DVD
From director Kirk Wong, who also gave us Jackie Chan's most serious film "Crime Story", comes this gritty, fast paced, gun-totting CAT III classic!

Begining with estentially a mis-matched cop premise, in pre-1997 Hong Kong and China, this takes a straight laced Mainland cop and teams him up with the reckless goateed Rock N' Roll cop of the title.

If this was a Hollywood picture you would know every move from then on, but as this a not your typical fare, the action is orignal, energetic and sometimes breathtaking. Great action sequences in shopping malls (very different to Chan's classic Police Story, mind you), sliding down sides of buildings shoot-outs in domino halls and bustling street market sting operations.

The film has some very touching sequences - but be warned, it's pretty violent in places.

The downside is the disc. With no extras, and no chapter selection (oh dear) it's worth it's current price only if you can do without all the fancy stuff. Estentially it's more like a VCD copy with a very good image than a proper DVD - but, still, the movie is well worth seeing and compares well to the best of Woo (John Woo, that is).

Rock N Roll Cop is the best movie ever
Rock N Roll cop is the best movie ever. With special effects and a plot, Rock N Roll cop is the best movie ever ... Read more

Amazon.com

Director Kirk Wong set the style for the lean, edgy Hong Kong cop thriller. In this drama, special forces officer Danny Lee bends the law and suspends civil rights to track down ruthless criminal Anthony Wong (Hard Boiled), the leader of a notorious robbery ring, on the run with his loyal girlfriend Cecilia Yip. Lee, who performed similar duties in John Woo's The Killer, is driven and demanding as the passionate authority figure, a man whose selfless sense of duty teeters over into vigilantism, while Anthony Wong tones down his usual flamboyant style to play a charismatic, sensitive criminal who earns the director's sympathies. There's no John Woo bravura shootouts or stylistic frenzies in Kirk Wong's sober, sometimes too restrained approach, lacking the dramatic edge of Rock and Roll Cop and the punch of Supercop, two of his later productions. But the violence packs a wallop in its street-realist directness, and Wong knows how to stage a high-tension action set piece, as evidenced in the opening chase scene and the dynamic police-dragnet finale. What more attracts the director, however, is the inner workings of crime and punishment: the maze of the underworld hierarchy and the mechanics of crime, the contradictions that pull at the police and the bureaucratic tangle they navigate. Though there's none of the romantic gloss that Woo invests his cowboy criminals with, Kirk Wong loves to explore the dynamic that separates--and binds--cop and criminal. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (2)

not an easy film to like but...
OCTB isn't an easy film to like. The "good" cop isn't so good. The "bad" guy isn't so bad. While many cop films have done this with varying levels of success, few have done it with the intensity that OCTB has. And few have done it with a believable and gentle romantic love story in the middle of all the violence. Also, few have had the benefit of great HK stars like Danny Lee, Anthony Wong and Cecilia Yip. Danny Lee's character is a man possessed with capturing the "bad" Anthony Wong. And in the beginning we are completely on his side. However, we find that there is a "gentler" side to Anthony Wong's bad guy. The lengths Lee and his team go to to get Wong and his gang is unsettling. The ending is great and makes you sympathise with Wong's character. This is good HK action, the pace is incredible, the shootouts great, even the music score is good. This isn't really generic HK action stuff. It isn't merely, bang bang, who cares about the plot? It isn't John Woo action either. OCTB's action is gritty, it is after all Kirk Wong, the guy who gave us Jackie Chan's unfunniest movie to date. That's why OCTB isn't usually considered a HK action classic. I liked it though, but I know people who didn't and I know there will be people who won't like it. But I say give OTCB a chance and you may like it as much as I did.

Standard HK cop fare
This film is Part 2 in Kirk Wongs Police Trilogy (1-Police Story, 3-Rock N Roll Cop). For the most part this film was standard action fare, nothing spectacular, untill the end, which pulled out all the stops in a shootout across a crowded HK shopping district, a pulse pounding soundtrack makes this scene all the more exciting. Intriguing performances from Danny Lee, Cecelia Yip and Anthony Wong(unusually restrained). I'll buy this one just for the climax. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Imagine an old-school martial arts melodrama about competing fighting schools dropped into the grungy sci-fi world of Blade Runner, and you have an idea of the curious mix of styles in Flash Future Kung Fu. Eddy Ko is the maverick star pupil of an honorable school who secretly engages in underground "Black Boxing" bouts, a black market sport off limits to the school. The ambitious X-Gang, a bloodthirsty neo-Nazi-like organization, plots to take care of Ko and his friends and take over the city with their army of mind-controlled zombie soldiers. In true Hong Kong fashion, it boils down to a showdown of champions, and this one takes place in a boxing ring in an eerily empty warehouse with video coverage broadcasting the event all over.

This 1982 thriller has the cyber-punk look and texture down cold: misty dark rooms lit by the cathode-ray blue of TV monitors, a funky mix of punk fashions with decorative gas masks and radiation suits, and bizarre nightclub theatrics (two women in pink tutus savagely club a third in a leopard-skin jumpsuit, then try to drown her). It doesn't make much sense, but this pre-Hong Kong New Wave adventure from future Hong Kong luminaries director Kirk Wong (Crime Story, The Big Hit) and editor David Wu (Hard-Boiled, The Bride with White Hair) is a fascinating twist on a familiar genre. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (1)

One of two 1982 must-see movies!
With a darkness and incoherence unsurpassed, this is a true classic. Imagine Blade Runner without stars, or coherent story. Imagine a budget one one millionth of that of Blade Runner, so desparate are things that a television repair shop plays the role of a high-tech computer room! Imagine Nazi Hong Kong skinheads fighting the unnamed, good guy figthing club! Imagine pink tutu'd fighting girls drowning a leopard garbed babe in an aquarium! Watch this with a room-full of friends at 2am! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great movie - dubious DVD
From director Kirk Wong, who also gave us Jackie Chan's most serious film "Crime Story", comes this gritty, fast paced, gun-totting CAT III classic!

Begining with estentially a mis-matched cop premise, in pre-1997 Hong Kong and China, this takes a straight laced Mainland cop and teams him up with the reckless goateed Rock N' Roll cop of the title.

If this was a Hollywood picture you would know every move from then on, but as this a not your typical fare, the action is orignal, energetic and sometimes breathtaking. Great action sequences in shopping malls (very different to Chan's classic Police Story, mind you), sliding down sides of buildings shoot-outs in domino halls and bustling street market sting operations.

The film has some very touching sequences - but be warned, it's pretty violent in places.

The downside is the disc. With no extras, and no chapter selection (oh dear) it's worth it's current price only if you can do without all the fancy stuff. Estentially it's more like a VCD copy with a very good image than a proper DVD - but, still, the movie is well worth seeing and compares well to the best of Woo (John Woo, that is).

Rock N Roll Cop is the best movie ever
Rock N Roll cop is the best movie ever. With special effects and a plot, Rock N Roll cop is the best movie ever ... Read more

Description

Kirk Wong (Jackie Chan's Crime Story) directs this gritty gangsteraction drama set in 1950's Hong Kong, which also stars Ti Lung ("A Better Tomorrow")and Brigitte Lin ("The Bride With White Hair"). Framed for killing a cop, triad memberHo (Ti) flees in exile, only to return 5 years later to take revenge on gangster tycoon Kuk(Director Kirk Wong himself) for abusing his girlfriend May (Lin). Filled with KirkWong's trademark visual styles and raw, unflinching violence. ... Read more