The Big Hit Review
by Michael Redman (redman AT bvoice DOT com)May 1st, 1998
Big Hit on target -- sometimes
The Big Hit
A Film Review By Michael Redman
Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman
*** (out of ****)
The United States is touted as the great melting pot. In the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively new country and once those pesky native inhabitants were corralled, there was plenty of space for immigrants. Peoples from all nations moved in and brought their cultures with them, mixing and merging with others.
Centuries ago blacks in New Orleans combined west African religions and Catholicism to create voodoo. Some Native Americans combined their own beliefs with ancient Celtic traditions and certain New Age tenets emerged. White kids
in southern Indiana of European descent are dressing like inner city New York black kids of African ancestry. It's a strange world we live in Master Jack.
Sometimes these cultures blend to give birth to wonderful elegant new
creations and at other times the melting pot creates a bizarre gumbo. "The Big Hit" is a stew with everything in the kitchen tossed in.
Melvin Smiley (Marky Mark Wahlberg who was the supposedly well-endowed lead
in "Boogie Nights") is a nice guy who wants everyone to like him. You might
think that his chosen profession as a hitman would create difficulties in that goal. You'd be right.
Chantel (Lela Rochon), his black girlfriend is always after him for more
money which he hands right over. Pam (Christina Applegate), his Jewish fiancee
is used to the finer things in life and demands that he provide them. Business associate Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips) falsely claims that he made the bonus
kill and Melvin tosses $25,000 to him. Being well-liked is an expensive proposition for Mr. Smiley and he's constantly swilling Maalox for his ulcers.
During an action-packed hit, Smiley wades in shooting and blowing up dozens
of gangsters while the other members of his team drink coffee outside and then burst in pumping bullets into thin air. Theirs is an easy life as Melvin does
all the work and they collect their paychecks.
When Cisco comes up with a kidnapping scheme, he enlists his help although outside activities are strictly forbidden by Paris (Avery Brooks), their boss. They pick up fellow hitmen Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), Vinnie (Antonio Sabato,
Jr.) and Gump (Robert Dunne) and head off to snatch Keiko (China Chow),
daughter of a wealthy Japanese businessman.
In the current cinematic tradition of stupid criminals and crimes gone wrong,
the plan falls apart. Keiko's father is recently bankrupt and has no money for the kidnappers. The note that she is supposed to read into a tape recorder is full of misspellings and grammatical errors. Smiley has to hide her in his
house as his future in-laws visit. Even worse, it turns out that she is Paris' goddaughter.
Keiko quickly falls victim to the Patty Hearst syndrome and falls for her
captor. After a few humorous romantic moments, they plan to run away together.
When Paris calls in Cisco to find Keiko and "take care of" her abductors, he fingers Smiley to save his own hide. The rest of the film is filled with an absurd number of bullets, over-the-top car chases and wacky comedy.
Director Che-Kirk Wong and Executive Producer John Woo ("Face/Off") do their
best to combine the high energy Hong Kong martial arts films with Hollywood sensibilities and they often succeed. The action scenes are filled with
energetic and physically impossible deeds. As Smiley does double twists
falling through the air, shooting and tossing grenades, he takes out a dozen opponents. He's one of the few humans in existence who can outrun an explosive fireball — several times.
Where the film falls down is several of the attempts to incorporate domestic humor. The scenes of Pam's parents (Elliott Gould and Lainie Kazan) are lame
and you've seen it all before. The synchronized suburban lawn mowers are
straight out of "LA Story". Most of the ineptness was done better by the Coen brothers. Crunch has discovered the joys of self-love and spends most of the movie with hand exercise equipment. This grows less funny each time it appears.
Although those are problems, the film's strength is its knowledge that the
action scenes are ridiculous. There is no attempt to play them straight and
often they are hilarious.
Wahlberg does an adequate job as the assassin trapped in the circumstances of
his own choosing. Phillips takes over the screen as he does his best to play
Gary Oldman. Chow shows some promise and is worth keeping an eye on in the future. The rest of the actors are either underwhelming or wasted in minuscule roles.
The racial mix is exploited for its stereotypes. WASP Smiley's bevy of babes
are true to their caricature versions. Pam's mother forbids their marriage because he isn't Jewish and they must protect their heritage. Chantel is only
in it for the money. Keiko dresses in the Japanese fetish schoolgirl uniform.
Gold-toothed Lou Diamond Phillips has somehow become a black man in all but
skin color and has the best scenes in the film. One of the hitmen is as white
as can be but attempts to act black although he can't pull it off.
While this concept could have resulted in some funny low-grade laughs, with
few exceptions they don't work.
The movie industry has fallen in love with the daft hitman in recent years.
It's an offbeat genre but recently we've been treated to "Fargo" and "Grosse Pointe Blank" among several others. The idea has resulted in some fine films,
but its era has just about passed. Time for a new concept.
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 23 years and still doesn't
plan to start wearing his pant down around his knees in gangsta style. He has enough problems as it is. Email fashion tips to [email protected])
[This appeared in the 4/30/98 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana.
Michael Redman can be contacted at [email protected]]
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