The Big Hit Review
by Bill Chambers (wchamber AT netcom DOT ca)May 7th, 1998
THE BIG HIT ** (out of four)
-a review by Bill Chambers ([email protected])
starring Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, China Chow, Avery Brooks written by Ben Ramsey
directed by Che-Kirk Wong
(F-i-l-m-f-r-e-a-k-c-e-n-t-r-a-l spells relief-
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/7504
I just added the first installments of an idiotic film journal. Don't forget to recommend a movie in the 'Can't Miss' section!)
I'm pooping on my own party here: THE BIG HIT lifted my spirits in a way I didn't expect it to. Honestly, I didn't
expect it to lift my spirits at all, on the basis of the trailer (next time, preview-copy writers, please refrain from trumpeting 'by the creators
of Broken Arrow') and a general wariness of '90s hitman-chic: though I sort of liked THE BIG HIT, one more movie
about loveable "cleaners" and I'll be psychotically climbing a Hollywood water tower or two. THE BIG HIT,
despite being choice time-filler/killer, is a bit too self-aware of--yet not clever enough in handling--its own
fashionably ironic core to be recommended.
Wahlberg stars as Melvin Smiley, ostensibly the leader of a team of assassins who so wants to be universally
adored that he lets people walk all over him between jobs: a cohort (Phillips), wrongfully claims Smiley's bonus pay,
and Smiley doesn't object; one of his girlfriends (Lela Rochon) is practically extorting him to support her own illicit
affair; another girlfriend (Christina Applegate) invites her obnoxious parents down for the weekend against his
wishes. Eventually, Smiley's insecurity makes him the target of someone else's fix: in agreeing to look after
Phillips' kidnap victim (the adorable Chow-- mayhaps it's the private school uniform), his own boss--the victim's godfather--orders Smiley dead.
The script for THE BIG HIT plays as if it was written by a sixteen year old. One hitman (Bokeem Woodbine)
explains that he only discovered masturbation in his twenties, and a running gag has him constantly flexing and
pumping the muscles of his right arm. An old Chinese businessman has lost his life-savings financing the most
expensive film ever made: a trashy drama written, directed by, and starring himself, entitled, amusingly, "Taste
The Golden Spray". The shooting and fighting sequences--and everything in between-- essentially satirize the
hokiest Hong Kong action movies, but without subtlety or focus. Asian directors such as John Woo, Ringo Lam, et.
al, ushered an era into their homeland: rendering virtually all their characters expendable, they rediscovered
the poetry in a gun-battle not seen since the heyday of Sam Peckinpah. The copycats, the bubble-gum wacky killers
on the lam movies are what THE BIG HIT more closely resembles-- rather, parodies--and only one scene really
stands out as genuinely sharp: a Mexican stand-off, recently fodder for the likes of Eastern-inspired Tarantino,
here takes place at a kosher dinner, with drunken Elliot Gould vomiting on the killers between rounds.
Most Jackie Chan movies are crowd-pleasers precisely because they simultaneously send- up the Martial Arts
genre yet stand out as fine examples from it. THE BIG HIT features a few ridiculous, choppy gunfights and an
immature script to connect the scenes. Had it been either more action-packed or intelligent, it would amount to
more than just spoofing and riffing. As it is, the performances are engaging, and it's fast-paced enough, but a big hit
I suspect it will not be.
-April, 1998
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
