I must admit that THE BIG HIT is one of the cooler action comedies in the history of cinema and it definitely belongs among the best movies made in the last five years. It was produced by John Woo and Wesley Snipes and these guys never miss.
I mean, John Woo per se cannot guarantee anything these days. He will need time to recover from MI-2 and WINDTALKERS done back-to-back, but in 1998, it was his heyday. He was fresh from making his true Hollywood masterpiece FACE/OFF and producing a very fine HK pastiche REPLACEMENT KILLERS by certain Antoine Fuqua.
On the other hand, Snipes truly belongs to the group of my very favourite actors. I love his roles, especially all the genre stuff he does. By the time THE BIG HIT was released he was fresh from the work on the first BLADE which proved to be pivotal for the genre.
Anyhow, THE BIG HIT rocked big time and I`m glad it even made some cash.
Time went by. Director Kirk Wong did some TV work, got attached to SIX, Elie Samaha actioner with Michael Jai White that never got made, then got attached to IRON FIST and promptly fired, and in the end he directed Wesley`s biker project.
Kirk failed to make anything fly but he kept himself inside the game.
Screenwriter Ben Ramsey, on the other hand went AWOL for four years. The guy was gone. I don`t know whether he did some uncredited work or not. I guess not because some other films would rule. Now he`s back with LOVE AND A BULLET, a film that allegedly played some theatrical venues but ended up on video soon enough.
This movie is very, very cool. It is smart and it has this balls-to-the-wall attitude that graced THE BIG HIT. This low budget film was made for half a million bucks and it was cut by TriStar, so it doesn`t deliver lots of action. Even though this hitman comedy provides enough comic gore and violence to look dignified.
The story never gets half-cocked and it feels like it doesn`t actually belong to the tired hitman comedy subgenre.
Anthony "Treach" Criss of Naughty By Nature fame stars as Malik Bishop, a tough-as-nails gangsta kid turned elite hit man. While staking out his next assignment - the innocent girlfriend of his notorious boss - Malik reflects on the dark path he's chosen but cannot escape. Torn between his sense of duty and his newfound sense of humanity, he finds that the only way out is a perilous showdown with men who are every bit as cold-blooded as he is.
But this whole thing is done with witty ironic edge that made quiet scenes of THE BIG HIT so cool. This movie is inhabited exclusively by hitmen with a hard-on for Yaphet Kotto. This is the movie co-directed and written by a man who wrote the brilliant `dad looks like MIAMI VICE villain` gag in THE BIG HIT.
Ben Ramsey`s attitude is the sole reason why this movie kicks so much ass. Rappers turned actors, low budget and anonymous direction by Kantz (from the McG, Traktor and Kaos camp) are being disinfected by his sheer attitude and ability to tune the style and create a unique cinematic universe where all these elements actually work.
After seeing this movie which bravely and unasahamedly threads THE BIG HIT territory and manages to be entertaining, I cannot stop but wonder how come Ben Ramsey doesn`t write big Hollywood actioners these days if he proved to be talented. He is in the Skip Woods position now. He has one big budget screenwriting credit and an indie direction under his belt. But still, Woods first made the indie and then wrote the major while Ramsey did the same thing in reverse order.
I mean, John Woo per se cannot guarantee anything these days. He will need time to recover from MI-2 and WINDTALKERS done back-to-back, but in 1998, it was his heyday. He was fresh from making his true Hollywood masterpiece FACE/OFF and producing a very fine HK pastiche REPLACEMENT KILLERS by certain Antoine Fuqua.
On the other hand, Snipes truly belongs to the group of my very favourite actors. I love his roles, especially all the genre stuff he does. By the time THE BIG HIT was released he was fresh from the work on the first BLADE which proved to be pivotal for the genre.
Anyhow, THE BIG HIT rocked big time and I`m glad it even made some cash.
Time went by. Director Kirk Wong did some TV work, got attached to SIX, Elie Samaha actioner with Michael Jai White that never got made, then got attached to IRON FIST and promptly fired, and in the end he directed Wesley`s biker project.
Kirk failed to make anything fly but he kept himself inside the game.
Screenwriter Ben Ramsey, on the other hand went AWOL for four years. The guy was gone. I don`t know whether he did some uncredited work or not. I guess not because some other films would rule. Now he`s back with LOVE AND A BULLET, a film that allegedly played some theatrical venues but ended up on video soon enough.
This movie is very, very cool. It is smart and it has this balls-to-the-wall attitude that graced THE BIG HIT. This low budget film was made for half a million bucks and it was cut by TriStar, so it doesn`t deliver lots of action. Even though this hitman comedy provides enough comic gore and violence to look dignified.
The story never gets half-cocked and it feels like it doesn`t actually belong to the tired hitman comedy subgenre.
Anthony "Treach" Criss of Naughty By Nature fame stars as Malik Bishop, a tough-as-nails gangsta kid turned elite hit man. While staking out his next assignment - the innocent girlfriend of his notorious boss - Malik reflects on the dark path he's chosen but cannot escape. Torn between his sense of duty and his newfound sense of humanity, he finds that the only way out is a perilous showdown with men who are every bit as cold-blooded as he is.
But this whole thing is done with witty ironic edge that made quiet scenes of THE BIG HIT so cool. This movie is inhabited exclusively by hitmen with a hard-on for Yaphet Kotto. This is the movie co-directed and written by a man who wrote the brilliant `dad looks like MIAMI VICE villain` gag in THE BIG HIT.
Ben Ramsey`s attitude is the sole reason why this movie kicks so much ass. Rappers turned actors, low budget and anonymous direction by Kantz (from the McG, Traktor and Kaos camp) are being disinfected by his sheer attitude and ability to tune the style and create a unique cinematic universe where all these elements actually work.
After seeing this movie which bravely and unasahamedly threads THE BIG HIT territory and manages to be entertaining, I cannot stop but wonder how come Ben Ramsey doesn`t write big Hollywood actioners these days if he proved to be talented. He is in the Skip Woods position now. He has one big budget screenwriting credit and an indie direction under his belt. But still, Woods first made the indie and then wrote the major while Ramsey did the same thing in reverse order.