DVD Release Date: April 25, 2006

Cast:

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By Eric Klein

Chow Yun-Fat made his transition to the United States cinema through a film that doesn’t reflect new territory for him, but a nice return to the same old hitman for hire routine that dominated his Hong Kong Cinema. To ease this transition, The Replacement Killers is visually similar, narratively similar and thematic familiar to the Hong Kong work of Yun-Fat.

THE MOVIE
Similar to the slew of recent extended cuts coming from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Replacement Killers is yet another film that worked fairly well in its original incarnation and doesn’t need new footage. Nonetheless, Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) delivers a strong directorial debut that remains moving at a fun, steady pace despite the inserted footage.

The basic plot remains the same, Chow Yun Fat is a gunmen for hire, Johnny Lee, who refuses to go through with his latest hit that would take the life of a child. Defying the orders of Mr. Wei, who also holds Johnny’s family’s life in the balance, Johnny Lee now must find a way home. To do so, Johnny seeks out famed passport and document forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), who is more than reluctant to help Johnny. Now, Johnny and Meg become involved in a race for their lives as new killers hired by Mr. Wei are hunting Johnny down in revenge. As they run for their lives, the two become close, while wielding guns in the John Woo Hong Kong manner.

SOUND AND VISION
Presented in an anamorphic, non-enhanced widescreen, the film’s visual presentation is a bit weak. The colors are grainy, the footage incredibly underwhelming. This is incredibly disappointing, as is the audio presentation. While “remastered in high definition,” the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is decent. While the film doesn’t rely on its audio much, the music and explosions are captured nicely. There is also a French track, as well as English and French subtitles. This presentation is ultimately disappointing and underwhelming.

PACKAGING AND LAYOUT
Like all the recent “extended cuts,” the artwork is revised from the initial release. It is nice and clear, presenting a sleek, colorful presentation of the film. The menus are a nice, updated version of the previous release with nothing incredibly eye catching. The case is also a normal amaray case, pretty much defining this release—normal.

SPECIAL FEATURES
The special features are incredibly disappointing. Where the previous release could have been updated with new special features, these are nothing more than EPK features that were on the previous release.

• The Making of The Replacement Killers – This is a 10-minute featurette that was made around the time of the film’s original release. It includes some nice behind the scenes footage, but it is nothing more than a “pat ourselves on the back” promotional kit.
• Chow Yun-Fat Goes to Hollywood – While this is a new “exclusive feature,” there seems to be some stock footage included. This new featurette, while 20 minutes, is nothing more than mere praise for Chow Yun Fat. While fun to see the cast and crew’s take on Chow, most of the footage is so old that it isn’t even relevant anymore. (“and new Ang Lee movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…”)

FINAL THOUGHTS
While a fun, cultish flick, this DVD release is incredibly underwhelming. Instead of presenting a nice package of The Replacement Killers this is a mere update of a barebones release, with basically no new features. The transfer is only slightly improved over the original, and the special features are really nothing special at all. There isn’t even commentary from director Fuqua, which for this “special extended cut” would have been a nice treat.

Overall Film Score: B
Overall Sound + Vision Score: B-
Overall Packaging and Layout Score: B
Overall Special Features Score: C+
Overall DVD Score: B-

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