The Big Hit: Hong Kong Film In America Kinda...

Oh guilty pleasures. By my personal definition a guilty pleasure is anything that you like/love when you know deep down in your heart of hearts that it is utter crap. For music if it was pop music in the mid 90s that's good start (Aqua, Spice Girls etc.) In movies if you've got Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips in the same movie you're off to a good start. I caught a glimpse of this movie on a random Sunday and thought I should see all of it. A Wal Mart bin and five dollars later I was laughing and being somewhat impressed by this early attempt to bring the Hong Kong film style to America.

The movie follows four hit men first and foremost Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) who is undeniably whipped by not one but two women who are taking him to the cleaners despite his lucrative career. Unfortunately two sets of women problems aren't enough because it turns out that a kidnapping that was planned by his co-hort Sisco (Lou Diamond Phillips) has gone horribly wrong and it turns out the girl they've kidnapped is their boss's god daughter. Not only that but Sisco has turned against his friends and is now hunting Melvin. Will Melvin come out alive? Will he ever drop the two gold diggers? How many ridiculous lines will Lou Diamond Phillips say? These questions and more to be answered in a quick 90 minutes.

Usually this is the part where I rip a movie like this to shreds. Unfortunately my plans on ripping on my own movie are difficult because this movie doesn't take itself seriously at all so it realizes what it's faults are already. Case in point Elliot Gould is in this movie as a drunk and says about fifteen words and yet he agreed to do this because he thought it would be fun. So the dialogue is corny and sounds like a bunch of white guys trying to be gangsters because they are. But how seriously are you gonna take a guy with a gold front tooth? (that's Lou). And Melvin is so wimpy when he's not shooting stuff that he comes across like a female character. Yet I kept laughing at him because he keeps drinking Pepto like it's water.

So if there isn't much that's intentionally well done what actually looks professional. And that's when we get to the second major reason I watch this movie (first being it's a great movie to laugh at) the action. Made on a pretty small budget the film still manages to boast some elaborate and over the top actions sequences. The first major shootout is impressive and include Marky Mark shooting up the place as he bounces from bungie chords, uses night-vision goggles, and rolls up and down a stair banister while shooting. I suppose the thing that the movie does well during the action sequences is that is shows me showing that I've never seen before. Aside from the bungie jumping the movie also includes a chase through the woods with Mark on foot and Lou in a car.

This movie even makes sure to avoid the cardinal action movie sin. In countless action movies one of the heroes will show up after being presumed dead with no explanation except "Oh yeah that happened didn't it". Instead of that this movie actually gives a wonderfully funny BS explanation usually in the form of another shot. Granted the gimmick quickly loses its appeal because it's used more than once but still I was impressed that someone actually bothered to explain why Lou didn't die about ten minutes ago.

So it's crap. Wonderfully funny and ridiculous crap. So if you think you'd like it based upon a love of gunfights and don't really care for characterization or a realistic story pick this up...if you can find it I haven't seen it in the five dollar bin recently.

On a sidenote, is it a requirement for Lou Diamond Phillips to handle a knife in nearly every movie I've ever seen him in. In recent memory that might only be this movie and Young Guns. I'm sure what else he's done recently but I know he showed up on the TV show Psych for bit. Ok I'm done now.