Don't Forget To Love, part 18 of 24

Welcome to the Single-Minded Movie Blog advent calendar. Between the 1st and the 24th of December every day will bring you a short post about a film or a TV-show you shouldn't forget to love.

The Replacement Killers (1998)

It's a little strange, but when all the great Hong Kong action directors came to Hollywood, they seemed to lose the signature style that made them special in the first place. John Woo came close to replicating his style with Face/Off (1997), but the one director who truly captured the Hong Kong style and put it in an American film, was Antoine Fuqua, a music video director no one ever heard of.

The Replacement Killers was Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat's first English film, and even though he struggles with the language, he is still very eloquent when he lets his twin guns do the talking.

What really makes the film work is the unusual decision to pair Chow with Mira Sorvino. She was no action star, but she slips so easily into the part you would think she had never done anything else. The emotional core this duo brings to the film is stronger than it has any right to be, considered that this is a fairly pedestrian revenge story, barely 90 minutes long.

There are so many fantastic moments in this film, so many perfect shots, such a great mood, and the "She Makes Me Wanna Die"-montage still gives me goosebumps

Never forget to love it.