Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

The Big Hit (1998)

Director: Che-Kirk Wong

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Wahlberg exudes a dopey charm as Mel, a hitman for whom a lucrative kidnapping-on-the-side turns sour. The victim, industrialist's daughter Keiko (China Chow), is the godchild of his day-job boss. Betrayed by his back-up Cisco (Phillips), Mel finds himself on the wrong end of a lot of firepower. Meanwhile, his personal life is approaching meltdown. His fiancée, Jewish princess Pam (Applegate), has asked her disapproving parents to visit for the weekend; his money-grabbing mistress, Chantel (Rochon), is taking him for everything he's got; and an zealous video-store clerk is hassling him about an overdue tape. Substituting a frenzied pace and hyperkinetic editing for style and panache, HK film-maker Che-Kirk Wong flings together a series of ludicrously choreographed, gravity-defying set pieces. Those elements of Ben Ramsey's screenplay that survive this death of a thousand cuts provide a hint of what might have been, especially the quieter scenes between the terminally harassed Mel and his smart, disarmingly matter-of-fact kidnap victim.

Author: NF 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.