Eye For Film >> Movies >> Replacement Killers (1998) DVD Review
Replacement Killers
Reviewed by: Gator MacReady
Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of Replacement KillersFilmed in Super-35, the 2.35:1 anamorphic picture is flawless and compliments Fuqua's impressive cinematography and visual style well. There is hardly any grain or pixelization to be had and this DVD should be viewed in a totally dark room as the gunfire will light it up in a spectacular way.
The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is very dynamic and uses the surrounds well. Dialogue and gunfire are the main elements, but ambient sounds such as carwashes, arcade machines and Harry Gregson-Williams's rotten musical score fill up the remaining space. The opening track sounds real cool too.
Antoine Fuqua's commentary is not terribly interesting, nor is it scene-specific. He utters nothing of real interest and sounds completely bored. Someone whom we cannot hear asks him questions and he answers. He mentions about 100 times that Chow Yun-Fat has a great screen presence and only becomes worth listening to at the end. He mentions that as Columbia was doubtful over him as a first-time director and because they were not aware of Chow Yun-Fat's huge popularity, the film had a bad release date and a slightly hurried production. As a result of this Fuqua never got to finish a few scenes and, with success of Training Day, Columbia probably felt guilty with their original bare-bones DVD and gave Fuqua the opportunity to present his debut with more respect.
The first Featurette lasts for 10-minutes and only scratches the surface, as all featurettes of such short length do. There are some cool behind the scenes moments though and the actors discuss and explain the movie.
The second Featurette lasts for 20-minutes and explores how nice a guy Chow Yun-Fat is. And you know, it's true. The guy definitely seems to respect and appreciate every crew member. His past directors and cast members back this up.
The deleted scenes are not interesting. Two of them should have stayed in the movie, as well as the alternate ending.
Some pointless Filmographies are included, as are trailers for The One, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Replacement Killers.
Reviewed on: 05 Apr 2002