Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Replacement Killers (1998) - Antoine Fuqua | Houselights #242

Transcript

The Replacement Killers (1998) - Antoine Fuqua | Houselights #242 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody at home, and welcome to House Lights, specifically
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: House of Fuqua and Twin Fuqua and this is what
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: a house this is. I am so excited to discuss
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: his filmography. We have actually reviewed one of his films before,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: when we did Wing of King Arthur, and we did
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: all the King Arthur films because he did a King
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Arthur film, the one with Mads Michelson and other people.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And but tonight we're doing his first film, his first film,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: because he came from a line of commercials and he
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: came from a line of music videos a lot like
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: our man, David Fincher. And in the vein, in the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: same vein of David Fincher, he had.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: A really rough time with the.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Studio making his first movie, The Replacement Killers from nineteen
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: ninety eight, starring Chow Yun Fat, Mira Sorvino, and Michael Rooker.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: It's an homage to Hong Kong crime and action films
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: and it was even produced by John Wu And you
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: can really see the influence there, yea, And you see
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the influence.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: It's there.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And before we start, I just want to say I
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: say this to you tonight. Let us not forget there
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: is hope.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, there is.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Always line that we all quote all the time because
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: of this movie.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Yes every day.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, right man, You guys are giving me
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: nothing here. I thought I had a slam dunk with
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the Crystal Method reference. I'm sure there are people in
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: their cars who are laughing saying, that's a good one, Tristan,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: And yes, that is true. I am Tristan Radellan with
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: me as always is Darren Moser and John Mills, and
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: so I'm gonna get this right off the bat, right
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: off the bat. This was a Riddell family favorite because
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I know you're wondering it's there.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: It's always one of the others. Trash fin Yep, there
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: you go.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: My my dad he loved this movie so much. He
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: he he. Sometimes he would put it like we had
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: it on VHS and he would We had an amazing
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: sound system in the basement. We had two subs, tons
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: of speakers. It was amazing, and so he put in
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the VHS tape and sometimes before he even sometimes he
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: wouldn't even watch the whole movie. He would just watch
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the opening scene with Keep Up Alive by Crystal Method
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and him getting those drug dealers or gangbangers whatever whatever,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: they were just shooting him down because he just he
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: loved the vibe of it. He loved the look, the feeling.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: He would just crank it and it would just shake
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the house. My mom would slam her foot on the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: on the on the floor telling him to turn it down.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: And so, like, I've seen this movie more than a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: few times, but this is my first time watching the
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: extended edition, and that is the addition that we are
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: reviewing tonight. So you guys, Darren and John, had you
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: seen this before? Is this your first time talk amongst yourselves.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: I'd seen it before, but I didn't see it in
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: the theaters when it came out. This was one that
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: was sort of just flew by sort of thing. I remember,
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: the John Wu vibe was very much catching on in Hollywood,
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: and my reaction at the time most likely was, oh,
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: another one of these things, like it wouldn't have made
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: an impact on me, like, you know, oh Chow young fat. Yeah,
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: he was having his star was on the rise. Mi
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: Ra Sorvino everything like that. Although mimic anyway, the entire thing,
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: the entire vibe didn't necessarily appeal to me back then,
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: and I think this was podcast homework for something I
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: did with Shindler it somewhere along the way, so wound
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: up watching it for that reason or something. But you know,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: it's it's interesting because this is definitely a product of
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: its time.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: There is that.
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: I'd say that before we get into all of that, though,
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: since you said this is a Redell family favorite the
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: first time your father showed it to you, Tristan, did
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: he fast forward any part where Mira Sorvino was getting
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: changed in a bathroom or was scantily clad while doing
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: her illegal work.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: I don't.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I don't remember. I don't think so, because it honestly
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: isn't really that bad, Like.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: Well, she's she Listen the scene where she goes back
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: to get her stuff and leave, there's an unquestionable production
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: decision to be like, let's get a couple of close
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: up shots of underwear here.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, there was zero point to that scene
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: other than showing Mira Sorvino in her underwear. It was insane,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: What a pointless scene other than to show a flat
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: belly and nice other parts. But it was, Yeah, it's
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it is. It is really funny though they like, maybe
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: maybe he did. I don't know, because it's not you
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: think it would be burned in my pubescent brain at
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: the time, but it wasn't, So maybe he did. But
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: like watching it now with adult eyes, like you're just
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: you're more like, okay, come on, folks, like like like
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: you're not only are you patting the run time, it's
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: kind of shameless what you're doing.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: Well, it's definitely because the thing is, you know, we've
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: already like addressed the whole thing where it's like you
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: can definitely see the John wu influence. I think there's
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: definitely a director sort of picking up on the Michael
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: Bay vibe with some of the camera moves and everything
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: like that, you know, some of the crane moves, some
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: of the zoom in's and stuff like that. Feels very
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: much like this movie comes across like just that world's
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: colliding of what can we rip off from Hong Kong
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: cinema while retaining what Michael Bay does, while also throwing
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: in a few music video montages because the kids are
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: going to love this soundtrack, Like this is just a
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: as the fancy people would say, this is a pastiche
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: of influences.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: This was, Oh my gosh, speaking of the soundtrack, holy crap,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: like it was. Of course I remembered Crystal Methods Keep
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Up Alive. But when I was like, when we got
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: to Daniel Jordan's She Makes Me Want to Die, I
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: had completely forgotten about that song. And as soon as
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: like you just you just hear the opening, it's just
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: that that woman's voice of she makes Me want to Die,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: and then just the beat drops, my mind opened like
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: a third eye, and I was like, oh my gosh,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: all this nostalgia is just wafting back. And I was like,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: son of a bitch, I missed the nineties so.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Much, Darren.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: I can always presume you had the exact same reaction
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: that Tristan did.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Well. I mean, I had not seen this movie before,
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: so but I was still taken back to nineties action,
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: like this is a very nineties action movie. It made
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: me remember, like you know, Jackie Chan movies. Our family
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: we love watching Martial Law, which Samo hung. And this
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: was kind of the time when you were starting to
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: like interject you know, Asian action stars into American culture.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: That was becoming a thing, and you put rock music
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: behind it, and they did cool spins, and they had
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: guns and sometimes it'd kick you. And so even though
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: I had not seen this movie, I felt like I
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: had seen this movie, like it was firing on all
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: of those cylinders and I was back in high school. Basically,
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: I felt that. So, yeah, if if that was the
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: goal of this movie was to transport me back to
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: the late nineties, it succeeded.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, But I have to ask a question.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You both have seen Taxi Driver, Yes, Martin Scorsese's classic
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: examination of a crazy man. What we're talking about all
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: these influences, but reportedly Fuqua stressed to his team that
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: this was to be a taxi driver for the nineteen nineties.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: I'm curious, did you see Taxi Driver anywhere in this movie?
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I might have.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I think I saw a taxi in the background once
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: or twice.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: That's about as far as it goes.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, it really really is, isn't it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: It's it's so fascinating to read something like that and
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: think to myself, I wish i'd never read that quote
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: because it makes me want to judge the movie.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: A little more harshly. I would say, so, no, no, well,
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: this is going to do this movie.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: The most unrealistic thing of this entire movie, because this
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: was set in La right, right, there's just so much rain.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: Why is it raining so much? Really actually starting to
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: take me out of it because I was like, why
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: is it? Why is it always raining? We do not
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: get this much rain like ever. And it's just like
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: do they just want all the shots to look cool?
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: And they just decided we're just going to turn on
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: the rain machine for the rent time. Yeah, I mean
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: we're even in a car wash for a fight, which
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: also is kind of like rain inside the building. Yeah,
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: to train I'm almost gonna knock it down a star
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: at the end for the rain just it was. It
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: was ridiculous.
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: I'm glad you mentioned the car wash too, because uh,
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: and this is looking at it with just curmudgeonly old
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: person eyes.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: But I'm looking at him like, no car wash functions
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: like this, like you're locked in a track.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: Like I'm sitting there like critiquing the car wash because
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: I'm like, have these people ever been in a car
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: wash before?
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: It's it's when they backed up and he like slams
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: it in reverse and I'm like, there's no way you can't.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Back up at speed?
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: Through a car wash and not crash your car. That's impossible,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: because it's.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: More funny that you brought that up, because honestly, I
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: did the same exact thing. Like, as I'm watching this,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: I'm just like, man, I'm old. This must be because
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: I'm getting older.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I've just been through so many car
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: washes by this point in my life.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh no, no.
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Like, the best you can do in a car wash
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: is you're sitting there like, oh, it looks like they
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: loaded him up quicker. They didn't load him up too quick,
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: did he. He's not gonna he's not gonna rear end
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: me while I'm in the car washes. He that's about
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: his exciting as a car wash can get.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I was gonna say, that's the constant fear of a
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: car wash is like they he's getting kind of closed there.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: But yeah, So let's talk.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: About the action sequences. What did you guys think about
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: the action sequences? Because there was some critique like this
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: movie did not do particularly well. It wasn't received well
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: by critics. It didn't make that much money. Uh, they
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: decided to go up against Titanic. I don't know if
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: you've heard of it. It was kind of harm Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: so it got I'm surprised it got second place to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Titanic when it came out, But.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't say they're going after the same audiences, Like
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: I know, it's true. One it making sense. It's just
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: Titanic isn't just a romance movie that only you know,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: women are going to watch. And no, it was actually
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: a good movie that people kept seeing. So it just
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: stomped on the competition.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but by that by that point, like Titanic, the
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: Titanic momentum was just a thing. Everybody, anybody who like
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: opened within six months of Titanic was going up against Titanic.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: So like you can't really fault them for that.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: Like February of ninety eight probably seemed pretty safe, and
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: February has always been before Black Panther came out, February
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: was always or actually I guess it was Deadpool was
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: the first one where It's like February was always considered
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: a dead space. You put movies there where it was
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: like they had the best shot of relatively speaking success,
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: specifically because there wasn't stiff competition in February. But I mean,
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: you know, you look at the metric and it's like
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: it fell forty nine percent weekend over weekend. Now everybody
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: would be arguing on social media about how that was
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: a good hold week over week, and that means the
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: movie really found its audiences. Was doing Really, I'm like, boy,
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: how times it changed my good gravy geez?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: I wonder what you're referencing. So let's uh, the I
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: don't know the action sequence is some people will call them,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I how do I phrase it? It was something akin
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to where it's just like then there's this action sequence,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: then there's this action sequence, and then there's action sequence
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: where it's going to just kind of disconnected music videos. Darren,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: what did you think of that? Like, were you invested
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: in the action? Did you think it was cool? Or
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: was it kind of vapid?
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I can see the critique of a string of action
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: sequences strung together with a plot like that does kind
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: of describe this movie, But they weren't bad. I think
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, these are not the
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: action sequences I was expecting with this leading man. I
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: think they could have gone in a better direction. I
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: think it's almost anyone could have done these action sequences
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: so give us something special if you're putting this team together.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: That's kind of my vibe.
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: I think it very much looks like somebody getting their
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: first feature film and they say, give us something that's
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: a vehicle for this new star chow yun fat and
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: and make it competently. And tell you what, kid, we'll
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: give you another job if you can get this one
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: out the door on time and on budget and make
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: at least make your money back. I've really this does
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: not have the sheene of something where they thought they
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: were going to have a blockbuster. This has the sheene
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: of let This is our calling card, this is our
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: establishing thing. Who can we get cheap? Hey, this kid
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: wants to break in, you know, fuuqua you want your shot?
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: And it's like he's like, okay, and yes, it is
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: just action sequences. Loosely, it's basically like a series of vignettes.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: But it really feels like that's all they're going for.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: It doesn't feel like they're going for anything deep at all,
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: which is why his whole comment about Taxi Driver is
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: puzzling to me, because I'm like, Taxi Driver is a
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: really deep movie man, like way deep. But I think
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: what's interesting is you get this flip where Chinese culture.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Is opening up in the in the late nineties.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Specifically because Hong Kong has flipped over to Chinese control,
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: and so there's this sudden opening of everything where it's like, hey,
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: we're willing to talk to the world. Hey, look at
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: these things that we do. This very much feels like
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: a John wu movie doesn't translate with American audiences at
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: this point. People are going to go watch a.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Subtitled three hour shoot him up movie called hard Boiled.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: But we can do.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Something like it and see if people have a taste
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: for it. And that's what this movie feels like.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's interesting. I just checked the dates, so
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: this is the same year ninety eight that Rush Hour
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: came out, which obviously is going for a very different
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: take as a comedy, you know, action buddy comedy, but
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: where that like I think, leaned into Chris Tucker and
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: his comedy abilities and Jackie Chan and his specific type
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: of martial art. You know, we've seen things that Chilean
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: fat does, and this was that this didn't bank on
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: his abilities, like you could put a gun in anyone's
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: hand and make him question being a Sniper. I know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: I'm sure, I feel like I know I've already made
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: this point, but then just circling around it again.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: No, that's that's interesting. That's interesting because my my dad
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: was a big chow young fat fan, Like I'm talking
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: like he was way cooler than I had ever been
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: when it cut like because he loved Crouching Tiger, A
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Better Tomorrow, hard Boiled, you know, like you mentioned John
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: and The Replacement Killer, so like he was, he was,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: like he knew about chow Yon Fat before most Americans, did,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you know, before he made his debut in The Replacement Killers.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: And of course you know when he became a household
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: name with Hidden Dragon, Crushing Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My dad
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: even loved him in Bulletproof Monk, Like he freaking loved
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: that movie. Really, I've never seen it, Yeah, Sean William Scott,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: and he was known as the Monk with No Name.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: He it's it's so cheesy, it's beyond cheesy, but it's
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: it can be heartwarming, like it's it is very much
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: your parents favorite movie kind of material. And but you're
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I think you're Darren, You're kind of right, like when
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: you when you look at what Chaw Yon Fat has
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: given Hong Kong action movies, and then what he's done
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: with Wusha, You're like, he's not really using that in
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Replacement Killers, he is, He's just kind of a dude
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: with a gun, and like I think, I think, man,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: you just kind of open that up for me, like
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: like the their scene at the end when I started,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: because Okay, here's the thing. I'll be honest with you guys,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Like I was super jazzed about this movie seeing it
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: again because of the nostalgia, and as I'm watching it,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I'm like, man, I missed the nineties, And when we
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: get to the end of it, I'm like, you know what,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I don't miss the nineties that much. Uh where It's
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: just like we get to that scene when he's on
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: the car. It's raining, of course, or it's about to rain,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: and they're in the alleyway and he's he like he
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: unloads like twenty rounds into the car, but he doesn't
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: point it out the main bad guy way and he
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: looks like he's shooting the steering wheel and then Way
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: gets out, but he's out of AMMO, of course, because
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: he wasted twenty rounds in the steering wheel. And then
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: way runs away. But then we have this upwards angle
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: on a Chow Young fat and all of a sudden
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: he's just blasting fools away left and right from above him.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: And you have no idea where he is geographically. Nope,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: you're just like, what's going on here? Where'd that guy
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: come from? Where'd that guy come from? Is basically you
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: don't even see it from his perspective. You have this
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: weird camera perspective where it's limited, like you're not omniscient,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: being a voyeur or being the audience. You have this
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: very limited view of Chao Yung just pointing his pistol,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and then somebody falls pointing his pistol and somebody falls,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: and it just this is a real freshman movie, yeah,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: from Fuquah, and the studio knew that and felt that.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: And that's one of the reasons why Fuqua had had
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: a huge problem with the studios because they actually sent
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: a producer to babysit him because they didn't feel like
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: they were getting their money's worth and and so like
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: he has a babysitter, he's not able to do it. Yeah,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: he doesn't have he doesn't have final CRUs.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: Not covering it's not happening, and then the producer has to.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: Come out, Yeah, well that he could have, uh, you know,
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: just related to Fincher that way too.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, well that's what I was talking about.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: And I think Fuqua has gone on record saying that
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Replacement Killers taught him a lot about the studio system,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: about it being a business, and about what he wants
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: to do and what he doesn't want to do. He says,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Replacement Killers is what I don't want to do, and
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: he said it, of course much better than I did,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: and much more eloquent. But I think that's being a
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: freshman director who clearly has talent but has a lot
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: of obstacles and also is learning. I mean, like we
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: can't just we can't just fault the studio every single time.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: You know, Like as a freshman director, he's learning, he's
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out the business. He's trying to transition
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: from commercials and music videos, and it very much shows.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: And even the writer was like Ken Sinzel, he said,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: He's like, he's like, yeah, I really like what Fuquah
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: has done with the movie. It's not my movie. It's
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: not what I wrote. Yeah, but I'm glad people like it.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: I mean you can still fault the studio though, because
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: they gave this in specific to a freshman director and
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: it's like something with this scope and scale.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: The only thing you can hope for.
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: Is that basically you get shots and the movie happens.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: This is not like if you give this to somebody
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: who's got experienced, your budget triples immediately because they're gonna
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: look at the script and say, okay, there's only one
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: way I can do this, and they're gonna have the
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: poll and they're gonna be able to say I need
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: this money. Fuqua's not. He has no hand. They can
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: try to churn the out and you know, like you're saying,
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: where he learned that it was a business. They picked
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: him because they could make this movie as cheaply as possible,
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: because they're risk averse, And okay, that's fine. I'm not
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: dragging the studio for it.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: That's there. It's a business and that's what they're trying
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: I just I think that it's an odd play because
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: the star power they bring in, you know, chow Yon
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: Fat he's a breakthrough, Mira Sorvino star is on the
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: rise as well. You got Michael Rooker always reliable. Everybody
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: loves seeing Rooker on screen.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Always, He's always shows up, he always knows what he
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: has to do.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: And then you have you have Jurgen proc Now show
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: up as a bad guy, and I'm like, that guy
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: walks in a room like it's it's sort of like
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: the Mad's Michelson effect where he like walks in a
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: room and you're like, oh geez, and we're hitting like,
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: you know, genocidal, dictator level evil walking in the room
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: at this point, because he just has that look, you know,
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: I'm I'm sure he's like the sweetest human being on
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: the planet, but like he knows how to look on
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: camera where you're like, oh, no, this is a problem.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: So Jenny trey Hoo, Denny trey Hoo's in there and
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: he has like four words, and Till Schweger, who was
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: huge in Germany overseas and I had zero lines. And
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: it's so funny because Denny Treyjo Until Schweger are the
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: titular characters. Yeah, and they have four words between the
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: two of them. Yeah, but yeah, and also they made
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, like just it's like if you were
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: trying to describe them like Okay, imagine two hitmen walking
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: in an airport. Are you imagining it? That's what they
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: looked like. They look like two hitmen walking in an airport.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Like these were the worst hitmen I've ever seen. These
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: are the worst assassins ever.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they weren't very low key. It was sort of like, yes,
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: if I was sitting somewhere, whether it was an airport
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: or I'm out getting lunch or something, and I see
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: these two guys walking down the street, I'm going to
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: gather my family and say, Okay, dinner's over.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: No, no, I'm s throwing fifty dollars on the table.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Come on, on, on on, we're leaving even.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Oh god, it's it's nineteen ninety eight. Oh god, we're
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: in trouble. We're in trouble, but we know what this
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: is happening.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: It gave me Diehard two vibes when they're that squad
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: is walking through the airport and you're just like, these
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: aren't regular people. This is obviously a commando tactical unit
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: and showed up at the airport today. They're all walking
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: with their presence and you're just like, no, this is
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: this is not true.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: That what Stern comic book.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: Look now, now, Tristan, I want to you know, not
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: to not to rewrite the movie, because we do that
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: sometimes but not often. You know, you mentioned the replacement killers.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: These these aren't the replacement killers, like our main characters
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: aren't those people. Is this the kind of movie that
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: could use a shakeup like that where you lean more
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: into like Rooker and have him be more of the lead,
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: and you keep Chawian Fat as like the secondary killer
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: that has to come finish the job way more mysterious.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Is not necessarily the sympathetic hero that they're pushing the
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: entire time. But Rooker is, like I felt like everybody,
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: everybody brought power to it, but they weren't necessarily in
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: the right slots.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I think if you going by like what you mentioned,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: like going by the title, like if you wanted to
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: lean into the meat of the title, the replacement Killers,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I think one way you could do it is you
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: have chow Yon Fat and he's going to either he's
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: going to assassinate Michael Rooker, like not the kid Michael Rooker,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: and he can't do it, but Rooker somehow catches him
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: and he's he's honest with Rooker and He's like, listen,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I was hired to assassinate you. I can't do it,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: you know, like I just like you're a family man.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: I you know, like I got history. I can't do it.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: But the thing is is that all I did was
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: buy you time by telling you this, and by not
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: doing it, They're gonna still come after you, and now
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: are going to come after me. We're going to have
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: to tackle this together. That's your movie.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Oh man, a buddy film of him and Rucker. That
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: would be amazing. Yeah, yes it would, Yes, it would.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: I'm even surprising myself and and is barely wearing his
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: clothes for like half that scene. It's gonna be.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: He's got every.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Super flat tummy. It's kind of weird. He's got some amazing.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: For like five minutes.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: It's it's uh, it's it's interesting because I mean, at first, blush,
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: I look at this poster and I cast myself back
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: into time. One of the more surprising things in all
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: honesty is that he wasn't hired to kill Mira Sorvino,
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: like usually that's how these movies go. So I guess
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: points for it not being that question mark where's say
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: not that expected.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Do you know who Jason Statham would be.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: The star of that movie?
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes he would if that was the case, Yes
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: he would pick Yes, speaking of of mirro Sorvino. Now,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: obviously we've joked about that bathroom scene, and but in
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: the same vein, did anybody else notice that she got
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: more and more cleavage as the movie went on? Where
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: at first they have say, John, you paid special attention,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: so I know that you did notice.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: No, I'm just an observant human being, is what I'm saying.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: I may have.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Noticed that her outfit altered somewhat through the film.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: At the beginning of the film, she's completely buttoned up.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: She goes to the bathroom for some reason, she can't
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: button that top top two buttons.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: You know, she's a rush, she's in a rush.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: She's in a rush, and so her brazier is showing
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: a little bit. But she's in a rush. We completely
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: understand it. But then she's in a gunfight. Too bad,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: those two buttons are gone. There's nothing she can do,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: and so the third but close button is gone.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: The bullet whiz by and just took It would.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Happen to anybody, but then we in the middle of
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: the movie, we see her try to use a safety
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: pin to kind of close the shirt a little bit more.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: It's it's too late. We've seen it all.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: You know it is too late.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: But but what's interesting, John Police, I'm not done. I
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: am not you're not then please go on towards the
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: end of the film. No buttons, Yeah, no buttons, left buttons,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: but the shirt is still on, but there's no buttons.
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: But see, here's where I can introduce you to some
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: interesting headcanon here. You know, you can write this story
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: in your own head is all the damage that his
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: suit should have been taking. She kept the selfless person
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: that she is sacrificing buttons from her outfit to keep
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: his suit immaculate through all of the action scenes, because
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: you know, he barely has any damage on his buttons.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: So she's she's a very giving person. And so that's
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: that's that's what's going on.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Now, John, you're a big mirror Sorvino fan. I want
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: you to talk about her character in this How do
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: you think she came across What do you think about
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: what do you think about the character, What do you
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: think about Mira Sorvino's portrayal laid on me.
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: Be honest, I think that Mira Sorvino is a very
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: talented actress. I do, And I think that the camera low,
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: you know, she's obviously she's you know, she's got a
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: great screen presence. But I don't think that Fuquah. And
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: I'm not laying it just on Fuquah. Any rookie director
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: by this point in her career, he doesn't know how
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: to direct her. In my opinion, she feels like she's
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: talking to somebody giving her prompts off screen half the time,
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: and it's not I'm not even blaming her for it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: I can tell that it's the director off camera saying
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: give it to me this way.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: No, say it this way.
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: It's not as organic as I've seen her performances in
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: other movies, and so I have to lay the blame
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: at a director who you know, I mean, as we
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: go through, is Fuquah good at giving direction to women?
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: Is going to be a very interesting question to examine
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: through his career.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Nolan complex Yeah, to an extent.
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: To an extent, I would argue some of the finer
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: points of that particular argument, But in terms of this
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: I look at this and I see a director that
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: isn't having the same trouble communicating with Chow Yung Fat
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: that he's having communicating with Sorvino and or even proc
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: now or anything like that. Like it just it seems
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: like he's communicating with his other actors better than he's
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: communicating with her. And I think that had I never
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: seen her in a different picture, I'm gonna rag on
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: her performance, but I have a body of work to
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: look at, and I can say this is a typical
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: What's the one thing that's different about her experience here,
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: and it's the director.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I think that's right on the money, absolutely right on
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: the money. And I was hoping you would say something
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: like that because that's kind of how I felt too.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: I've seen Sorvino give some amazing performances. She is a
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: good and talented actress whose career was curtailed by the
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: human fecal matter that shall not go named on this podcast,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: but yeah, by it basically, yeah, And so it was strange.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: It was a little jarring to kind of see that
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: stilted performance, But I think you're right it was from
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: a freshman director. But I think with like there's certain
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: freshman directors that you see where you're just like, I
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: don't know if they're going to get a sophomore attempt,
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: but obviously hindsight is twenty twenty. But thankfully, while watching this,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: I didn't get that feeling where I wasn't like, Oh,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: this is garbage, this is crap. It was just more
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: of a sense of this could have been so much more,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: because I really loved the kind of the gritty neon,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the stylized violence. I think you could see
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: his thumb print all over it. You could tell there
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: was a director who who cared about the material, cared
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: about the vision, and wanted to entertain you, but just
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: didn't have the experience to work with the studio and
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: get it there food couus direction. What did you think,
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: regardless of story in the script, what did you think
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: about the visual flair? Did you feel like he was
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: still trying to entertain you or did you feel like, oh,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a stretch if this guy gets
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: another movie.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: Now, I felt, like I said, or like we all
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: said at the beginning of this podcast, this felt like
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: a nineties action movie, and I think I give it
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: a little leeway with that because I'm not expecting some
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: of the advancements in how stories are telled and shown
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: and things like that. Nowadays, I'm okay with a little
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: bit of popcorn and they're doing spin tricks as they shoot,
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: like okay, Like is that kind of ridiculous? Yeah? Does
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: it detract from the story? Not necessarily, So I think
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: this doesn't surprise me as a freshman take from this director.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: But something I kept thinking of when you were talking
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: about the studio is, at the end of the day,
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: they have to make a movie. They can't just be
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: like we have to wait till the right director and
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: the right film and everything is going to line up
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: for a billion dollars to roll into us. No, they
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: have to put something out constantly or they're not making money.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: So even if they make a little bit of money,
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: it's better than nothing. So I think at the end,
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: this is a I'm glad that they put invested into
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: this director, you know, into Anton, and I think, you know,
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: we're going to just see where he goes from here.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: So I'm glad this movie, you know, came out. Is
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: it the best movie? No, But I'm I'm glad for
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: you know, if I was back in the nineties and
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: spent three dollars on this ticket, I would be okay.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: John, I have a question for you. Yeah, so you
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: know we talked about it at the beginning. You know
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: this borrows a lot from Hong Kong cinema and John
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Wick borrows a lot from Hong Kong cinema. How would
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: you compare Replacement Killers to John Wick? Now, obviously John
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Wick has made a much bigger splash financially in the
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: zeitgeist in pop culture. There's four of them. There's a
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: spinoff movie, so obviously it's more successful. But how do
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: you think it compares two Hong Kong cinema. Do you
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: feel like John Wick did it better or just better
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: for American audiences?
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: I think that's the right way to say it. Better
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: for American audiences.
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: John Wick the first John Wick feels like and one
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: of the reasons I love it is it feels like
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: American cuisine. Where it is I have Chinese food here.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: It's not food that people eat in China. I know this.
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: I'm comfortable with that fact and so is everybody else.
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: But when you say do you want Chinese food, I'm
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: not thinking about going and getting some authentic dish from
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: the Sechuan province. I'm thinking of General So's chicken. So
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: that's what I'm about.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: So cool. I like it, and that's what John is,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: and I'm on board with it.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: I love that so much because it's unabashedly American. And
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: I say that without irony. I say that without irony
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: because it's so true that, like, we know, we know
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: we're eating Americanized Mexican food, we know we're eating americanized
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: you know, Chinese food. We know we're eating Americanized Indian food.
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: We don't care, no, And then when you have some
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: that comes along that's like, hey, it's Korean and mexicanfusion,
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: We're like on board. I'll try it at least and
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: then if it's good, we're gonna get a chain of
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: these things.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: That's cool. I like it. Mix it all together, man.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: That's how we get John Wick. That is so that's
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: so apropois.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: I love that. I love that.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, John Wick is the americanized Hong Kong and yeah,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: and you know, Replacement Killers was an homage to John Wu.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: But it couldn't capture the essence of it.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: No, it couldn't. It was somebody that didn't understand how to.
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: Adapt it, is what I would say, And so it's
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: a victim of multiple influence is coming together and just
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: Fuquah wasn't there to do it.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: I mean the thing.
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: And this is because we all know this is sort
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: of like my pet thing to sort of like fixate
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: on a little bit. But when I was looking at
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: it and Harry Gregson Williams did the score, oh no,
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: Like I felt so disappointed. Because Gregson Williams has done
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: some terrific scores, including Kingdom of Heaven. He's worked a
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: lot with Scott, He's going to work a lot with
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: Fuquah going forward. But this, I think the score is
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: just as evocative of what we're talking about, the vibe
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: we're talking about, where it's like this movie is so
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: just gristmill churned out nineties sort of thing, like this
• 34:42
  Speaker 5: is exactly the type of score I'd expect from a
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: forgettable action.
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: Movie in the nineties.
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: And it hurts because Gregson Williams is so much more
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: talented than that. But I guess it's at the stage
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: in his career where he's like, what am I supposed
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: to be doing here?
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: This okay? Should sound like this, Okay, cool, cool, cool cool,
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: And you.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Know it's it may sound like we're ragging on Fuqua
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: a lot at all, but that's the thing is that,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: like I think, the only reason why we're being so
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: honest is because we know. Again, like I said earlier,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Heinstein is twenty twenty. We know how much of a
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: talent he is and what he can bring to the table.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: And I'm so utterly excited to keep going in his filmography,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: specifically for next week.
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: Oh but not just specifically for next week, but put
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: a pin in this. This is a fascinating movie to
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: watch when you see later what he does with the Equalizer,
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: when you see a confident and established Fuquah return to
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: the action genre in a big way like this, Okay,
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: like you're gonna see you'll see this.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: This is gonna pay off. Trust me.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: I'm excited because I have missed the Equalizer films, and
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: I know, I know that they've made three of them,
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: and I'm a big Denzel fan, so I'm surprised that
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: I have missed these. But yeah, I'm excited to keep going.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: But I do want to I do want to talk
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: about one thing before we wrap up, and that is,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: and this was a surprise to me where apparently I
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: don't know how true this is. I know it's kind
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: of been established in the lore, but apparently test audiences
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: didn't like the idea of the bio racial romance between
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: chaw Yon Fat and Mira Sorvino, and so apparently fuquav
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: filmed it and then they cut it. But then we
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: have an extended version. But there's not really a romance there.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: There's like a respect, there's a there's a I don't
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: know there. I don't want to say, what's the term
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: I'm looking for. There was an affection, there's a respect
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: and an affection. But I really enjoyed how they treated
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: their relationship because there was not that. There wasn't any
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: of that, will there there, won't there finally just kiss her,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: you know, like there was none of that, which I
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: really appreciated because I can't stand the action films.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: There there was no rain soaked sex scene halfway through.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: And also like this kind of didn't need it. And
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: also there was zero sexual chemistry between chow Yon Fat and.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: Mira, lesson zero.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: It Actually, if you took if you took somebody to
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: this as a date movie, you probably broke.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: Up afterward, like that's the thing. It didn't help you
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: out at all.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Chow Yon fat, very attractive, very charismatic, Mira Sorvino gorgeous
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: and just has this magnetic pull towards her, but yet together,
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: there was nothing there.
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: And so I would make another on screen comparison, but
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: I might get in trouble for it.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: I kind of want to see I kind of want to.
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: Know Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Far and Away.
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: These people are married, so.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: You know it's okay because they've been divorced for a
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: long time, that's sure. Yeah, And so it was interesting.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: I was just like, you know, like was it It
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: makes you wonder, like do I believe that it could
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: have been Rachel? Of course the nineties were insane. Today
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: is insane, but the nineties, especially especially when it comes
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: to Asians. But part of me is just like, was
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: it racial or was it just because they had no
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: sexual chemistry?
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: I would actually clock it as if they were trying
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: to force some sort of romantic thing. Yeah, I would
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: say it wouldn't. Maybe I'm being too generous, but I
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: would I would have looked at it and said, this
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: just isn't working, guys, Like it has nothing to do
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: with you know, you know, biracial anything. It has everything
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: to do with what you just said. There is absolutely
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: I do not believe that Chow Young Fat and Mira
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: Sorvino got along really well and there was you know,
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: a lot of fun off camera between the two of them.
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: This felt like two people who showed up to work,
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: shook hands and went home.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, this is not Pam Anderson and Liam Neesen, folks,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: this is this is not that marketing campaign.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you what.
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: You roll this back to the nineties and you you
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: utter that phrase back then, like I'd love to go
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: back to me in the nineties like Pam Anderson and
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: Liam Neeson, and I would just I'd be like that
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: meme of that guy with a huh, like what.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: I have to say. I had no interest. I had
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: zero interest in the Naked Gun continuation, the revival movie,
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it. I had zero interest
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: in it. But then this huge marketing campaign of the
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: chemistry between Pam Anderson and Liam Neeson. I'm like, okay, guys, okay,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: marketing boys, you got me, Like, I'm gonna watch this movie,
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: just because they are so freakin' adorable, you know, outside
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: of the movie. Yes, all right, all right, So Darren,
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: I love to pick on you, and whenever I host,
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: I make you go first. So how many bullets with
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: the Chinese symbol for death are you giving this movie?
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm going to give it to bullets. I am
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: taking a star off of because of the rain. I
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: said I was gonna do it kind of jokingly, but
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: it's true. The rain is is ridiculous.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: I don't say that to.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Belittle the director.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: I think it's a very starting point, and I think,
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, we know where he's gonna go from this.
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: And I do also feel that I was maybe a
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: little harsh in how well he used Telli un Fat
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: because again, he has not done Crouching Tiger yet, he
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: has not done all these other things that we know of,
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: so I can't really judge him for his freshman outing
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: into American cinema. It has to start somewhere. So but overall, yeah,
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: two bullets, and they have a little carving on them,
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: so you know which bullets they are and who they're
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: intended for.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: All right, John, how many Mirosorvino shirt paper clips are you,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: I should say, safety pins are you giving this movie?
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to go ahead and agree with Darren. Two.
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: This is not a movie that I want to revisit
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: in the future. Like it's that weird thing where it's like,
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: I'm glad I saw it for this journey because, like
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: I said, I'm gonna enjoy coming back to when Fuquah
• 41:02
  Speaker 5: gets a chance to like really shine in the action genre.
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: But this ain't it, and it's it's competently put together,
• 41:10
  Speaker 5: and I can understand what vestige of story they stretched
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: over these scenes.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: So I'll give it a too, all right, I am
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: giving it a nostalgic three. I am adding an extra
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: point for the rain you sell out and so I am.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: I'm just like, no, it's baptismal, it's cleansing, it's beautiful,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: even if it's La because actually when I was in
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: La it rained like three times when I lived there
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: for like six months. But any regardless, regardless, giving it
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: three stars, I know that's a lot for this movie.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: I know that's a lot. I'm gonna give it a
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: two and a half. Actually I'm gonna change my mind here.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I wanted to give it a three if it was
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: the beginning of the movie. It was the first act
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: is a three. I think in my mind, I'm like,
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: this is this solid action work. It's a lot of fun.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: It's nineties at its best. Actually, I should say the
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: beginning is forced, but then we just keep getting lower
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: as the movie goes on. There's not a lot of
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: meat on the bone. There's there's just not enough substance there,
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: and they try to give it substance. Actually, like looking
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: at the theatrical version, looking at the extended version, you
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: think the extended version would add some depth, and it
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: kind of does, but not really, Like it's the kind
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: of depth that makes you roll your eyes where I'm
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: just like, this isn't the movie for that. This don't
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: don't try to do something that's not appropriate for the
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: film itself. So I'm going to change my mind. It's
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: not a three, it's a two and a half. But
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: the thing is, I have I have such a soft
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: spot for this movie for obvious reasons, for what I
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: talked about the beginning. If it kept the vibe, it
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: kept the rhythm and the language of the first act,
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: I think this would be a much better film. But
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: it didn't say lav It's okay. We got tons of
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: other Hong Kong action films to talk about and review
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: and watch with chaw Yon Fat. But we're going to
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: continue on with Anti on Fuqua and uh, it's gonna
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: be crazy next week because Darren, what are we doing?
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: Yes, that's right. As we're continuing this decade by decade
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: with Antine Fuqua, we're going with two thousand and one's
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: training Day here on House sites.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Join the Revolution, Join the NED Party,