by JIMMY AQUINO
City on a Hill Press
5 February 1998

The big $64,000 Question in Hollywood this week is whether or not beloved Hong Kong film star Chow Yun-Fat will cross over into mainstream American success with this weekend's release of his first US-made action picture, Columbia's The Replacement Killers (it opens Friday at the Del Mar in Santa Cruz). One thing's for certain though: the immature Middle American crowd still can't snicker without hearing his name, as seen last week on The Tonight Show, when the goddamn honkeys in the audience jeered and laughed after Jay Leno announced he'll be a guest.

But for me, the major question about Chow's latest gung-ho gunplay pic is this: will The Replacement Killers utilize his talents well or reduce him to a monosyllabic, one-dimensional action star a la Stallone and Van Damme (Chow says little in the film's TV ads)? Will the film's director, music-video maker Antoine Fuqua (Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" clip), allow Chow to display the same charisma and matinee-idol-style mystique that made him a cult icon in his landmark films with auteur John Woo? (One writer once said Chow has a casual magnetism that recalls the glory days of Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen and Takakura Ken.)

The main reason Chow is such an original is his range and depth; unlike most American action stars (like Stallone, Van Damme and Schwarzenegger), Chow has a personality and can act. He can convincingly play debonair, badass and tortured all at once. Actually, Chow is not solely an action star, but a man of all genres, although he's most famous for his crime films with Woo and Ringo Lam (their 1987 collaboration City on Fire was the inspiration for Reservoir Dogs). Some of Chow's other memorable turns have been in romances (1987's An Autumn's Tale and 1992's Now You See Love, Now You Don't) and slapstick farces (1988's Eighth Happiness, where he played a womanizer pretending to be gay); unfortunately, outside of San Francisco's Chinatown, these other films are hard to find on video.

In the meantime, as I count down the hours before I finally see The Replacement Killers (regardless of whether the film is inspired or shoddy, it's still f---in' terrific to see an Asian man starring in a Hollywood picture), here are my three favorite Chow performances, widely available on video:

A Better Tomorrow (1986) - The film that started it all: Chow's lovable-hitman persona, his signature use of the Beretta, the distinctive, much-imitated way in which he totes two guns. Woo's first collaboration with Chow ended up becoming the biggest-grossing film in HK box-office history, spawning two sequels and a slew of slapdash ripoffs. In this gritty melodrama about two brothers on opposite sides of the law (hitman Ti Lung and cop Leslie Cheung), Chow steals the film as Mark, Ti's supercool, toothpick-chewing sidekick. HK filmgoers dug Mark so much that the character's Ray-Bans, toothpicks and heavy duster coat became popular fashion trends during A Better Tomorrow's release.

The Killer (1989) - Chow shows texture in the title role of a remorseful assassin who develops a soft spot for a singer (Sally Yeh) accidentally blinded during a hit and then finds an unlikely ally in a maverick cop (Danny Lee). Hollywood studios have wanted to remake Woo's best-known HK film in America for years (with stars like Stallone and Richard Gere), but no matter how hard they may try, they'll never match the brilliance of this lyrical, witty "blood opera" classic. The film's religious imagery recalls Scorsese's earlier works (in fact, Scorsese was one of The Killer's earliest admirers).

Hard Boiled (1992) - Chow plays a hotheaded detective (nicknamed Tequila) who forges an uneasy alliance with an ostracized undercover cop (Tony Leung). This is the flick where Chow slides down a bannister while - uh-huh, you guessed it - firing two guns. The taut climax, staged at a hospital under siege, finds Chow fleeing from explosions while cradling an infant - an inspired bit that was stolen by director Tsui Hark in last year's campy Van Damme/Dennis Rodman actioner Double Team. Hard Boiled's paranoid, downbeat mood reflected the uncertainty about HK's future felt by citizens like Woo during the film's release.

©1998 Jimmy Aquino. All rights reserved.