Wu Yusen and Chow Yun-fat, the golden partners, left a deep impression on many viewers on the Hong Kong film screen.
In the Hong Kong film screens in the mid to late 1980s, the "violent aesthetics" style of director Wu Yusen, combined with last week's powerful character-building ability, created "The True Colors of Heroes", "Blood-blooded Two Heroes", "Across the World" and "Hot Hand" The birth of classic works such as Detective.
With the acclaim of these films, Wu and Tuueren also entered the big Hollywood screen in the mid-1990s.
Zhou Runfa and Wu Yusen
are on the big screen in Hollywood. Zhou Runfa and Wu Yusen have also cooperated several times to create several movies. Today we are going to talk about the first film that Chow Yun-fat and Wu Yusen collaborated after entering Hollywood. It was released in 1998 "The Replacement Killers" (English name: "The Replacement Killers").
In 1993, Wu Yusen entered Hollywood, and with the three works of "Ultimate Target", "Broken Arrow" and "Change Face", he became a director in one fell swoop.
In 1995, after Chow Yun-fat appeared in "Peace Hotel", he also went to Hollywood. However, because he did not receive a suitable script, Chow Yun-fat fell into a long period of silence after entering Hollywood.
In 1997, Wu Yusen embarked on a new peak in his career because of the filming of "Change Face". At this time, "Paramount Pictures" handed over the production cost of 30 million U.S. dollars and the filming script of "Standby Killer" to Wu Yusen.
At that time, Wu Yusen, because he was filming "Extreme Black Jack", had no time to do so, so as a producer, he coordinated the "Stand-In Killer" for "Columbia Pictures". And the old partner Chow Yun-fat was also invited by Wu Yusen and starred in the actor "Li Qiang" of "Standing Killer". Although
did not personally take the position of director, this "Stand-In Killer" still has a strong "Wu style violence aesthetic film" flavor.
It is worth mentioning that this "Stand-in Killer" is the first Hollywood collaboration between Chow yun-fat and John Woo. It is also the first film work that Chow Yun-fat has starred in after entering Hollywood. The plot of
is relatively simple. "Li Qiang" played by Zhou Runfa is a professional killer. As soon as the film opens, a splendid shootout demonstrates this killer's superb business ability.
The son of Mr. Wei, the boss of the Chinatown gang in New York, was killed by a policeman during a "deal", and his gang was also under police surveillance. Mr. Wei is eager for revenge, but he can't use gang power, so he decides to hire Li Qiang to solve the problem.
It is worth mentioning that Zeng Jiang, an old Hong Kong movie, was also invited by Wu Yusen to play the role of Mr. Wei. The outstanding performance of the gold medal match also added a lot of highlights to the film.
Li Qiang was in New York and received a lot of care from Mr. Wei, so he readily agreed. Li Qiang originally thought that Mr. Wei was going to kill the policeman, but Mr. Wei's target was the policeman's 7-year-old son.
Mr. Wei acted fiercely. He wanted to "repay his body by his way" so that the policeman would also feel the pain of losing his son. Although Li Qiang is a killer, he has always believed in the code of conduct of "doing harm to his family and debt to his children." So, he gave up the assassination and secretly reminded the policeman.
Li Qiang knew that he would anger Mr. Wei if he gave up the action without authorization. So he decided to run away, temporarily avoiding the limelight. Mr. Wei acted harshly, and Li Qiang worried that his mother and sister would be implicated, so he entrusted his friends to take care of them.
Under Li Qiang’s reminder, the policeman’s family members were protected by the police for 24 hours. Mr. Wei, who was unable to carry out the assassination, released his anger on Li Qiang. So, he sent a large number of men to solve Li Qiang.
In order to run away, Li Qiang inquired about Meg, a "female expert" who specializes in fake passports. Just as Li Qiang was talking to Meg about the passport issue, Mr. Wei's men were killed. A gun battle with "Wu style violence aesthetics" is also about to take place.
After a Wu Yusen-style gun battle, Li Qiang escaped smoothly, while Meg and Mr. Wei's men were taken away by the police. After some cross-examination, MegHe was released by the police, and Mr. Wei's men were detained by the police. After
's operation, the police increased their monitoring of Mr. Wei's gang. With limited mobility, Mr. Wei decided to hire a killer with outstanding business ability to kill Li Qiang.
Li Qiang found Meg again, hoping that she would make a passport for herself. Meg said that a photo is needed to make a passport, but his "studio" was destroyed because of the last gun battle, so the two chose to go to a nearby department store to take photos of their photos.
was in the department store, and their whereabouts were discovered by one of Mr. Wei's men. Under the whistleblower, the killer hired by Mr. Wei quickly arrived. Another "violent aesthetic shootout" appeared on the big screen.
After a gun battle, Li Qiang took Meg and fled, and the killer also killed two policemen and fled the scene. After leaving the department store, Meg used the photo to make a fake passport for Li Qiang.
Li Qiang came to the temple to find friends, and wanted to inquire where his mother and sister were going, so that they could join them. I don't want to, Mr. Wei arrived one step early and is still killing him here. Before his death, his friend told Li Qiang that Mr. Wei sent a killer to kill his mother and sister. He should arrive tomorrow night.
The "killer industry" has an unwritten rule that if the employer dies, the action will be cancelled. In order to save his mother and sister, Li Qiang decided to kill Mr. Wei overnight.
On the other hand, the police have obtained new clues through vigorous investigation of Mr. Wei’s gang and are preparing to arrest Mr. Wei. And Mr. Wei, who received the news, also planned to escape New York by night.
Mr. Wei met Li Qiang on the way to escape. Li Qiang and Mr. Wei's bodyguards launched a fierce gun battle, and the police rushed to the scene with the gunshots. At the end of the
story, Li Qiang killed Mr. Wei on the roof. And the policeman at the beginning of the story, after witnessing everything, silently let Li Qiang go. The story of
"Stand-In Killer", although there is no amazing and unique design, the overall story is still complete and compact. The excellent acting skills of Chow Yun-fat, Mila Sorvino and others, and the highly visually impactful shooting scenes also added a lot of highlights to the film.
However, on the big screen in the late 1990s, audiences began to get bored with Wu Yusen's gunfighting movies with flying guns, unlimited firepower, and constant bursts. After "Change Face" in 1997, the market for Wu-style violent aesthetic films began to decline rapidly. The
"Standalone Killer" cost 30 million U.S. dollars, but after it was released, it only won more than 19 million global box office. And Wu Yusen personally directed and filmed "Extreme Black Jack", after it was released, the box office was bleak.
In 1998, the successive coldness of "Stand-in Killer" and "Extreme Black Jack" made Wu Yusen see the torrent of the decline of "violent aesthetic films". Later, after shooting "Mission Impossible 2", he transformed into the big screen of war movies. The director of
Wu Yusen left his "Wu style violence aesthetic film" in the 90s. The "Stand-In Killer" he collaborated with Chow Yun-fat has also become a turning point for the "Wu style violent aesthetic film" from its prosperity to its decline.
