The Big Hit (1998)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I understand that this is a comedy and it's not to be taken seriously when Mark Wahlberg shoots an obnoxious high school kid through the head.Okay, it's a comedy, and it has a lot of action and explosives and wisecracks, but it's not really too funny. The most amusing scenes have Wahlberg and his Jewish girl friend (Applegate) being visited by Applegate's parents. They discover that he's a shagetz and they go ape. ("Look, you seem like a nice German and Irish fellow -- but you're not laying hands on my DAUGHTER!" Something like that.) One of the running jokes is that Wahlberg has an overdue videotape from the store. It is intimated that the movie is silly and trivial. The movie is "King Kong Lives" and I resent the aspersions cast on it. "King Kong Lives" is silly, true, but boasts one magnificent performance -- by myself, as an extra.Perhaps that's one of the reasons I never found myself laughing and consider the film to be far from "hilarious." However, it's necessary to take into account the target audience. Take away the violence, the F bombs and the M bombs, and you have a Bob Hope comedy, specifically "Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number," in which Hope, the bourgeois husband, tries desperately to hide the succulent Elke Sommers from his wife an family.What I'm trying to say is that the target audience seems to be kids in late adolescence. They should get a kick out of it, along with adults whose sense of humor isn't concordant with my own.

At first glance, THE BIG HIT looks to be an ensemble action comedy, in which a team of kidnappers pick on the wrong target and soon find themselves victims of the Mob. Look a little closer and you'll see that Hong Kong director Kirk Wong (CRIME STORY) helmed it and John Woo executive produced; this then is an American film with a distinctly Chinese flavour.That flavour is present in the style and execution of the action sequences, which contain the kind of stunts and situations familiar from both the knockabout '80s comedies starring Jackie Chan and the harder-hitting gun films of John Woo. Certainly, watching Mark Wahlberg jumping onto chandeliers, flying in the air, and spinning on railings makes for unique spectacle, even if it is incredibly cheesy for the unsuspecting viewer.The script is one of those efforts brimming with snappy dialogue and adult humour, the kind that became exceptionally popular after the success of PULP FICTION. The casting director has had a field day, drawing in the likes of Bokeem Woodbine, Lou Diamond Phillips, Elliott Gould and many others to play the larger-than-life characters. It's occasionally funny and often mildly entertaining, although not the big hit that the title would have you believe; watchable if nothing else.

I watched this movie a few times on a local TV and still I don't change the channel if this movie is airing. It's quite a good entertainment, despite it's stupidity in the concept development.The basic premise is an average and common, no doubt about that. One that's about a small crew within the mafia and kidnapping. The stupidity and quirkiness begins when the story develops into one with the coincidences of the kidnapping target is the god-daughter of the boss of the crew, and that the Japanese Yakuza boss has a close tie with the black American mafia boss. All those are added with the ingredient of Melvin Smiley's wrecked up romance with two girls, a Jewish and a black girl. The twist of having the mastermind of the kidnapping betraying the rest of the crew is a nice touch.But the strongest attraction of this movie is the comedy, both in the dialog and in the mayhem caused by all the action. It is indeed a good entertainment for me. And since the local TV doesn't re-air it very often, it is still a good option to watch.

I love this movie. Its funny, tense and action packed. Sure its over the top, most action movies are. And some of the dialog is silly, as most movies are. And there are tons of only in the movies moments... cause it is a movie after all. No, its a great movie...there is only one thing that really bothers me about this movie...its the sexual innuendo during the cooking scene. Are we to be turned on by the fact that they're stuffing a chicken? Its an obvious reference to a hand job. Its not sexy...just...GROSS. The other thing the movie has going for it is its comedy. Elliot Gould steals his scenes. And now that this movie is on Blu-Ray, it looks so much better. I'm in love with it all over again.