Is the film flawed? Oh YEAH!! Are there ridiculous lapses in logic? You bet!! Is it fun? I think so.
I'm not quite sure how to describe this movie. It's about a likeable hitman, who kicks serious ass and racks up a huge body count, but he's the only person we care about in the movie. His co-horts are untrustworthy and (gasp!) lazy, and his two girlfriends are both horrid in their own special ways.
The movie is an action comedy...but not in the way we might expect (a la Rush Hour or its ilk). It is obvious the budget was low, so the makers of the film obviously decided the whole tone of the film should be cheesy.
But almost everyone in the movie gets into the style of silliness, and thus a non-finicky viewer has an amusing 90 minutes. Here's one example of the ever-shifting tone: Mark Wahlberg (our likable hit man) is coming home to his fiancee (Christina Applegate...a jewish princess with an over-the-top accent and really tight pants). He is driving with a chopped up body in the trunk, and pulls into his suburban driveway...except its not his house, just one that looks exactly like all the other houses in the neighborhood. Someone yells out "Wrong house!" and Wahlberg pulls back out and into the right driveway. The scene takes about three seconds, but it's funny because it's incongruous. How many hit men live in suburbia...at least in movies?
Everyone in the movie is WAY OVER THE TOP in their performances. Lanie Kazan actually seems reserved...if that gives you an idea. Elliott Gould is totally gross and very funny. Bokeem Woodbine is amusing in the role of a thug with a fixation on masturbation. Lou Diamond Phillips is totally unlikeable as a character, but gosh darn it, he sures seems to be having fun. The whole film is a lark.
It also plays right into Mark Wahlberg's strengths. Wahlberg seems to have the "nice guy" act down very well. It's why Boogie Nights worked so well...he was just so innocent and likeable. In PERFECT STORM and THREE KINGS, it was his innocent nature that worked for him. As soon as he starts getting serious or pensive or angry...it stops working. And in FEAR, with Reese Witherspoon, he tries sinister and comes off silly. He takes the "aw shucks" nice guy attitude to the nth degree in THE BIG HIT, and we really root for him.
This is not a movie for film "criticism." It would totally fall apart under scrutiny, whether for logic, continuity or artistry. But if you're in the mood just to have a little fun, and like guns going off, and cars crashing, and a bit of satire while you're at it...you could do worse.
I'm not quite sure how to describe this movie. It's about a likeable hitman, who kicks serious ass and racks up a huge body count, but he's the only person we care about in the movie. His co-horts are untrustworthy and (gasp!) lazy, and his two girlfriends are both horrid in their own special ways.
The movie is an action comedy...but not in the way we might expect (a la Rush Hour or its ilk). It is obvious the budget was low, so the makers of the film obviously decided the whole tone of the film should be cheesy.
But almost everyone in the movie gets into the style of silliness, and thus a non-finicky viewer has an amusing 90 minutes. Here's one example of the ever-shifting tone: Mark Wahlberg (our likable hit man) is coming home to his fiancee (Christina Applegate...a jewish princess with an over-the-top accent and really tight pants). He is driving with a chopped up body in the trunk, and pulls into his suburban driveway...except its not his house, just one that looks exactly like all the other houses in the neighborhood. Someone yells out "Wrong house!" and Wahlberg pulls back out and into the right driveway. The scene takes about three seconds, but it's funny because it's incongruous. How many hit men live in suburbia...at least in movies?
Everyone in the movie is WAY OVER THE TOP in their performances. Lanie Kazan actually seems reserved...if that gives you an idea. Elliott Gould is totally gross and very funny. Bokeem Woodbine is amusing in the role of a thug with a fixation on masturbation. Lou Diamond Phillips is totally unlikeable as a character, but gosh darn it, he sures seems to be having fun. The whole film is a lark.
It also plays right into Mark Wahlberg's strengths. Wahlberg seems to have the "nice guy" act down very well. It's why Boogie Nights worked so well...he was just so innocent and likeable. In PERFECT STORM and THREE KINGS, it was his innocent nature that worked for him. As soon as he starts getting serious or pensive or angry...it stops working. And in FEAR, with Reese Witherspoon, he tries sinister and comes off silly. He takes the "aw shucks" nice guy attitude to the nth degree in THE BIG HIT, and we really root for him.
This is not a movie for film "criticism." It would totally fall apart under scrutiny, whether for logic, continuity or artistry. But if you're in the mood just to have a little fun, and like guns going off, and cars crashing, and a bit of satire while you're at it...you could do worse.