The Big hit [DVD]

Mark Wahlberg stars as an anxiety ridden killer for hire who is part of an elite team of hitmen (made up of Lou Diamond Philips, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Bokeem Woodbine) in this violent action comedy. Wahlberg’s chaotic domestic life and stressful blood soaked professional life come unstuck when the kidnapping of a wealthy businessman’s daughter has major repercussions for the band of killers. From its fetishistic reconstruction of the code and conduct of organized crime, right down to its casual, flippant depictions of violence, “The Big hit” owes a lot to the films of Quentin Tarantino (which are in themselves pastiches of various European and American filmmakers). However the spectre of the Hong Kong action film hangs over them all (“The Big hit” goes as far as enlisting Hong Kong action director Che-Kirk Wong and the executive producer is the legendary John Woo), a cinema that is wonderfully inventive with its own form of genre splicing and indirect homage. Cast also includes Christina Applegate, Elliot Gould, Laine Kazan and Avery Brooks.