The Big Hit

"Nothing's more dangerous than some nice guys... with a little time to kill."

1998 1h 31m EN

😐

6.0

MID

🥫

41%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.1

IMDB

★6.0TMDB · 499🥫41%Rotten Tomatoes●31Metacritic★6.1IMDB · 32,068

ActionComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Affable hit man Melvin Smiley is constantly being scammed by his cutthroat colleagues in the life-ending business. So, when he and his fellow assassins kidnap the daughter of an electronics mogul, it's naturally Melvin who takes the fall when their prime score turns sour. That's because the girl is the goddaughter of the gang's ruthless crime boss. But, even while dodging bullets, Melvin has to keep his real job secret from his unsuspecting fiancée, Pam.

“Nothing's more dangerous than some nice guys... with a little time to kill.”

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Cast

Mark Wahlberg
Melvin Smiley
Lou Diamond Phillips
Cisco
Christina Applegate
Pam Shulman
Avery Brooks
Paris
Bokeem Woodbine
Crunch
Antonio Sabàto Jr.
Vince
China Chow
Keiko Nishi
Lainie Kazan
Jeanne Shulman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kirk Wong Chi-Keung
Writers: Ben Ramsey
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Hong Kong

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Hong Kong.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Directed by Kirk Wong Chi-Keung, shot by Danny Nowak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robin Russell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips and Christina Applegate carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Nothing's more dangerous than some nice guys... with a little time to kill.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0120609 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kirk Wong Chi-Keung directs. Danny Nowak behind the camera. Graeme Revell scores. Robin Russell cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Hong Kong. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

128 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Hong Kong.
3Directed by Kirk Wong Chi-Keung, shot by Danny Nowak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Robin Russell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips and Christina Applegate carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Nothing's more dangerous than some nice guys... with a little time to kill.".
8IMDB entry: tt0120609 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Danny Nowak
Original score: Graeme Revell
Editing: Robin Russell
Production design: Taavo Soodor
Costume design: Margaret Mohr
Makeup / hair: James D. Brown
VFX supervisor: Kyle Menzies
Sound: Brad Thornton
Runtime: 91 min · 1h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $13,000,000
Box office: $27,007,143
Return: 208% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Big Hit (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes: 41% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 31/100
IMDB rating: 6.1/10 · 32,068 votes
MPAA: R

Also by

Kirk Wong Chi-Keung

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Community reviews

What people are saying

jeremiah2018-11-14
★ 2/10
Dudes' Night again last night... thought about skipping posting this it was just so god-awful... Instead I guess I'll write 400 some words about it... :P Hit man Marky Mark "just wants people to like him!" and get's over his head in debt trying to maintain both his mistress' and fiance's lifestyles, all while both treat him like garbage. To get out of debt he joins his "Funky Bunch" of buddies to ransom the, unknown to them, connected daughter of a, also unknown to them, bankrupt movie mogul. So not only is hit man Marky Mark a door mat, everyone involved in the caper is a dumb-ass. Couple this with the movie going overboard trying to portray these dumb-asses as "cool" and "edgy" in the most horribly cringy (and at times super offensive) ways: this was terrible. But it's executive produced by John Woo so the action scenes are great, right? No. The gun fights usually involved Wahlberg doing breakdance moves (remember, he's "COOOOOL!") while excessive wire work gets applied to anybody shot. This sounds like it could be cool, and there were some hilariously exaggerated shots (pun intended), but the editing of the action scenes was just really poorly done. They'd cut from shots of Mark spinning on the floor, shooting everywhere, to one of him flying through the air, possibly in a completely different room. A guy would get shot and fly TOWARDS the shooter or sideways. I swear there were guys that would fly through the air or through glass for no reason... just guys flying through the air I guess. And then there's the car chase... So many shots where a car rammed something, was obviously seriously damaged, only to have the car look completely unscathed a second later. Also, Wahlberg's hair color changes inexplicably and seemingly at random throughout the movie. From a reddish brown to an almost greyish/blondish brown to a dark brown. At first I thought it was the stunt double, but it happens in non-action scenes as well. Maybe it was the product he used for different scenes, maybe it was the lighting, but regardless it was weird. It doesn't lose that final star because we did have fun laughing/cringing at how absurd it all was. Looking up stats, this unbelievably doubled it's budget in revenue (seriously, W.T.F.!). It was also fun remembering how awful late 90s styles were, and oh god are some great styles on display here. There's really no need to see this movie though, it really is terrible. If you want to laugh AT a movie, there are so many better ones to choose from.
EvilWayz2024-01-29
I'm beginning to think that nobody on this site has a sense of humor or a brain. This movie is a parody of the rash of all too serious hitman and gangster movies of the nineties, specifically John Woo. You aren't supposed to take anything about this movie seriously. Everything about this movie is mocking the genre including editing, action scenes and continuity. Think Pootie Tang meets the Naked Gun. I guess you have to be GenX or before to get it. Now get off my lawn.

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