The Big Hit backdrop
The Big Hit logo
1998·Action·1h 31m
6.9
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.
Directed by Kirk Wong Chi-Keung
dark comedy
bungee-jump
video store
kosher
stealing a car
night vision goggles
suitcase full of money

Cast

Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Melvin Smiley
Lou Diamond Phillips
Lou Diamond Phillips
Cisco
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Pam Shulman
Avery Brooks
Avery Brooks
Paris
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine
Crunch
Antonio Sabàto Jr.
Antonio Sabàto Jr.
Vince
China Chow
China Chow
Keiko Nishi
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan
Jeanne Shulman
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould
Morton Shulman
Sab Shimono
Sab Shimono
Jiro Nishi
Robin Dunne
Robin Dunne
Gump
Lela Rochon
Lela Rochon
Chantel

Crew

Kirk Wong Chi-Keung
Kirk Wong Chi-Keung
Director
Ben Ramsey
Ben Ramsey
Screenplay
Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell
Original Music Composer
Pietro Scalia
Pietro Scalia
Editor
Warren Zide
Warren Zide
Producer
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Producer
John Woo
John Woo
Executive Producer
Craig Perry
Craig Perry
Co-Producer
Taavo Soodor
Taavo Soodor
Production Design
Craig Lathrop
Craig Lathrop
Art Direction
Goro Koyama
Goro Koyama
Foley Artist
Donald Mowat
Donald Mowat
Key Makeup Artist

Popular Reviews

79 reviews
Andre Affleck
Andre Affleck
The Big Hit
LDP playing every Mexican role without being even a little bit Mexican.

Look, this isn’t that good and I realize I’m giving it A WAY HIGHER RATING than it deserves but I really enjoyed it!

I just don’t understand what type of plot armour were on these characters 😭😭😭

How does Cisco survive both a Grenade and an explosion by a falling car, and not only does he survive… he doesn’t even get injured and is fully healthy to attempt to kill Melvin.

Speaking of Melvin… how does he even survive an explosion in a building where everything thing turns to rubble…

Although… I did actually love the character development and love stories!!
LDP playing every Mexican role without being even a little bit Mexican.

Look, this isn’t that good and I realize I’m giving it A WAY HIGHER RATING than it deserves but I really enjoyed it!

I just don’t understand what type of plot armour were on these characters 😭😭😭

How does Cisco survive both a Grenade and an explosion by a falling car, and not only does he survive… he doesn’t even get injured and is fully healthy to attempt to kill Melvin.

Speaking of Melvin… how does he even survive an explosion in a building where everything thing turns to rubble…

Although… I did actually love the character development and love stories!!
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Erick
Erick
The Big Hit
A movie that has always felt like a fever dream and after watching it… it still is. I have a super vague and foggy memory of this movie from the early 2000s but damn I am so fucking happy to find it again and watch it as an adult.

A movie that is super over the top, and very self aware of it, that still feels so fucking cool. “Knuckle up” - “let’s go mother fuck, let’s work” kick off such an amazing and cool fight all while Marky Marky is absolutely D R I P P I N G in a yellow quarter zip. A lot of the cheesiness can be forgiven by these really action packed scenes.

This movie also knows how to build the suspense. The scene where the father drunkenly goes off on everyone and falls over to reveal everyone has their guns pointing at the is PEAK. Everyone is pulling out the handguns and pistol and Mark pulls a fucking shit gun. Another amazing action scene.

They couldn’t make a movie like this again even if the tried.
A movie that has always felt like a fever dream and after watching it… it still is. I have a super vague and foggy memory of this movie from the early 2000s but damn I am so fucking happy to find it again and watch it as an adult.

A movie that is super over the top, and very self aware of it, that still feels so fucking cool. “Knuckle up” - “let’s go mother fuck, let’s work” kick off such an amazing and cool fight all while Marky Marky is absolutely D R I P P I N G in a yellow quarter zip. A lot of the cheesiness can be forgiven by these really action packed scenes.

This movie also knows how to build the suspense. The scene where the father drunkenly goes off on everyone and falls over to reveal everyone has their guns pointing at the is PEAK. Everyone is pulling out the handguns and pistol and Mark pulls a fucking shit gun. Another amazing action scene.

They couldn’t make a movie like this again even if the tried.
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Jacob Paddison
Jacob Paddison
The Big Hit
45% Pulp Fiction, 35% Grosse Pointe Blank, and 20% Double TeamThe Big Hit is a monstrous concoction of all things '90s, and one that I'm already forgetting about as I write this sentence. BUT, what I do remember is being quite entertained by how goofy and unpredictable the film gets, jumping from a dark crime comedy, to a HK-influenced action extravaganza, to a lighthearted romcom farce, usually over the course of a single scene. Ends with a knife fight in a multi-level video store that has this dark take on the Wacky Pomo aesthetic, is covered in Troma posters, and is home to a really funny execution of a long-running joke involving Bokeem Woodbine's character.

It's some stupid fun bullshit that I'm never gonna think about again.
45% Pulp Fiction, 35% Grosse Pointe Blank, and 20% Double TeamThe Big Hit is a monstrous concoction of all things '90s, and one that I'm already forgetting about as I write this sentence. BUT, what I do remember is being quite entertained by how goofy and unpredictable the film gets, jumping from a dark crime comedy, to a HK-influenced action extravaganza, to a lighthearted romcom farce, usually over the course of a single scene. Ends with a knife fight in a multi-level video store that has this dark take on the Wacky Pomo aesthetic, is covered in Troma posters, and is home to a really funny execution of a long-running joke involving Bokeem Woodbine's character.

It's some stupid fun bullshit that I'm never gonna think about again.
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Joshua Timpko
Joshua Timpko
The Big Hit
Sometimes I like to pretend to be a sophisticated movie watcher. Other times I say fuck it and put on a film from my youth in which Lou Diamond Phillips plays a deranged contract killer who vomits on Elliot Gould and Bokeem Woodbine says “straight jackin’ saves you that mad cream,” for some reason since he discovered masturbation a week before. 

Call it camp and dumb gun-fu all you want, but I have a blast every time I watch this. It’s beautiful garbage cinema to me. 

7.6/10
Sometimes I like to pretend to be a sophisticated movie watcher. Other times I say fuck it and put on a film from my youth in which Lou Diamond Phillips plays a deranged contract killer who vomits on Elliot Gould and Bokeem Woodbine says “straight jackin’ saves you that mad cream,” for some reason since he discovered masturbation a week before. 

Call it camp and dumb gun-fu all you want, but I have a blast every time I watch this. It’s beautiful garbage cinema to me. 

7.6/10
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Kyle Walton
Kyle Walton
The Big Hit
One of the dumbest movies I have ever seen. I loved it
One of the dumbest movies I have ever seen. I loved it
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