The Big Hit (1998)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

People are voting emotionally.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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.

The Big Hit is perfect for people with a certain sense of humor. If the idea of Marky Mark doing break-dancing moves to avoid being shot during a gun battle sounds cool or makes you laugh, you will love the rest of the movie. If it sounds lame, you're better off not watching.The movie is silly, clever, witty, and absurd, and yet it's not just a lighthearted romp: it has enough plot that even after watching it a dozen times there's never a dull moment.It's a shame there are so many people who don't "get" the movie and give it bad reviews. Its sense of humor reminds me a lot of Arrested Development--as does its frosty reception.

A little less than two years ago I became a fan of Mark Wahlberg as an actor. That affection for him as an asset has only grown. He's darned good. It's not that he played a foul-mouthed cop so well in "The Departed," nor that he was good as Charlie Croker in the remake of "The Italian Job." It wasn't 'Boogie Nights" or "Traveller," as I have not seen either of those films. It wasn't his role in "The Perfect Storm" that won me over, either, although that is a smashing good movie.It was the way he held his own in "Three Kings" with George Clooney, that first impressed me, and then in the revenge-drama "Four Brothers," I came to realize that this fellow has an absolute talent for playing the damaged hero. His acting in that ensemble made the ensemble click. It was pure and driven hatred being expressed by an adopted son for the ( unknown ) killers of his adoptive mother. It was done simply and most brilliantly, without crowding out the other three actors ....True, seven years elapsed between the champion with the broken heart, that we meet in "Four Brothers", and the cartoon comedy role -- as Smiley -- that he played in "The Big Hit." Maybe he was expected to carry everything himself in this abysmal crime comedy, which isn't really funny at all. Or, just maybe, Laine Kazan and Elliot Gould had more funny lines than were actually included in the film, or whatever -- but it ain't funny."The Big Hit" is a big, mangy, slobbering, smelly and disgusting cur.It represents everything that is wrong with movie-making in the U.S. and therefore Hollywood, and in a real sense it does have one strong and valuable element in it. "The Big Hit" demonstrates exactly how the process of "the degenerate" overtaking "the sublime" in Hollywood has been in motion since the moment this film was given the Green Light.Whoever took the decision to finance this incredible drivel, deserves to be horse-whipped in a public square. It offends every sensibility of any person with any humanity left intact. It isn't funny and it isn't a cautionary tale wrapped in a fantastic farce, and it isn't anything worth seeing once, much less twice. However, I was suckered into renting it because I do so admire Wahlberg from "Three Kings" and "Four Brothers." I don't know who Ben Ramsey is ( or whether he really wrote all the insidious and villainously bad dialog in "The Big Hit" ), but it seems clear that he didn't get another screenplay sold for four years because he was credited with spawning this devil dog. I do know how hard it is for good writers to "pop up" in Hollywood, but if he deserves the blame for this toxic 'comedy,' he too should face a public whipping, a dunking or stoning or being force-fed overcooked hot dogs. With no honey mustard.A vote of one only because negative numbers are not allowed.

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.