The Big Hit

Wahlberg exudes a dopey charm as Mel, a hitman for whom a lucrative kidnapping-on-the-side turns sour. The victim, industrialist's daughter Keiko (China Chow), is the godchild of his day-job boss. Betrayed by his back-up Cisco (Phillips), Mel finds himself on the wrong end of a lot of firepower. Meanwhile, his personal life is approaching meltdown. His fiancée, Jewish princess Pam (Applegate), has asked her disapproving parents to visit for the weekend; his money-grabbing mistress, Chantel (Rochon), is taking him for everything he's got; and an zealous video-store clerk is hassling him about an overdue tape. Substituting a frenzied pace and hyperkinetic editing for style and panache, HK film-maker Che-Kirk Wong flings together a series of ludicrously choreographed, gravity-defying set pieces. Those elements of Ben Ramsey's screenplay that survive this death of a thousand cuts provide a hint of what might have been, especially the quieter scenes between the terminally harassed Mel and his smart, disarmingly matter-of-fact kidnap victim.