The Big Hit

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The Big Hit

Directed by	Kirk Wong
Produced by	Warren Zide, Wesley Snipes
Written by	Ben Ramsey
Starring	Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips
Editing by	Pietro Scalia
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	April 24, 1998
Running time	91 min.
Language	English
Budget	$13,000,000
IMDb profile

The Big Hit is a comedy-action movie from 1998 which served as an acting vehicle for Mark Wahlberg and also starred Lou Diamond Phillips, with appearances by Christina Applegate, Avery Brooks, and Elliot Gould.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a hitman leading a secret life as well as maintaining two relationships, one with the demanding and demeaning Chantel, who doesn't accept his work, and another with Pam, who knows nothing of his job and has picky, xenophobic parents.

Quickly it is determined that Smiley is much of a pushover, trying to appease all of Chantel's demands, even her most expensive wishes, as well as rolling over whenever one of his co-workers takes credit for his achievements. Melvin is constantly drinking Maalox throughout the early scenes.

Feeling underpaid by their work for mob boss Paris (Brooks), the assassin team of Smiley, Cisco (Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), take an independent job, to kidnap the teenage daughter (Keiko Nishi, played by China Chow) of a local electronics magnate (played by Sab Shimono) for a hefty ransom. Unfortunately, the team does not realize that Nishi has recently gone bankrupt over his failed foray into motion pictures -- and furthermore, their boss Paris is the girl's godfather.

Enlisted by the group to hold Keiko, Smiley has to hide the bound and gagged schoolgirl on his property, away from his girlfriend Pam and her family coming for dinner. Eventually Melvin feels sorry for the girl, and lets her out for a bit, and they hit off a rapport, preparing dinner together and leading into a love scene reminiscent of the pottery scene from Ghost which is cut short by the girl's attempted escape.

Ordered by Paris to discover the kidnappers of his god-daughter, a nervous Cisco kills his partner and frames Melvin for the kidnapping. A team of assassins crash Melvin's dinner with Pam's family, leading to a shootout during which Melvin realizes Pam was going to break up with him under pressure from her isolationist mother.

Melvin and Keiko's feelings drift towards an awkward romance, and Melvin attempts to escape from the fiasco with her in tow, pursued by Cisco. An extended fight erupts, culminating at a video store where the ever-honest Smiley stops to return an overdue tape, and though Smiley manages to kill Cisco, an explosive device destroys the building, leading to the speculation of Smiley's death. However, he is revealed to have survived, using an enormous movie stand-up made of solid gold (for Nishi's flop) as shelter from the blast.