From the Rental Vault (1998): The Cheap Killers

Although Michael Mann's Miami Vice ended its television run in 1989, Hong Kong action director Clarence Fok was still desperately wanting to grow up to be just like Mann when he helmed the stylish but empty hitman action yarn The Cheap Killers in 1998.

Sam Cool (Alex Fong) and Yat-Tiu (Sunny Chan) are a pair of contract killers in the Hong Kong underworld. They are reliable and ruthless, which is why their boss hires them to hit a high-level triad chief. But their flamboyance leaves them vulnerable, and Yat-Tiu's attraction to another mobster's young wife Ling (Kathy Chow) exposes them when law enforcement starts to put the squeeze on their employer. Forced to flee, both are wounded and hide out while they take the time to heal their bodies and their minds.

Killers is full of slow-motion shots of Fong and Chan striding toward the camera in the kind of linen ensembles Sonny Crockett trotted out in 1985 and of the pair as they dispatch their enemies and pursuers. Although a number of heavy emotional scenes were probably supposed to add depth and dimension to the pair, the storyline and dialogue prove too great a burden for any of the cast to overcome. The Cheap Killers is well-named, as it isn't worth a whole heck of a lot.