Synopsis

In Hong Kong during the 1997 handover, counterfeit fashion executive Marcus Ray discovers that fake jeans are being used to conceal miniature explosives. With help from his partner, who is secretly a CIA agent, Ray becomes entangled in a Russian Mafia plot targeting the United States. As loyalties shift and time runs short, he must separate the genuine threats from the manufactured ones.

Factoids & Trivia

• The title is a double entendre, referring both to counterfeit merchandise and a targeted killing.

• The film was shot mainly in Hong Kong from May 23 to August 7, 1997, with second-unit material filmed in the Philippines.

• Its story uses the 1997 handover of Hong Kong as a backdrop, giving the action a real-world atmosphere of political uncertainty and rapidly changing loyalties.

• Sammo Hung served as the second-unit director, adding a major Hong Kong action-cinema connection behind the scenes.

• A substantial amount of martial-arts footage was heavily cut from the finished release. Some home-video editions included making-of material that showed action not seen in the theatrical version.

• The garage fight was edited at an especially rapid pace, with stunt doubles visible in several shots when the sequence is viewed in slow motion.

• Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks received the music credit, and the soundtrack includes the song "It's a Knock-Off," which was performed by the duo.

• The film marked the second collaboration between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Tsui Hark, following "Double Team" in 1997.

• "Knock Off" opened in the United States on September 4, 1998, and earned approximately $10.3 million in domestic theaters against an estimated $30 million budget.