Synopsis

Professional assassin John Lee refuses to kill a police officer's young son, angering the Chinatown crime boss who hired him. Desperate to escape Los Angeles and protect his family in China, Lee turns to document forger Meg Coburn for a new identity. When replacement killers are sent to finish the assignment and eliminate Lee, the pair must fight their way through the city.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film marked Chow Yun-fat's Hollywood acting debut after he became internationally known for Hong Kong action films such as The Killer and Hard Boiled.

• John Woo served as an executive producer and helped shape the film's action sequences, linking the production to the Hong Kong heroic-bloodshed tradition that inspired its gunplay and stylized confrontations.

• Mira Sorvino speaks Mandarin Chinese and was able to assist Chow Yun-fat, who was still learning English during the production.

• The Chinese character engraved on John Lee's bullets means "death."

• Several Los Angeles locations were used to create the film's fictional urban landscape. The eight-story Giant Penny building, a nearly condemned structure, doubled as a police-station interior, a hotel room, and Meg Coburn's office.

• The film was produced as a Columbia Pictures co-production with Brillstein-Grey Entertainment and WCG Entertainment Productions. It opened in U.S. theaters on February 6, 1998, with an estimated $30 million budget.

• An extended version was later made available on home video, adding material not included in the original theatrical cut.