|
Review
by Kozo: |
Aping big-budget western filmmaking seems to be HK’s
new pastime. The trend was pioneered two years ago with
the excitingly bland Downtown Torpedoes, and
now we’ve got Gen-X Cops. Simply put, it’s Mod
Squad in HK. Rebellious police cadets Jack
(Nicholas Tse), Match (Stephen Fung), and Alien (Sam
Lee) are recruited by wacky cop Eric Tsang to go undercover
as common thugs. Aiding them is Y2K (Grace Yip), a teenybopper
hacker who’s their eyes and ears. Hopefully, these brash
kids will be able to take down vicious punk Daniel (Daniel
Wu), who’s connected to evil arms dealer Akatora (Toru
Nakamura). It seems there’s some missing rocket fuel
or some other plot device that allows our heroes an
arena in which to strut their stuff.
These three cops are all attitude
and no planning; it’s a good thing they’re tough as
all hell. With a minimal amount of police work and a
maximum amount of fisticuffs, our three intrepid heroes
rout the bad guys in a formulaic blend of genre clichés.
For example, there are bastard cops led by Moses Chan
who despise the Gen-X Cops, and Daniel’s new girlfriend
Haze (Jaymee Ong) happens to be a former flame of Match’s.
Plus our three heroes find time out to soul search about
their newfound jobs.
Few
surprises populate this calculated, commercial piece
of fluff. Thankfully, Benny Chan (Big Bullet,
Who Am I?) happens to be the director. Probably
HK’s most competent commercial director, Chan gives
us well-executed action sequences and good stunt work,
as well as surprisingly good performances from his pop
star cast. Nicholas Tse carries himself well as Jack,
even when he’s speaking English. Able support is provided
by Francis Ng, who plays local crime boss Lok with his
usual scene-stealing flamboyance. Despite its cheesy
trappings, Gen-X Cops shows a lot of panache.
Sure it’s all in the name of Hollywood wannabe status,
but it’s passable entertainment. (Kozo
2000) |
|
