Gen X Cops

This was one of the best HK films to come out in 1999. The three leads, Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, and Sam Lee gave their all as Jack, Match, and Alien. Explosive gunfights combined with martial arts combat were awesome!!! Daniel Wu was a bit wasted in my opinion. They should have had his fight in the film. Nevertheless, Jackie's cameo was a riot in the end. I never expected to see him in the film, but 2 members of his Sing Ga Ban (Bradley Allan, Ken Lo) made appearances. This is a must see for new and old fans of the action genre.

After sitting through a year of American films trying to copy Hong Kong-style action, it was with great enthusiasm that I went to the Fanime 2K convention in San Jose and witnessed some of the greatest action films that were swept under the rug by the "big HK boom" of 1998-1999. Incuded among those was Gen-X Cops.

Gen-X Cops, while not the best in any specific genre, is a must-see if you're ready to jump into Hong Kong cinema, whether for the first time or after an absence. The action scenes are incredibly clean, having been shot real-for-real whenever possible. The plot has enough integrity to keep the film interesting without boring the audience to death. It's not perfect - the dubbing job isn't the best in the world (the film has a lot of English in it already, and the soundtrack can get jarring as it switches between dubbing and the original language. I watch the subtitled version whenever possible.) and most of the characters are under developed, but it is made up for with reams and reams of classic Hong Kong style. And style is what this film is all about.

The actors were all new to me. I've not watched HK films in years before watching this one, and compared to the horrible movies i've seen before, the ones that left me wanting a refund for my time, this wasn't so bad. The faces were fresh and some of them were just eye candy, a definite incentive to see this film again and again. Of course, if you are one to watch for interesting plots, HK films aren't for you.

Almost ten years after the impressive debut of Benny Chan, comes this erratic action film that does have a few bright spots. Response piece to the Andy Lau breakthrouh feature, Tian Ruo You Qing/Moment of Romance(1990). A more light and humorous film than A Moment of Romance(1990) which was a tragedy. The humor in here ranges to very funny to very bad. One actor that stands out in his performance is singer and actor, Nicholas Tse.

Tejing Xinrenlei/Gen X Cops(1999) represents the new generation of performers in Hong Kong Cinema today. Eric Tsang has the thankless role of Inspector Chan. The action scenes are high tech but not as impressive as action during the hayday of Hong Kong cinema. Nicholas Tse is a cross between Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung in his acting style. Will be known in the future years more for his cast than for the movie itself.

I've seen Nicholas Tse recently in Tsui Hark's "Time and Tide" and was very impressed with his performance. He's one of the few Hong Kong pop actors that are making a fine transition into acting than compared to some others (IE. the horrible Ekin Cheng). I saw this movie a few days ago and I have mix reactions to this movie. This movie had a mixture of English, Japanese, and Cantonese. Oh this review is on both the dubbed and subtitled versions.

First, I'll go with the flaws. The story was too Hollywood for me. How many movies have we seen a group of criminals steal a nuclear bomb and it's up to the heroes to save the city from mass destruction? Way too many times. The dialogue was just so cliche. For example after a criminal betrays his own boss for money "It's about money right? It's part of the game, you know that!" Some of the actors are just really bad like Sam Lee's character Alien, you swear you'll start to think this man has soon too many Jim Carrey movies. Also there was too many episodic character developments like it jumped from a brother and brother, to a cop and a criminal with morals, a son of a criminal who wants revenge on another criminal...and so on. Still with me?

Now for the bright spots of the movie. The action sequences are just kinetic! Fast cuts, people diving and shooting at the same time, stand offs, Kung Fu scenes, and anything you can think of for a Hong Kong action movie. The women in the movie are some good eye candy, if you know what I'm saying. Nicholas Tse does a good job, not as good as he did in Time and Tide, but since this is his earlier work, you see his potential. The actor who played Akatora was impressive even sometimes his thick Japanese accent would make you miss some of his English words. In the musical note, there was this great Hong Kong punk song at the end of the credits that was pretty catchy.

So even with mix reactions, do I recommend this movie? Well it depends. If you're looking for a good popcorn movie this would be it. If you're looking for a smart action movie that reminds you of a John Woo movie? This wouldn't be it. So whatever you choose, just look for the amazing shootouts and a promising actor name Nicholas Tse.