Future Cops

When I sat down to watch "Chiu kap hok hau ba wong" (aka "Future Cops") here in 2021, for the very first time, I must admit that I wasn't really expecting the movie to be as enjoyable and funny as it turned out to be. I had read the synopsis, but hadn't paid attention to whom was on the cast list.

And I must admit that writer and director Jing Wong definitely did a marvelous job with "Future Cops", because this movie was every bit as unique as it was enjoyable. In fact, I think that "Future Cops" is so over the top goofy and silly that some viewers might actually dislike the movie. I, however, enjoyed this particular style of silly movie.

The storyline is pretty straight forward and simplistic. A group of law enforcers and criminals travel back in time and cause havoc at a high school.

Aside from having an enjoyable storyline that was made all the more entertaining by the sheer amount of funny situations, character and dialogue, then "Future Cops" had an amazing ensemble of casted actors and actresses. If you are familiar with the Hong Kong cinema, then you will find yourself in for quite a treat.

"Future Cops" has the likes of Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok, Chingmy Yau, Ekin Cheng, Simon Yam. Richard Ng and Ken Lo on the cast list. So yeah, this is definitely an all-star ensemble.

I particularly enjoyed how "Future Cops" was a parody on things like "Street Fighter", "Tekken", "Dragonball Z" and "Doreamon". It was just all together a silly mixture that made for hilarious entertainment.

This was definitely a blast to sit down and watch, and I was more than genuinely entertained by Jing Wong's 1993 action comedy. My rating of "Future Cops" lands on a six out of ten stars.

A great outing from Hong Kong's crazy director, Wong Jing. A roman-a-clef version of Street Fighter II, this film features some of Hong Kong's biggest stars (Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Simon Lam). Upon first viewing you may find that your brain is short circuiting due to the bizarreness, but once you finish, you have to go back for more. Every turn in this film leads to another sight gag, from Broom Man's hair, big lips, edible furniture, age reducing syringes, live action Super Mario Brothers, and Dragonball's Son Goku. Not really close to the story of Street Fighter II, most of the characters are here (all except Balrog and Zangief, and the 4 characters added later, although there are 2 Chun Lis in the end). All and all, a classic Hong Kong comedy, others may not think the same, but I can't imagine watching it without laughing insanely.

In the year 2043, M. Bison is about to serve a hefty jail sentence but not if he can help it, he sends his best men Ken, Sagat and E. Honda back to the year 1993 to kill off the judge that originally jailed their leader. The government get wind of Bison's plans and send a crack team of officers to put a spanner in Bison's work, those officers are Vega, Guile and Dhalsim.

The three officers arrive in the past and befriend a bumbling high school student who is the butt of both the school's bullies and his sister's, Chun Li, jokes.

The three future cops begin their search for the judge before Bison's men can get their hands on him.

This movie was insane, I had heard many bad things about it so I didn't have high expectations when I out the disc in, I mean I figured it couldn't be as bad as it's made out to be.

So, basically it's Wong Jing's attempt at adapting the characters from the popular arcade classic Street Fighter II into a feature length movie, he had already played around with the characters in the Jackie Chan classic City Hunter in which Jackie and the other co-stars imitated the game in one scene.

Clearly Wong had enjoyed the experience he decided to stretch the whole thing out into a 90 minute movie.

First off I should mention when Wong began production he had "forgotten" to ask the developers of Street Fighter II if he could use the names and likenesses so what you see are names played around with i.e. E. Honda becomes Toyota and Sagat becomes Tai King and so on. Also the costumes are changed slightly but still have the look of the original characters.

The plot is a send off of Stephen Chow's Fight Back To School when the good guys disguise themselves as pupils at a high school and get into all sorts of wacky high jinks which for the most part work well on a brainless level.

The action in this one is scarce which is a shame since it is a fighting game which was the inspiration for this flick but when the action does occur it's fast and frantic, a trade mark of the action director Ching Siu-Tung's work, He styled the scenes to emulate the game play and he did it quite well, although the scene from City Hunter was a little bit better. Each of the actors display the signature moves of their respective characters.

Wong Jing's directing leaves little to be desired but the cast is pretty star filled for a Hong Kong movie, in here you've got Andy Lau, Jackie Cheung, Aaron Kwok, Simon Yam. Chingamy Yau, Dicky Cheung and Ekin Cheng.

Each actor gives a decent performance, well it is a comedy so there's not much reason to flex the acting muscles in this one.

My only problem is that the film should have given more screen time to Aaron Kwok as Ryu or as he's referred to in this Lung, he his a crazy fight with Ekin Cheng at the beginning of the movie and then you don't see him for the rest of the movie until right near the end.

Really this kind of movie could only be fully appreciated if you're viewing it with friends, preferably in a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 type of situation. I recommend you buy the movie if you can find it cheap, just try not to take it too seriously.

After viewing a number of flicka at the end of my birthday on the 9th, I looked for an easy-going flick the next day in order to continue on ICM's Hong Kong/ Taiwan/China viewing challenge. Finding interesting comments online linking this to the Street Fighter game,I got set to join the future cops.

View on the film:

Unofficially borrowing/ ripping off the Street Fighter games characters, the 10-15 minutes of fight scenes in the flick are the lone moments writer/director Jing Wong & cinematographer Wai-Keung Lau give the movie some sparks, via the smoke machine going into overtime for a 80's Music Video look, and the sped-up speed of film giving the fighting moves a quickness similar to the game. Filled with a eye-catching big name cast, the script and the rest of Wong's directing sadly wastes them, as moments of interesting weirdness (Super Mario talking about AIDS!) are drowned out by an attempt to be a High School teen Comedy, which lands flat by the gags being neither physically raunchy, nor wittingly written, leading this to be a forgettable arrival from the future cops.

In the future, year 2043, Bison is convicted and comes up with a plan to free himself. He sends his henchmen, Ken, Honda and Sagat, back in time to 1993 to find and destroy the judge who sentenced him when he was still vulnerable. It turns out that at this time he was still in high school. Cops from the future are also sent back in time to find him first and protect him. Throughout most of the story they are looking for him in the past, and trying to blend in with society of the time. This has to be one of the funniest movies i've seen in a very long time. If you are not in the mood for silly comedy, wait until you are to watch this. Street Fighter fans especially will have fun watching how silly the characters in this movie are. It's very similar to anime in it's humor stylings, making for a completely unrealistic, but comedic world. I would completely recommend this as a party movie among friends when you want a lot of laughs.