This Chinese cyber thriller takes absolutely ages to get going. The entire first half of the film is filled with the machinations of a rather uninteresting cast of geeky characters, of whom there are far too many including lots of extraneous types (like the hero's girlfriend). Then, after a set-piece ambush, the story finally starts moving and it all gets rather better from that point in.
The plot, involving cyber crime at the turn of the millennium, is inevitably rather dated by today's standards, and watching people chase around and downloading data onto disk is a little cheesy. The inclusion of some ultra-low budget CGI effects, such as a plane explosion, doesn't help things. But when it comes to the action, director Gordon Chan doesn't disappoint, filling the latter half of his production with a series of hard-hitting shoot-outs that really make an impact, utilising bloody squib hits to their maximum advantage. Okay, so the ensuing martial arts fights aren't quite as well choreographed as the gunfights, but who cares? Young, dashing hero Aaron Kwok leads the proceedings, transforming from a geeky-type character into a rather unfeasibly tough, battle-scarred hero. A subdued Daniel Wu plays his friend, confidante and business associate, but doesn't have a great deal to do, although beautiful Malaysian actress Phyllis Quek is a welcome addition to the cast list. One of the best characters is an investigating cop, played by Francis Ng, who steals every scene with his layered performance of real depth. And watch out for Jackie Chan's former bodyguard, Ken Lo, playing an evil sniper.
