Code Phoenix

When i first heard about this movie. I came to this site and read the story. From that point i thought it would be a hong-kong action/martial arts flick à la "Rush Hour". Unfortunatly it was a made for TV, little action film with no famous names except for Jeffrey Meek (to tell the truth, it looked like a pilot for a second "raven" series). There wasn't much action, but when there was, it was handled O.K. The whole cast acted very well and since it was set in the future, it gave away some funny links, like for example: a bus drives by with on the side "Britney Spears comback tour" written on it. If you like series like "raven" or "acapulco heat" then you can picture this as a long episode.

Of course, this movie could be a great start of a series on television. It is fun to see all the hidden jokes about the past in it, and despite some of the technology being rather unlikely, it is crisply put together. Another delightful aspect is that very few people die: the US Marshalls use bullets that cause people to fall asleep rather than die, which reduces the amount of deaths rather drastically.

Another thing that is interesting is the thing that the heroes of the movie are trying to prevent, which is the opposite of what you might expect. But I don't want to spoil your fun, so if you want to know more about that part, you should probably watch the movie.

In a near future, Lucy Chang (Jeanne Chinn) is a special agent from Hong Kong police force chasing the evil Dr. Fong (Dennis Akayama), who has a virus that halts the aging process. Dr. Fong moves to USA to sell the dreamed fountain of the youth. His intent is to become rich and powerful, no matter the social problems of feeding and the unbalance of the population this cosmetic could cause to the world. In this period, the US Marshalls are rewarded for bounty rather than by salary. Lucy is incriminated by her corrupt superior to the American police force, and a high reward is offered for Lucy's head, dead or alive. Lucy is chased by the agents, but agent Jake Randall (Jeffrey Meek) trusts on Lucy and helps her to avoid Dr. Fong to be well succeeded in his intent. Although having flaws in the story and poor special effects, this movie is a reasonable sci-fi adventure. There are good jokes, like the sequel of `Tomb Raider VII', the 60th year tour of the Rolling Stones or the Britney Spears tour. The police uses harmless weapons, and their lawyers looks for eventual victims of the police shooting for dealing without the need of going to court. The movie has many good ideas, which could be improved for a better sequence. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): `Codinome Fênix' (`Code Name Phoenix')