Dak ging san yan lui

sit back, cease all brain activity and just enjoy this amusing movie.. it won't win an oscar and the story makes little sense but it has some funny moments and the action is pretty cool.. i rate it 7/10

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 one line summary says it all. They are young. They are cool. They kick ass. They are pretty boys (cops) with big guns (no pun intended). Add an uberly uber sexy Toru Nakamura as the vengeful Yakuza boss, and what you'll get is a Gift from Heaven TM for all slash fangirls. Who cares about the plot? (Which actually is quite interesting). Ahem. I'll be serious now. When top secret bomb material is stolen by an aspiring and vengeful Yakuza boss (masterfully played by the wonderful Toru Nakamura), a detective considered by his colleagues to be a clown, decides to hunt down the villain. To infiltrate the criminal organisation, he finds a trio of kicked-from-the-academy former cadets and sends them under cover. The "icredible trio" unravels the mystery and at the and has a big KABOOM fight with Yakuza boss. Simple premise, isn't it? Anyway, if you don't want to be mentally challenged and are looking for good time (pretty boys), some mindless shooting and fighting, nice special effects, that's the movie for you. 7/10

...and here's why:

1) The plot is an overlong, unengaging mess

2) The action scenes are generic (mostly shootouts in which it's often hard to tell who's shooting at whom, and special effects-enhanced explosions).

3) The fight scenes are brief and overedited. There is one girl (Grace Yip) that appears to be a better fighter than the three male leads, and where is she during the climactic fight? Nowhere to be seen!

4) 15 years after the "Lucky Stars" series, Eric Tsang is still providing the same kind of lame-brained "comic relief". Isn't it time for this guy to give it a rest?

Two spectacular sky-diving sequences are all I'll remember from this one...and yes, it's easy to see why the very handsome Nicholas Tse has so many female fans.

*1/2 out of 4.

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.