User reviews

Americans will yawn or laugh this sci fi off the screen, for the most part, but if you dig Andy Lau in Future Cops (1993), or you're a 6 yr old Power Ranger, you should dig this spectacle. The plot is an overlong, unengaging mess. I was'nt able to cease all brain activity, kick back and enjoy hard hitting action sequences which I do in most good Chinese action films. While the special effects are not up to the Hollywood standard and far from reasonably convincing, it can be a teeny bit entertaining if you appreciate how far Hollywood has come. Hong Kong used to be seen as the home of unintentionally comical chop-socky movies of interest only to kung-fu freaks and those who like to day dream about kicking some bully's a--. While that's not a fair assessment of that country's current output, it's not a totally undeserved one concerning its past. So it made a refreshing change to see that Hong Kong – along with other Asian countries – had begun producing stylish wuxia, biopics, and energetic efforts like Yip Man, Bodyguards and Assassins, and The Banquet. Sadly, I don't think they're quite ready to stray off from that if they're going to introduce their films to the rest of the world.

The film's first big action sequence provides a weak mix of 'futuristic plot holes' and bad 'character development', all of which threaten to scupper the entire project until a potential surprise that goes for the heartstrings, which is why I gave it 2 pts. I did read somewhere that Wong claims sci-fi was never his goal, and that he was trying to tell a moving and emotional story. Strange mix? I'll say. To fully enjoy it, (whispers...) make sure to turn a blind eye on the special effects, seriously. The visual effects by Korean VFX house Kinomotive are hilariously awful, managing the same effectiveness as Wong Jing's The Wesley's Mysterious File, which came out a full eight years ago. Surprisingly, Wong Jing's skills with CGI has not improved in 8 yrs. Neither has his storytelling or directing ~by bluepeas

It is not so bad if you view it as cheesy fun. I happened to see all of the negative reviews which are saying it is cheesy. So I watched it with no expectations on how the special effects would turn out. Yes, the special effects are sort of not that good. The special effects are okay for a Hong Kong movie and that is about it. The fighting scenes are disappointing, they are a bit slow and over-use the slo-mo action. When watching the trailer, I thought I can expect some cool wire fighting scenes but in fact, it does not deliver on that. The action scenes are marred by just-okay special effects. Andy Lau in a robot suit is just fake, the CGI is just not convincing.

The story: Nothing to say about the story. It is just your average Sci-Fi romance movie. I actually thought the romance is the one that pulls down an entertaining story. The first half of the movie is not bad, it moves in a fast pace. But when it comes to the last half, the romance is more obvious and drags the fast pace down. I don't understand why Hong Kong wants to make Sci-Fi action with a subplot of romance. Hk did that with Kung Fu Cyborg. I want to see Sci-Fi action movies with a cool plot and action not some kind of romance that will put the whole movie down. Kung Fu Cyborg and Future X cop are two examples. Other than that, though the CGI in this movie is not very convincing, you have to give HK for having the guts of trying.

Overall: If you enjoy cheesy movies with bad special effects, you might enjoy this too. If your expectations for HK movies are high, probably you will ditch this. Well, I can't say I enjoy this but it is at least worth a watch, I wanted to see how far HK is progressing with its special effects. It is improving by a bit.