Review of Gen-Y Cops (2000) by Melanie B — 26 Jan 2008

A film that tries to build off of the first installment. While the first gen cops film was just OK, this one falls short when compared with it. In other words, it is pretty crappy.The story is everything you would expect from a Benny Chan film.

Cocky bad guys, being chased by young forget the rules cops. No depth in the story and not enough character background makes this film really easy to follow, but also a bit bland. This film, as you would expect, moves pretty quickly and yet there are still times when it feels like nothing is happening.

Not a good thing. At least the story is a little "teched up" with the use of an attack robot being the centerpiece of this film. Still, it is not enough to save this movie.There is a ton of action in here, but it is nothing spectacular by any means.

The shootouts are rather weak and the martial arts is laughable at times. I guess it can't be helped when it is written that way into the story.The acting is average at best and that is to be expected.

Unfortunately, there is a bunch of overacting in here. While it is not uncommon to see this, it is just a bit over the top. Sam Lee is just plain irritating and so is Richard Sun. I can live with Richard Sun's performance, but I can't say the same about Sam Lee.

What makes the acting worse is the dialogue. There is a ton of English in this film and it sounds unnatural like it is read directly as it is written on the script, if there is one. The only decent performances of this film come from Paul Rudd and Anthony Wong.

The latter is just a guest star with only a small role. I just wonder why Paul Rudd is in this film. He seems to have a pretty good Hollywood career going. Maggie Q? Well, it looks like she picks another bad Hong Kong movie to be in.

I don't see any real reason to watch this film, unless you don't mind watching a comedic action adventure. If you want something more serious there are a ton of other films out there, even the first Gen-X Cops.