Home / Reviews / Action Reviews / 2000 AD

2000 AD (2000)

The plot line for the Chinese New Year release 2000 AD follows an age-old formula that's been followed in both Hong Kong and Hollywood: CGIBT (Cute Guy In Big Trouble). In this case, the Cute Guy is Aaron Kwok and the Big Trouble is a conspiracy to create the ultimate computer virus. Kwok makes for an engaging lead, with the kind of good looks that can cross-over from East to West. Director Gordon Chan, a past master of the Asian actioner, takes his star on a wild ride from zero to hero. A recurring theme of the film is the idea that Kwok's character is a videogame expert forced to apply his skill in the real world. Once it's up and running, 2000 AD has the same kind of pace, constantly throwing fresh challenges into the face of its all too-human protagonist.

The film opens with a sequence set at a Singaporean air base, with a test of the facility's computer system being undertaken. The F-16 jet fighter excercise is successful, but, in an unrelated incident, an air-bus blows up over Singapoream air space. Special agent Eric Ong (James Lye) is sent to investigate.

The action shifts to Hong Kong, where we meet carefree youngster Peter Tong (Aaron Kwok). Peter lives a charmed life, thanks to the largesse of his wealthy computer programmer brother Greg (Ray Lui). In a rather haphazard manner, he runs a small software company, 'working' with his long-suffering partner Benny (Daniel Wu). This comfortable family unit is rounded out by Benny's sister, Janet (Gigi Choi), who is the love of Peter's life. Peter is delighted when Greg, who makes his home in the U.S, returns to Hong Kong to visit (not least because his elder sibling writes yet another cheque to bail him out of debt...)

Peter's idyllic world is shattered when his home is raided by a crack Hong Kong police unit. CIA operative Kelvin Woo (Andrew Lin) suspects that Greg Tong is somehow involved with a computer spy ring, and perhaps linked Singaporean air crash. The local police commander Ronald Ng (Francis Ng), takes both brothers into custody. Realising Peter is innocent, Ng agrees to release him. Peter leaves the police station, just in time to see his brother die in a horrific sniper attack that destroys the vehicle in which he is riding. Catching sight of the killer, Bobby Lo (Ken Lo), Peter gives chase. Despite his best efforts, the assassin makes his escape.

Returning home, Peter meets Salina (Phyllis Quek), Greg's girlfriend, about whom he knows very little. When they discover a safety deposit box key among Greg's personal effects, Salina insists that they go to retrieve the contents. Inside they find a key to another safety deposit box, this one in Singapore. Before they can take action, Peter and Salina are both arrested by Ng and his men. As they are led to the waiting police vehicles, Bobby and his team attack, and the entire task force, including Ng, are wiped out. Salina vanishes, and, with the help of Eric Ong, who has been following him, Peter makes his escape.

Peter is called to show the kind of courage he has never known before to save his own life, clear his brother's name and prevent misuse of a potentially devastating super-weapon. Showing such courage involves a breathtaking rooftop fight, a car chases and gunfights of the kind we have been missing from recent Hong Kong-films.

Kwok plays younger than his years as the slacker turned sleuth. His performance grows better as the film progresses. His depiction of the light-hearted Peter is rather broad, but he manages to convey the slow deepening of his character well. Daniel Wu does what he can with what is little more than a goofy sidekick role. He and Kwok make an appearing couple, with Wu towering over the star (something that would never be allowed in a Hollywood production!). Kwok, a familiar face to fight fans after his performances in The Bare-Footed Kid and Somebody Up There Likes Me, acquits himself well in the action scenes, which are choreographed by Martial Law veteran Richard Hung (a.k.a Yuen Tak).

Of the supporting players, James Lye and Andrew Lin stand out on opposite sides of the law. With his rough-hewn features, he may be just too manly for the Hong Kong teen market. However, his English skills may bode well for a career in international films. Andrew Lin, who stole the show in Black Sheep Affair, does what he can with what is basically a one-dimensional villain role. Though given only brief screen time, the wonderful Francis Ng steals every scene he is in. Ng is the nearest thing Hong Kong cinema has to a DeNiro, a chameleon who genuinely becomes his latest role.

The film suffers from the absence of a strong female role. Singaporean actress Phyllis Quek has a delicate beauty, but is never anything deeper than a plot device. Gigi Choi is so annoying as Kwok's naive girlfriend, you wonder why he didn't leave her behind in Hong Kong.

After an unsteady start, director Gordon Chan gets the action moving at the requisite pace, never allowing the audience time to really analyse the more outrageous aspect of the plot. Would the Hong Kong government really send a CIA request that it arrest someone on spying charges. Rather than involving the authorities, why doesn't Woo just send his men to eliminate Greg? However, this isn't that kind of film. Instead, it's the kind of slambang actioner that local audiences have long come to expect from Chinese New Year releases.

Chan receives able support from award-winning cinematographer Arthur Wong, whose camerawork defines the look of the film. The Singaporean back-drop is very bright, though rather antiseptic, as you might expect from one of the world's most heavily regulated communities. (Forget the Internet bomb! Chewing gum and reading Playboy are already capital offences!) It's Chan's credit that the violence in the film is never the quick-cut cartoon action of many Hong Kong films. The two scenes, set in Hong Kong, where Ken Lo's character wreaks havoc, have real impact, enhanced by tinted shots, and detailed inserts like a simple shot of the blood dripping from a car door.

2000 AD mixes fresh young folk with in-your-face action. It delivers enough bang for the buck of even the most jaded film fan and it also won a little audience outside of Asia, namely on DVD in Germany and in the UK on the Hong Kong Legends label.

Written on July 14th 2004

<< back

Copyright © 2005 FULLTIME REVIEWS - Hussain Abdullah