I thought this one was kind of lame, personally. Gunplay doesn't do it for me like killer martial arts work does. There were a few high-kicking moments but the camera was too close in so it was difficult to tell whether any of the guys were really any good or not! Yeah, I'll admit some of the action scenes were exciting, but not in the way that made me want to rewind and rewatch in slo-mo...and not exciting enough to make me forget that the story itself was pretty cliched and confusing.
Maybe it was the dubbing, too, that threw me off...where do they get these voice "actors"?!
I don't mind bad dubbing on old-school flicks, that's part of the crazy charm of them for me.
But on a modern day flick trying to be very slick in every other aspect, bad dubbing just
throws me out of the action.
OK, the boys were pretty...but too young for my tastes, too pouty in that "Gen-X" way that already bores me in U.S. media. When someone commented on how Jack looked just like Leonardo DiCaprio, that REALLY ruined it for me...and I wanted to brush that damn dyed lock of hair out of his eyes so he could see who he was shooting at! Alien (Sam Lee) was kind of funny though--Sam has some potential to do some more interesting work in the future. But when Jackie Chan shows up for a too-brief cameo, complaining about how much faster & kick-ass he was when he was their age...I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.
Things I DID like: Eric Tsang as Inspector Chan, the outsider cop trying to keep his gang of young screw ups under control and out of trouble. His twitchy performance was a lot of fun. And Toru Nakamura as the bad guy Akatura...now there was one fella I didn't mind staring at for a while...very cool, very bad-ass, very hot.
Slash potential: Not as much as I was hoping for. Though the three young guys were pretty buddy-buddy, there were also a couple of homophobic lines that ruined any potential for me. Though some of the moments between Jack and the bad guy Daniel were nice (despite Daniel's insistence that he wasn't gay!)
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: C
Droolworthiness: A if you're into bland-faced young 'uns. D if you're not and are only waiting for Jackie to show up.
Slashiness: B- Some potential but the dialog negates a lot of it
Action: B+ if you like lots of guns. C- if you're waiting for some kung fu craziness.
Could somebody please get these boys a hairbrush?!
