Future X-Cops
未来警察
Hong Kong/China/Taiwan, 2010, colour, 2.35:1, 101 mins.
Director: Wang Jing 王晶 [Wong Jing].
Rating: 3/10.
Unashamedly pulpy time-travel action movie is for hardcore genre addicts only.
STORY
An East Asian metropolis, AD 2080. Backed by peeved energy suppliers, cyborg terrorists try to assassinate Ma (Ma Jingwu), a professor, on the 10th anniversary of his energy-saving Solar Canopy but are defeated by cyborg cop Zhou Zhihao (Liu Dehua). However, Zhou Zhihao’s wife, Meili (Fan Bingbing), is killed and terrorist leader Kalong (Fan Shaohuang) and his wife Feina (Tang Yifei) escape. Kalong and Feina travel back to 2020 to try to kill the teenage Ma, and are pursued by Zhou Zhihao, who takes along his young daughter Qiqi (Xu Jiao). Posing as an inept traffic cop, Zhou Zhihao attracts the attention of policewoman Wang Xue’e (Xu Xiyuan), who falls for him.
REVIEW
Essentially a remake by Hong Kong director-producer Wang Jing 王晶 [Wong Jing] of his own 1993 Future Cops 超级学校霸王, in which Liu Dehua 刘德华 [Andy Lau] also starred, Future X-Cops 未来警察 is way less funny and way more chaotic, with pothole-sized gaps in logic and continuity, even by Hong Kong genre standards. (Unbelievably, the film claims a budget of 
US$20 million.) With most of the visual effects (effective in a trashy way) at the start and end, the middle section, set in the near present, is reminscent in look and feel of a 1980s Wang Jing Cantonese comedy, with bumbling undercover police and Liu pretending to be an ordinary traffic cop with a cute daughter.
As the latter, Mainland child star Xu Jiao 徐娇 (CJ7 长江7号, 2008; Mulan 花木兰, 2009) is perky but Liu looks uncomfortable and stiff. Hong Kong’s Fan Shaohuang 樊少皇 [Louis Fan] makes a passable super-villain, with some Transformers-like mutations for the final face-off against RoboCop-like Liu; Mainland TV actress Tang Yifei 唐一菲 over-acts wildly as his slinkily evil wife; and Mainland star Fan Bingbing 范冰冰 is just okay before being killed off early on. Sole class performance is by Taiwan’s Xu Xiyuan 徐熙媛 [Barbie Hsu], who brings a modicum of real emotion to her putative love story with Liu’s character. But the long central section is lacking in any real comedy or drama.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film Group (CN), Scholar Multimedia (TW), Beijing Hualu Bana Film & TV Production (CN), Beijing Orange Sky Zhihong TV & Film Production (CN), IDG China Media (CN), Mega-Vision Pictures (HK), Fantawild Pictures (CN), Orsun Movie & TV Cultural of Hubei (CN). Produced by Mega-Vision Pictures (HK).
Script: Wang Jing [Wong Jing]. Photography: Jiang Guomin [Venus Keung]. Editing: Li Jiarong. Music: Huang Yinghua [Raymond Wong Ying-wah]. Art direction: Mo Shaozong [Alex Mok]. Costumes: Li Bijun [Lee Pik-kwan], Ouyang Xia [Connie Auyeung]. Sound: Chen Li, Li Peigen, Wang Kang, Jia Qinghui, Wei Yao. Action: Cheng Xiaodong [Tony Ching]. Martial arts: Huang Mingjian. Visual effects: Zong Jianqiang (Kinomotive Studio).
Cast: Liu Dehua [Andy Lau] (Zhou Zhihao/Kidd), Xu Jiao (Zhou Qiqi/Kiki), Xu Xiyuan [Barbie Hsu] (Wang Xue’e/Holly), Fan Bingbing (Meili/Millie), Ma Jingwu (Ma/Masterson, professor), Tang Yifei (Feina/Fiona), Fan Shaohuang [Louis Fan] (Kalong/Kalon), He Junxiang (Ma Jinxiang), Zhang Li (Huo Li Shuyi), Shi Yunpeng (Huo Jinhua), Liu Yiwei (druggie), Ding Sheng (Tie), Luo Jiaying [Law Kar-ying] (Jiandao/Scissors), Chen Jianzhou (Heisantian/Misfortune, young undercover 2020 cop), Huang Licheng (2080 male cop), Zhou Liming [Andrew Chow] (Didi), Chen Xiaofeng (Kabao), Xiao Jian (Shitou/Stone), Liu Yang (Xiaofei), Meng Yao (nurse), Li Jianren (Lanbu/Rags), Feng Huiyuan (2080 female cop), Li Youwei (2020 mayor), Li Dongxue, Wang Zheping (2080 male cops), Yao Yanlin, Yu Wanlin, Wang Yi (Kalong’s bosses).
Release: China, 30 Mar 2010; Taiwan, 2 Apr 2010; Hong Kong, 15 Apr 2010.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 19 May 2010.)