The great thing about Hong Kong action thrillers is that you don't need a full frontal lobotomy before you can enjoy them. Movies like The Fast and The Furious, Stealth and A Man Apart are so shockingly devoid of any real action in the upstairs department that you wonder if someone really took the term 'no-brainer' too far and removed the juicy brains of the entire production staff.
On the other side of the fence, and indeed the world, most Hong Kong made thrillers are clever and witty, relying on a believable and steadily developed plot just as much as fast-paced set pieces. 2000AD is a fantastic illustration of this approach. Gordon Chan's tight believable movie trundles along at a fast but not breakneck pace, giving you time to get your head round the clever but not convoluted plot.
Centring on a corrupt American-Cantonese CIA op attempting to hold the world to ransom with a program capable of destroying any computer mainframe, 2000AD is complex but believable. It smartly avoids using any technology our current world can't produce, and as a result avoids tying itself up in nonsensical knots or producing any real plot holes.
While it depends largely on character and story as opposed to braindead gunplay, 2000AD is also full of consummate examples of how to stage a fantastic action set piece. The action sequences are as good as you would expect from the Chan production team, full of great stunts and awesome spectacle. As an added bonus, the movie's slow-burning nature means that when it does let rip, boy do you feel it.
With both of these elements, 2000AD comes in highly recommended. However it does have a few niggling flaws. For a start, the version I watched had somewhat awkward subtitles that missed odd segments of dialogue, but honestly this didn't detract much from the movie. Still, the film is a little unbalanced between high energy action and a somewhat darker element. The dialogue in the movie is knowingly funny and wittily written, as with many Hong Kong films, and although this is fun to have in the movie, some people might find it at odds with the film's often brutal action sequences.
Still, if you enjoy Hong Kong cinema, you should seek this out, it won't disappoint, and if you feel like a change from the norm in your action movies you should definitely try this movie.
On the other side of the fence, and indeed the world, most Hong Kong made thrillers are clever and witty, relying on a believable and steadily developed plot just as much as fast-paced set pieces. 2000AD is a fantastic illustration of this approach. Gordon Chan's tight believable movie trundles along at a fast but not breakneck pace, giving you time to get your head round the clever but not convoluted plot.
Centring on a corrupt American-Cantonese CIA op attempting to hold the world to ransom with a program capable of destroying any computer mainframe, 2000AD is complex but believable. It smartly avoids using any technology our current world can't produce, and as a result avoids tying itself up in nonsensical knots or producing any real plot holes.
While it depends largely on character and story as opposed to braindead gunplay, 2000AD is also full of consummate examples of how to stage a fantastic action set piece. The action sequences are as good as you would expect from the Chan production team, full of great stunts and awesome spectacle. As an added bonus, the movie's slow-burning nature means that when it does let rip, boy do you feel it.
With both of these elements, 2000AD comes in highly recommended. However it does have a few niggling flaws. For a start, the version I watched had somewhat awkward subtitles that missed odd segments of dialogue, but honestly this didn't detract much from the movie. Still, the film is a little unbalanced between high energy action and a somewhat darker element. The dialogue in the movie is knowingly funny and wittily written, as with many Hong Kong films, and although this is fun to have in the movie, some people might find it at odds with the film's often brutal action sequences.
Still, if you enjoy Hong Kong cinema, you should seek this out, it won't disappoint, and if you feel like a change from the norm in your action movies you should definitely try this movie.