REVIEW:
In previews and such, this movie came across as another "Matrix-y" type movie. It should be mentioned that such similar elements are limited to a small portion of the film. This film is more in line with the standard new-wave, conspiracy, action movie that has come out of Hong Kong in recent years, with a little more sci-fi element to it. It's a movie with some really great stuff that is also plagued by some major flaws.

The hard part in portraying an opinion on this film is that the first half and second half of the film significantly differed in their ability to keep me interested. The first part of the film, as it introduces our characters and sets up the plot, is okay but seemed to drag after a while. The virtual training missions break this up a bit, as they are fairly interesting with some nice VR scenery. It is the second half of the film, though, when I finally got gripped. Without revealing any major spoilers, I will say that the second half of the film seemed to have a much more human element to it. I associated with the characters more and understood their motivations. A number of various emotional and psychological issues come up and all the feelings from this whole second half of the film are nicely punctuated by a perfect monologue by Kelly Chen at the end of the film. This is when it really hit me.

The subliminal premise was an interesting concept and used fairly well here. It was a little disappointing, after all the interesting things we find them researching and using subliminals for, though, to see the generic use the terrorists find in it. Nonetheless, it adds a nice pseudo-sci-fi element to this standard conspiracy/action film and gives the plot a step up.

Unfortunately, not all the performances in the film were that great. All the white actors were just god-awful, although this isn't exactly an uncommon occurence in HK cinema. Ekin, though, was also fairly bland here and his English dialogue was just piss-poor. Kelly Chen was a bit better and managed to show some more emotion, as well as handling her English dialogue fairly well. Jordan Chan tops the bunch, though, with a solid performance that easily outshines everyone else in the film. I felt his character more than anything and could see the emotion in his face, and hear it in his voice.

Action was quite good. It is fast paced, well plotted, and stylishly captured, as has since come to be expected from Jingle Ma. While we may not have the true martial arts masters of HK cinema in years past, a few of the quick moves here show that there is still some solid stuff to be shown (even if it is a little less technical and a little more stylish). One thing that hurt on my particular viewings, though, was the sound. This is a DVD problem, and while I don't usually go into DVDs in movie reviews, as I expect most people to see this on DVD, I should make this known. The DVD's sound is quite muffled and action scenes suffer as the impact of hits, bullet shots, and items smashing just lose all their impact.

I have a tough choice rating Hot War. I've been torn between a B- and a C+. Some of the bad acting, and the somewhat boring first half really take away. But the film starts to mean something more in the second half and really comes together in the end. It's also a very stylish film and that works well. In the end, I'll opt with the C+, as I really think the acting and slow first half will put a lot of people off. I do wish to let everyone know, though, that watching through till the end really pays off eventually, which is why I'm happy to have this film sit in my DVD collection.

Hot War has some good things going for it, such as a good story, a large (by HK standards) budget, and a good star in Jordan Chan. But ultimately it falls into the realm of mediocrity. The film's main problem is the script. It isn't horrible, just poorly developed. Characters come and go at the drop of a hat. Alien has a silent Japanese bodyguard that could have brought some life into the film, but she's cut from the movie almost just as quickly as she came in. There's some references made to the fact that the three scientists grew up together, but except for a lame flashback sequence, it's not built on -- which hampers the development of the relationships between the characters during the course of the film.

The whole VR Fighter plot device really isn't used to its' full potential. Except for a cool training sequence, it really doesn't figure into the film all that much. Supposedly C.S. and Tango are supposed to be super fighters...then how come they both have to take on Alien in a fist-fight? I was expecting Matrix-style antics, but no such luck. There's not even a hint of wire-fu, which I think would have fit into the film perfectly. In fact, the action is pretty poor all around. There are numerous nods to John Woo (including Ekin wearing a Mark Gor-style trenchcoat and jumping off a building using a cable ala Hard-Boiled), but Hot War fails to capture the intensity, originality or just sheer firepower of a Woo movie (or many other HK films, for that matter).

My next point may be more of a pet peeve than anything else. A lot of the film is in English, which leads to the annoying bit of having English subs on when the characters are speaking English. If the film-makers were going for an international audience, why didn't they just dub the whole movie into English -- or at least make sure that the home version didn't have subs on all the time? I admit that this may be more a personal annoyance than anything else, but the majority of English in the movie brings up another (some would say more valid) point: the gweilo actors, for lack of a better word, suck. These guys come from the same crappy mold that brought you the silly multi-cultural "street gang" in Rumble in the Bronx (which could come as no surprise, since Jackie Chan produced the movie). Even the Asian actors are pretty bad. Terence Yin is horrible as Alien. I have of word of advice for future film-makers: giving your villain a bad dye job and having him smirk does not make him scary or cool. Combined with Ekin Cheng and Kelly Chen's "acting," at times Hot War was just painful to watch. Thank God for Jordan Chan and his mumble-mouthed mannerisms -- they're Hot War's one saving grace acting-wise.

Hot War's other major problem is a lack of heart. The film just feels hollow. Many people have described it as "too Hollywood," and I agree somewhat. There's nothing wrong with a Hollywood action movie in of itself. Many great action films, such as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and The Terminator have come out of Hollywood and provide just as much entertainment as many other, more "serious" films. However, many Hollywood films suffer from the cookie-cutter syndrome -- basically they're just making a movie to make money. That's the feeling I got with Hot War. It looks great, but there's nothing behind it.

THE DVD:
As this is a "Hollywood" style action film, it comes as no surprise that the DVD mimics US ones as well. The presentation -- complete with animated VR-style menus -- is pretty slick and the disc has a lot of extras. I thought it was nice that all the trailers (which include Eagle Shooting Heroes and A Hero Never Dies) included on the disc were the original HK ones, rather than the crap English ones Tai Seng puts on their discs. The featurette is somewhat interesting, but it comes off as more of a fluff promo piece for the film than anything else (and also sports horribly translated subs), and the bios, while containing some interesting information, are pretty poorly-written (or poorly translated, as the case may be). The actual film itself is a bit on the dark side, but the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack sounds great. My major annoyance with the disc is that the English subs are on all the time, even though the majority of characters in the film actually speak English. It drove me nuts after a while.

International terrorist Alien takes a sinister interest in the scientific development of subliminal encoding. Mastery of these mind-altering waves could mean unlimited power over the masses through television transmissions, naturally allowing domination and immense wealth for the owner. To this end, Alien kidnaps some of the world's top scientific minds to help him achieve his aim. Tango (Cheng), C.S. (Jordan Chan) and Blue (Kelly Chen) are three scientists developing the Prjoect VR Fighter - a military programme that can turn an ordinary man into a top combat agent in a matter of weeks. Alien uses C.S.'s wedding as the perfect opportunity to kidnap Blue for his research, but he also kills his bride-to-be, shattering his life. The C.I.A are unwilling to send a force to find Blue and so her two friends decide to utilise the Project VR Fighter themselves. Now with exceptional abilities, Tango and C.S go to Hong Kong to rescue Blue and gain revenge against Alien. However, it gradually develops that others who went through the Project VR Fighter training are showing certain side-effects...

'Hot War' was made before 'The Matrix' and it does seem that some of the ideas in this film have filtered into the Keanu Reeves blockbuster. The effects are not up to the standard of 'The Matrix', but they are still impressive and are coupled together with some fine action set-pieces. Ekin Cheng gives another pleasantly understated performance while newcomer Kelly Chen is much more than just decoration. Jordan Chan is given the most tortured of all the lead roles, but it is a role that he pulls off with aplomb. Although this didn't set the Hong Kong box-office alight, it is still recommended viewing.

MENU: A computer based menu is used with the main screen displaying character attributes as Ekin Cheng is changing into a VR fighter. Easy to navigate and nice to look at.

PICTURE: Letterboxed at 1.85:1. A very clean and crisp transfer but this comes as no surprise considering it is such a recent film. There is an odd soft look to it but I wasn't sure whether this is the intended look or a defect in the film quality.

SOUND: Cantonese and Mandarin DD 5.1 sound with removable Chinese (traditional & simplified) and English subtitles. The effects for the gunshots and explosions sometimes leave a little to be desired as they are terribly weak sounding.

TRAILERS: The trailer for the film itself as well as 'Extreme Crisis', 'Enter The Eagles' and 'A Hero Never Dies'.

TALENT FILES: Top billing in the files goes to Jackie Chan even though he is only the producer here. There is also info on Kelly Chan, Jordan Chan and Ekin Cheng.

EXTRAS: These include a behind-the-scenes look at the action choreography and visual effects along with star interviews and a music video from Ekin Cheng that does not appear in the film. Thankfully, all of the appropriate sections are supplied with English and Chinese subtitles.