It seemed like many of the actors walked through the film. In bringing new talent to the screen, the director forgot to have the inexperienced newcomers rehearse. Nicholas Tse is another in the long line of pop stars taking a crack at making movies. Overall, his attempt was somewhat successful, but he needs to cut his teeth on smaller films where he wouldn't look as lost. Tse's appearance in "A Man Called Hero," playing a supporting role worked much better than as a lead. He didn't have to carry the movie. Many of the scenes were contrived and didn't appear to be believable. Sure the young actors looked cute, but they were wooden. Having one character speak Cantonese and another responding in English grew tiresome.

Sam Lee was the standout of the three (Tse and Stephen Fung as the other two) probably because he's the most seasoned actor. And, the more I see of Francis Ng, the more I like him--except for that bad English dialogue, which was a waste for many of the supporting characters to spout. It also appears that Grace Yip is the "it" girl of the moment, having been cast in many other films in supporting roles, as of late.

Finally, the action was above board, but standard fare for a Hong Kong actioner. Movies today are relying too much on special effects. "Gen-X Cops" is no exception. This is another film where you need to put your brain away to enjoy. As a Jackie Chan production, the film had the budget, and even a closing cameo by Jackie. But, you really didn't care what happened to any of the characters in the movie, which was eye candy without soul.

Hong Kong Action Cinema enters a new era with Gen-X Cops, the first co-production between Jackie Chan's JC Group & Media Asia. A hot young cast, Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, Sam Lee, Grace Yip, Daniel Wu etc and strong director Benny Chan are teamed with Oscar Winning special effects expert Joe Viskocil (Apollo 13, Independence Day), to provide the film with a truly explosive finale, while Hong Kong vehicular action maestro Bruce Law handles the car stunts, while non other than Nicky Li and the Jackie Chan Stuntman Club provide the physical action. Veterans of several James Bond movies handle the film's parachuting action. Throw in master cinematographer Arthur Wong whose credits include Crime Story, Once Upon A Time In China, Knock Off and many more, and a brief but genuinely funny cameo appearance by a certain Jackie Chan and you have one of the most enjoyable Hong Kong movies of the last few years.

Directed by Benny Chan whose skillful hands have helmed such classics as A Moment of Romance, the Big Bullet & Who Am I?, the film belts along at a breakneck pace. It's not a perfect film, but it's still one hell of an enjoyable ride. The cast is led by actor and singer Nicholas Tse (son of 60's idol Patrick Tse), who made his acting debut in Andrew Lau's, Young & Dangerous: The Prequel. The young Tse threw himself into this role big time, and gets the chance to show not only can he act but the boy can move. He handles the physicality of the role very well, proving adept in the fight scenes, performing a lot of his own stunts and in true Jackie Chan fashion suffered for his art when a stunt went wrong during the films finale, and he was slammed shin first into a gantry 50 feet up. Give the man, a few more years and more strong roles and Nicholas Tse could well be the new Hong Kong action star. Stephen Fung who until recently had been known more for his arty roles in such films as Bishonen and The Poet sadly doesn't come across as well. He handles the action ok, even taking on my old buddy Brad Allan in a fight scene that while appearing in the trailer and the lobby cards was for some reason cut from the finished film, but his performance isn't appealing. He doesn't come across in anyway as a likeable character. Sam Lee from Made in Hong Kong pretty much steals the show in the hero department, not only does he give the best performance of the three acting wise, his eccentricities fit the role of Alien perfectly, You could really imagine that he comes from a galaxy, far, far away but he also throws himself into the action very well. He's not the most graceful or best looking fighter, far from it, but the way he fights, the way he acts, it'll keep you laughing. I especially enjoyed his brief fight scene with Japanese action actor Keiji Sato from Hitman. The lovely Grace Yip is incredibly cute as Y2K, and handles herself well in her brief acting and action sequences, but her role in this film and in A Man Called Hero, call for her to do very little beyond turn up, look cute, perform a few brief moves and that's it, although she does do it very well. The girl is cute, gutsy and looks like she can really move, give her a chance someone!

JC Group's own Daniel Wu really impressed me in this film, he came to Hong Kong a few years back to pursue a career as an action actor, but has found himself mainly headlining some intense drama's, Bishonen & City Of Glass to name but two, before making a transition into action movies. I'd previously seen a clip in the trailer where he came across as a whiny little kid and it had put me off of him immediately. However upon on watching the whole film, I realized that was what he was trying to put across, his character in the film is struggling to prove he can run the triad group when all he really is, is just a kid, ready to follow anyone who'll promise him a better deal. Strangely enough, of the leads, Daniel is probably the most talented martial arts wise but doesn't get to throw a punch or kick in the movie; instead he gets to swagger with a mean Uzi 9mm. (Look for Daniel to headline the next Media-Asia/JC Group release Purple Storm, co-starring Joan Chen & directed by old friend Teddy Chen from Downtown Torpedoes.) Eric Tsang provides the laughs as the Gen-X Cops put upon boss, he's looked down upon by his fellow officers and sees solving this case as his one chance at redemption and finally making the grade. Francis Ng makes the most of his brief role as Daniel's Triad rival, with a speech by Bey Logan that's so cool, if unprintable that I'm going to have to rip it off, I mean pay homage to it in a future production "Last night, I had a dream" Japanese actor Toru Nakamura who some of you may have seen in Blue Tiger with Virginia Madsen (if you haven't seen it, check it out!), and New York City Cop which saw him teamed with Mira Sorvino and Conan Lee! (If you haven't seen this, thank the lord!) Steals the show acting wise, he brings such great presence and charisma to his role as Tiger the Yakuza boss. From his most minute mannerisms to his admirable martial arts skills, and his way cool dress sense. You know he's a baddy from the moment you see him, but he's a great one.

The supporting cast all do their best with the only drawbacks being that so much of Brad Allan's work on the movie was cut, he turns up, you keep expecting him to fight, but he never does, instead handling all manner of stunt work including doubling for Eric Tsang in the fat suit. Numerous members of the Friday Lunch Club make appearances in the movie too, Wing Chun maestro Chris Collins, Hung Gar's David Taylor and Mark "the Drunken Master" Holland, and Hung Gar stylist David Leong soon to be seen in Treasure Hunters. And a special award should go to Media Asia's man for all seasons Bey Logan as the Swat Team Commander, he only gets a few lines but he makes the most of them, and I look forward to seeing his return in all future Media Asia productions. Kaiji the Japanese crime lord from Jet Li's Hitman also makes the most of his limited screen time when he demolishes Sam Lee in Hot Gossip disco. Maybe it's just me but, while I really enjoyed the movie, I wanted more in the way of physical action, yes, the films parachuting scenes are quite impressive and pretty well handled, and the films explosive finale is good, but I wanted more in the way of martial arts, hmm..maybe in Gen-X Cops 2. As for Jackie's cameo, it's a worthy one that always catches the audience and it works a hell of a lot better than the one in Project S.

Gen-X Cops received as much hype and press attention here as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace did overseas, complete with various trailers, early promo posters, making of's etc, and while I wasn't expecting it to, it pretty much lived up to the hype. Yes, it's not perfect and there are a few scenes that should be changed and I think that more of the films physical action should have been left in, it's still one of the most enjoyable Hong Kong movies in a long time. So while you're waiting for the next Jackie film, I can't think of many better ways of passing the time then by sitting back and watching Gen-X Cops. It's fun, it's funky and wait till you see the DVD they're gonna put out of it!