Gen-Y Cops is one of the few sequels which is actually better than the previous film. Granted, I wan't a huge fan of Gen-X Cops, but it was a decent action movie. This movie takes a more comedic turn than the first -- it doesn't take itself as seriously, and, maybe more importantly, it doesn't seem to be trying as hard to be cool -- and, as such, it works pretty well as a mindless action movie with plenty of good eye candy.

I just really wish that HK companies could find better actors for these new "Hollywood-style" movies. It was kind of sad that, for the most part, the gweilos (such as Paul Rudd, who plays a FBI agent) were better actors than most of the Chinese leads. Edison Chen and Richard Sun in particular are horrible -- producers really need to hire actors based on their talent rather than their singing ability (Chen sings the theme song) if they want to build a true international audience for their movies. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon proved (at least to an extent) that western audiences are willing to sit through a movie with subtitles if the action justifies it; more companies should be willing to create films in their native language. Actors who deliver their English lines half-ass (I swear to God it sounds like some of these guys are reading cue cards) isn't going to cut it for too much longer, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Getting off rant mode for a minute, besides some bad acting and a below-average script (no explanation is given on how the Gen-X Cops got back into the police force, or where Nic Tse and Grace Yip from the first movie went to), Gen-Y Cops delivers some good action (I particularly liked the duels between security robots, which is something I've never seen in a HK movie before) along with some funny comedic bits, and makes for a decent night's entertainment -- though, like the first movie, it's not likely something that you're going to rave about to your friends the next day.

This is the sequel that everyone is talking about. Fans of actor Paul Rudd, from the films Clueless and The Cider House Rules, makes his Hong Kong and action film debut in this film. Despite being doubled by Who Am I's Ron Smoorenburg, Rudd looks great in this film. Newcomer Edison Chen makes his film debut, replacing Nicholas Tse as the third Gen-X Cop. Stephen Fung and Sam Lee return in their big roles of Match and Alien. Lee speaks a lot of Englush in this film and Fung was raised in Europe and I think the U.S., hence his English skills are perfect. Another face to look out for is Mark Hicks, who is best known for doubling for Chris Tucker in both Rush Hour films. The martial artist/gymnast gets to show off his skills in the film. Maggie Q, Rachel Ngan, and Christy Chung make up the babes portion of the film. Rachel has great English skills but is only limited to speaking English twice. Maggie, a Hawaiian born Chinese-American, speaks English fully, and Christy Chung, a Canadian-Chinese, speaks more English in this film than in her other films. Richard Sun makes a psychotic young villain in the ambitious Kurt, the hi-tech wizard who will stop at nighting to get what he wants. The action make up for the somewhat weak plot, but nevertheless, it is a crowd pleaser and is worth seeing. Supported by Regent Entertainment, the film was scheduled to have a limited release in June 2001, with 25 minutes of comedy and dialogue cut and adding 10 minutes of action. It's better to see the original Hong Kong version, clocking in at 115 minutes. If you liked Gen-X Cops, you'll love Gen-Y Cops.

The first thing that struck me when watching this was that it has obviously had tons of money thrown at it. Unfortunately special effects take precedent over story making the first episode seem like an intricately plotted thriller.

This time Match (Stephen Fung) and Alien (Sam Lee) are joined by Edison (Edison Chen). When Edison is implicated in the theft of a revolutionary crime fighting robot the trio have to evade capture by the FBI, prove Edison's innocence and recover the robot. Like the first movie our heroes film themselves on both sides of the law which adds extra confusion. What follows is a series of well filmed action pieces linked by minimal plot. As a popcorn movie it all works rather well but don't expect to be challenged.

Its quite obvious from the opening scene that a big chunk of the budget went on developing the robot and I have to be honest and say that they've done a fantastic job. The opening sequence where the robot runs amok is quite stunning and makes good use of both CGI and robotic special effects. The standard of the action scenes set in the first ten minutes is kept up well through the whole movie and the pace is never allowed to flag. The film is shot in a very contemporary style with some innovative camera tricks. The opening credits were rather reminiscent of 'Fight Club'.

Much of the dialogue is in English and at times it works very well while at others the lines seem a little corny. Still Edison Chen, Maggie Q, Paul Rudd and Mark Hicks do their best with what they've been given and all manage their roles competently. Paul Rudd, as an FBI agent, especially stands out against the other English speaking characters.

Steven Fung and Sam Lee also do a good job with their roles with more opportunity for comic banter than in the first film. In fact there was definitely more of an emphasis on comedy this time, especially in the first half hour. Christy Chung appears as an eccentric police officer who has spent too long undercover as a Playboy Hostess and is unable to drop the mannerisms. This did provide some amusing moments as did Anthony Wong's cameo appearance as the inventor of a rival Chinese robot.

As with any film its the climax that leaves the lasting impression and I was a bit disappointed as it seemed to be too focused on the robot with not enough traditional action between heroes and villains. There is a fair amount of martial arts at other parts of the movie, all of it well choreographed, but it still seemed overshadowed by the robot. Still I don't suppose you spend 2 ½ million $US on something without getting the most out of it.

Its fair to say that 'Gen-Y Cops' is going to be every bit as popular as it's predecessor and while it is a good entertaining movie I don't think it will be remembered as a classic.