| So Wong Jing either forgot to or didn't get rights to use the characters from Capcom's Street Fighter games but predictably, that didn't stop him. Changing names and design to apparently stay within the legal framework, there's no doubt what Future Cops is referencing but even if Capcom had bothered to look, they and the rest of the universe would've left Future Cops alone. Why? Because it's Wong Jing at his most unbearably worst.
Structuring a very minimal plot around a therefore very long 90 minutes, Wong's at the time audience friendly cast (that includes Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Chingmy Yau and Simon Yam) and humour goes all the way to appear stupid, annoying and completely unfunny. Insipid is another word and one can definitely imagine Wong Jing having a blast himself coming up with the so called gags of this one. Best just to play along was probably the actor's perspective. Are we also supposed to be impressed when Wong references modern pop culture icons such as Super Mario Bros? It's more a case of pure Hong Kong cinema embarrassment from a profile that nowadays barely has any stars or audience anymore, as evident by the failure of Kung Fu Mahjong and its sequel. This big kick in the balls hopefully will trigger Wong Jing to actually put in effort and perhaps concentrate on serious stories on a more regular basis. We all know he can, on occasion (see Colour Of The Truth).
Future Cops action directing team, consisting of Ching Siu-Tung, Deon Lam and Ma Yuk Sing does spice up the picture with minute charming action that echoes the Street Fighter spirit to the fairly good degree that the sequence in City Hunter also did. |
Quick Takes:
