Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “Kung Fu Cyborg”, “Astro Boy”, “Timecop”

When you buy a ticket to watch "Future X-Cops", rest assured that you'll get to watch more than just one movie - there's "Kung Fu Cyborg", "Transformers", "Astro Boy", "X-Men", "Timecop", "Antoo Fighter", "Ultraman", "Gaban", "Mr Fit: Running On Karma" and also "Robocop"!

Yes, it's a plasticky mish-mash of sorts and the final product is so painfully derivative of other familiar concepts. We are forced to ask: "Are you sure Wong Jing wrote and directed this?" Isn't he best known for doing naughty CAT III movies or rubbish slapstick comedy that are somehow unfailingly entertaining? Where did this awkward, CGI-powered, sci-fi cop thriller come from?

Wherever it was from, it sure doesn't seem like a place of flourishing originality. Andy Lau (who reportedly agreed to join the film only after the 19th rewrite of the script) is the titular top cop who time-travels from 2080 to 2020 to protect an important scientist. Also included in this story are his sexy wife Millie (Fan Bing Bing), his daughter Kiki (Xu Jiao finally gets a gender-correct role after "CJ7") and two badass humanoids (Louis Fan Siu Wong & Mainland newcomer Tang Yi Fei"), not to mention a new romantic interest - the cute and cuddly Holly (Barbie Hsu).

There's largely nothing wrong with this cast, except that they're in the wrong movie. Perhaps they trusted Wong Jing a little too confidently to have signed up for such an afterthought of a movie. Watching Andy Lau in a robot suit is so "Mr Fit" - in other words, so outdated! There are a few interesting jolts here and there to get us to sit up every now and then, however the whole adventure is frankly drab and uninspiring.

"Future X-Cops" is ironically obsolete and outdated. It isn't the worst movie in the world but there are plenty of other Andy Lau pictures you can catch this season - "Future X-Cops" isn't one of them.

Cinema Online, 06 April 2010