After the death of one of the top Triads in Hong Kong, a disgraced cop (Tsang) enlists the aid of three police academy wash-outs (Tse, Lee and Fung) to go undercover in order to find out what the connection is with the dead Triad's brother (Wu) and a notorious Japanese crime boss (Nakamura). The plot thickens when one of the "Gen-X Cops" (as they get dubbed by their superiors, who -- as you might guess -- don't like the kids too much and try to stop their investigation at every turn) turns out to be the ex-boyfriend of Wu's current girl (Ong). After a confontation in Wu's club, the trio are "enlisted" to carry out a hit on one of Wu's enemies (Ng). The hit goes wrong and the kids (who along the way hook up with a computer expert [Yip]) are suspected to be Triads themselves. The Gen-X Cops must try to clear their names so that they can stop Nakamura's plans (which involve some kind of super explosive) from coming to fruition.

Gen-X Cops is part of a new breed of Hong Kong action film that tries to retain some of what has made them so unique, but at the same time tries to make itself more palatable to an interantional audience with the use of English and high levels of special effects. Some "purists" may decry this trend, but many HK film-makers themselves will admit that they are heavily influenced by Hollywood films, so it would only make sense that they would try to beat Hollywood at their own game, especially with dwindling box-office returns in the face of rising international competition at local theatres.

At any rate, Gen-X Cops is an entertaining (but ultimately forgettable) way to kill a couple of hours. The film looks great, the action is well-done, the actors (especially Ng, in a painfully short role) work well together, and the special effects are probably the best to date in Hong Kong (the film used the same team that produced some of the effects in Independence Day, and a major Hong Kong landmark is blown up in similar spectacular fashion). It's just that there's nothing really underneath the surface. If this were a US film, it would most likely get lost in the heap of similar action movies. If you could have a Jackie Chan (who produced the film and makes a short cameo) or Jet Li movie with this kind of budget, then we might get something extraordinary. As such, Gen-X Cops provides some nice eye candy but little else. At least it shows that the Hong Kong studios -- for better or worse -- are willing to change with the times and are trying to keep their industry thriving.

A review of the DVD for this movie (US version) can be found here

Click here to download Gen-X Cops and LMF's "XXXX" (the song that plays during the skydiving sequence)

Note: the DVD has about 55 minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes:

• During the shootout training sequence, we see Nic Tse sitting below the action, listening to a Walkman. He rifles through some papers and discovers something interesting on one particular piece.
• Stephen Fung breaks into a teacher's office, opens a safe and finds a large amount of cash along with a list of students' names.
• Sam Lee is fooling around on the target range when he sees two guys who are quitting the academy. Lee convinces them to "lend" him some money and then calls them cheapskates when they only give him HK$400.
• Some students confront Tse (who is still napping on the training course) and accuse him of cheating. Tse insists they cheat themselves and the group motions to beat him up. Sam Lee is shown shooting the students with a paintball gun; they leave, but say they'll report Tse first. One of the teachers shows up and is hit with a paintball (Sam Lee does a funny "oh, no" look). Tse tries to state his case but the teacher is a hardass; Fung comes down with some papers and points out that he has evidence that the teacher was taking bribes. The teacher begins to berate the two when Lee opens fire again and Tse and Fung run away.
• The first scene with Eric Tsang and the Gen-X Cops in Tsang's apartment is a bit longer; Tsang talks more about the police station explosion.
• When the Gen-X Cops and Grace Yip first meet, the scene denegrates into a fairly playful fight.
• A scene where the Gen-X Cops and Yip discuss why they wanted to be cops. The four go into Tsang's bedroom and make fun of him.
• The Gen-X Cops' and Daniel Wu's first meeting has different dialogue (more profanity).
• Grace Yip is shown stealing a motorcycle so she can trail the Gen-X Cops; there is more intercutting of her while the Gen-X Cops are at Francis Ng's hideout.
• The scene where the Gen-X Cops go to meet with Francis Ng is longer; more homosexual references are made (men seem to be coming on to Fung and there is a joke about guys named "Dick") and Francis Ng talks longer to Tse. We see Wu's gang sneaking into the hangout and killing some of Ng's men.
• The initial confrontation between Ng and Daniel Wu is a bit more violent (Ng shoots Wu three times instead of two); the shootout afterward is also more violent.
• After their getaway from Ng's hideout, the Gen-X Cops crashland their boat on a beach. Sam Lee gets out and starts beating up Wu. Tse tries to get Lee to stop, saying that beating him up won't solve anything. Lee points out that he might as well now, since the cops think they're in Wu's gang. Wu then pulls out a gun and takes control of the situation.
• Grace Yip's interrogation at the police station is more violent.

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