Rating: C+
Dir: Wellson Chin
Star: Cynthia Khan, Alex Man, Athena Chu, Chiu-Wing Lam
[22] A gang of artificial humans jump ship and go on a search for their creator in a quest for perfection, having realised their lifespan is limited. One of their brethren is ordered to track them down. Ring any bells? Yes, just as ‘Barb Wire’ can be enjoyed in a whole new way, once you know it’s a girls-with-guns remake of ‘Casablanca’, so this movie shifts to a different level when you suddenly comprehend this is ‘Blade Runner’, done as a heavily wire-assisted martial-arts B-movie.
Cynthia Khan plays Harrison Ford playing Deckard in this rare example of Hong Kong SF, though the subtlety and depth of Ridley Scott’s film is replaced by silly comic mugging – not by Khan, who is admirably straight. While her career has been downhill since her debut (after the wonderful ‘In the Line of Duty 3’, could it be otherwise?), there are nicely imaginative touches such as an “amnesia gun” several years before ‘Men in Black’, and the action is well-staged. Quirkily off-the-wall, it’s never dull, especially once you recognize its source: frequently stupid and unamusing, possibly, but certainly not dull!