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2002
Year: 2001
Running Time: 96 mins.
Language(s): Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Chinese
DVD Features:
Letterboxed ;
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround;
About The Characters;
Theatrical Trailer;
"Making Of" FeaturetteWhen a woman falls onto a high rooftop, the police are stunned and baffled. Not only has this person fallen onto the rooftop of the tallest building in the vicinity, but no aircraft have flown anywhere nearby. If the police don't understand how it is possible…who you gonna call? 2002!
2002 is what American critics call a "wunza" movie. In the Hong Kong police department, division 2002 is comprised of two agents. "Wunza" human and wunza ghost. Together, Tide (Nicholas Tse) and ghost partner Sam (Sam Lee) solve the mysteries that angry ghosts create in the living world.
Equipped with the gift of being able to see the dead, Tide is also cursed with a "Death Star." (I won't go there.) But the curse haunts Tide, who is afraid of getting too close to people. If he does, they are fated to die.
The closest person to him is a shopkeeper named Chan (Lo Ka Ying) that sells paper-made knick-knacks and stuff to be burned for the dead. He is basically Tide's mentor in this movie, and he knows trouble is coming.
When Sam comes due for reincarnation, he must leave 2002, fating Tide to find a new partner. Enter Wind (Stephen Fung). Wind is a cop that also has the ability to see the dead, but when confronted by ghosts he is paralyzed with fear and has a serious problem with staying on his feet. When 2002 kills a powerful water ghost's girlfriend, the fight is on to see what will become of the team, and how fate will play out its cards.
Overall, this movie has a really cool and interesting concept. Unfortunately things move too fast, and some scenes that seem important end up doing not much at all. For instance, Sam and Tide seem to have a really strong relationship, the core of the movie, but Sam just drops from the story, and it's on to the next guy. There is no real punch to it.
The two human cops seem to really do nothing in their spare time except be lazy, sleep, goof off, and chase after their love interests. Tide's character wants to be cool and hip, and Wind just wants love. Though their acting styles in general are great, something just doesn't click when the film turns to thoughts of romance. The love interests create a whole other story, simultaneously lagging and rushing. Both Rain (Rain Li), and Danielle (Danielle Graham) are gorgeous, but it never bodes well when actresses have to use their real names.
The villains are great, and really carry their weight. The concepts and CG behind them are awesome all around, with great fight scenes. The director did a better job at simplifying the fight choreography a bit after his last movie Skyline Cruisers; it's clearly toned down. The main trio of actors work well in this movie in terms of HK pop power, since all of them worked in GEN X Cops together, it gives 2002 a little something extra.
Get it from HKFlix.com for $15.95
