The Gist
A cyborg police officer, K-1 (Alex Fong Lik Sun in his Jude Law hairdo from A.I.) whom is ultra handsome (in the plastic kind of way) gets posted to a rural village. Daichun (Hu Jun), superior quickly initiates jealousy when K-1 does everything better than him. To add insult to injury, his love interest, Su-Mei (Betty Sun Li) falls for K-1. Enter Eric Tsang who assigns them to get rid of another cyborg, K-88 (Wu Jing). This K-88 had become philosophical, questioning his existence and the purpose of his maker, thus making him evil in the non-intentional way.
In this movie plot summary, there isn’t a proper sentence to link Ronald Cheng and Gan Wei to complete the cast listing. I guess the previous sentence will just do.
What Do I Think?
It’s Chinese pride for films indeed! Just add Kungfu in front of the title. It started, meaningfully, with Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (Kungfu Soccer in some parts), then subsequently Kungfu Hustle (the Chinese title is simply known as “Kungfu”). Those usages of Kungfu had proper weight because simply, there were really some kungfu in them. The combination of Chinese martial arts and soccer has one of the best fusions in Chinese films in decades. Then there was Kungfu Mahjong (and 2 sequels!), Kungfu Chef, Kungfu Panda, My Kungfu Sweetheart, Kungfu Fighter, Kungfu Dunk, Kungfu Hip Hop, McDull: Kungfu Ding Dong and the upcoming Kungfu Kid, starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s kid.
Now, “Kungfu” + “Cyborg” is just plain wrong. Cyborgs are made to have extraordinary strength, precision in calculated judgment, extreme speed and virtually indestructible by human means. What do they need to know Kungfu for? Its title is akin to Air-Conditioned Igloo or even Liquefied Water. Even its Chinese title translates to something else, perhaps in agreement with my conclusions. (機器俠 says Robot Hero)
First impressions of the full title, which includes “Metallic Attraction” gave me these thoughts: many kungfu fighting cyborgs, including a specific female one that could have fallen with a male cyborg. Having viewed the film, it is clear that it should be titled Plastic Alex Fong: Attracting Humans and Causing Mess to some parts of Rural China. One can’t help but to be reminded of A.I., Transformers, Final Fantasy X and even Stephen Chow’s Sixty Million Dollar Man.
The film provides story with huge doses of Jeff Lau (the director) in it. At his best, there are ample amounts of subtlety in comedy, Wong Kar Wai parodies aplenty and customary inside jokes, depending on which part of the film you are personally associated with. Each segment of the film is represented by the referenced films in the previous paragraph (go spot them yourself) and the last segment ends with *gasp* an extended love story. (Warning: Spoilers behind! Sorry, too late.)
So you were thinking of watching a Chinese version of Transformers? Go watch the trailer.
Alex Fong participates like an eager kid in class, putting his hand up to every single question asked by the teacher. He has what it takes to go far in the film industry. Too bad he still gets the third billing in this film’s poster. Kungfu Cyborg COULD have been the vehicle for him to achieve greater status of, maybe, Nicholas Tse? When he reaches there, I’ll make him a convocation hat.
The great surprise comes in the form of Hu Jun. His comedic turns are enough to eclipse Ronald Cheng and his two previous movies in total. Hu Jun’s is in the run of becoming NOT the next Stephen Chow, but Chow Yun Fat; quickly gaining great acting flexibilities. Speaking of comedic chops, we also get a mild bit of that out of Wu Jing. Haven’t seen him in such a relaxed role since Drunken Monkey.
Everyone’s anticipation is in the robot animation. If you allow the Hollywood comparison to be scrapped, we then have something to hold on to here. “Cheap imitation” is an overstatement. The robot animation, instilled with Chinese martial arts movements is something that could possibly have met or slightly exceeded expectations for many. The robots transform graphically fluid enough for us to know that the animation company took some good effort to produce. The greatest problem is that the CGI is lousily juxtaposed against the real life elements in the film. Anyhow, that’s the usual problem with Chinese films.
This film is categorized under Romance with a capital R. Other genres would serve as the side attractions.
This is No Joke: Hu Jun’s comedic role is very welcomed. If he learns Cantonese, he would make my days better.
This is A Joke: Ronald Cheng’s appearance is really a waste here. Sadly.
Rating: 5/10
Tags: Alex Fong Lik Sun, Betty Sun Li, Eric Tsang, Gan Wei, Hu Jun, Ronald Cheng, Wu Jing
