2000 AD
2000 AD
| 03 February 2000 (USA)
2000 AD Trailers

The Y2K Bug. Real Warfare vs Electronic Gaming. Peter Tong, a carefree Hong Kong youngster, finds himself drawn into the web of a deadly espionage conspiracy. A clandestine organization schemes to use the Y2K Bug to cause mayhem throughout Asia. To survive, Peter has to call on reserves of courage and stamina he has never needed before.

Reviews
Gurlyndrobb

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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Aubrey Hackett

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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Casey Duggan

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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Jerrie

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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JoeytheBrit

Hong Kong used to be seen as the home of unintentionally comical chop-socky movies of interest only to kung-fu freaks and those too lazy to reach for the remote and, while that's not a fair assessment of that country's current output, it's not a totally undeserved one concerning its past. So it makes a refreshing change to see that Hong Kong – along with other Asian countries – has begun producing stylish and energetic efforts like 2000AD. Hollywood is obviously a major influence on this film – not least in the fact that the writing credits are shared between director Gordon Chan and American screenwriter Stu Zicherman (Chan took Zicherman's English screenplay and translated it into Chinese, although chunks of English dialogue remain). The storyline is typical Hollywood high-tech nonsense, but it's engaging and exciting, and injects high-adrenaline action sequences that match anything that has come out of the States – or anywhere else for that matter – in the last ten years.The complicated storyline focuses on Peter Li (Aaron Kwok), an immature, bespectacled computer geek, who quickly matures after witnessing the assassination of his older brother while in police custody, and finds himself sucked into an ever-widening morass of lies and deceit as he struggles to identify the killers. Able to trust only a handful of the numerous characters offering him support in the aftermath of his brother's murder, Peter soon finds himself the target of the assassins, and becomes immersed in a world that mirrors that depicted in the video games at which he is so adept.The core of the plot regards the search for a computer program that can destroy the world's computer network with the press of a laptop button, but that's really just a plot device from which an explosive cocktail of explosions, shoot-outs, car chases and fist fights are developed. The story starts slowly, introducing us to a bewildering array of characters that take some little while to sort out, and it's only after the first thirty minutes that the action kicks in. Despite this, it has to be said there's not a lot of character development going on in those first thirty minutes: Peter transforms into a grim-faced avenger, mysteriously jettisoning his geeky spectacles, and adopting a sort of Bruce Lee persona that never quite rings true; but, apart from thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth Ng, who delivers a superbly understated performance in the regrettably small role of Officer Ng, a senior police officer approaching his sixties, the other characters are nothing more than cardboard cut-outs – especially Janet (the wonderfully named Gigi Choi), Peter's girlfriend, who is given absolutely nothing to do throughout the entire picture.But, then, since when was characterisation allowed to get in the way of an action flick? Chan hasn't set out to create true-to-life people in a true-to-life world; he's attempted to recreate the breathless, high-speed pace of a video game, one in which his hero has to ascend various levels before the game can be completed ("This isn't a game", says Ng at one point, "you can't start over again").Director Chan, an insolent little brother to the Hollywood high-rollers, delivers the breathtaking action sequences with no little style, eschewing the slow-motion ballet so beloved of John Woo and his many pale imitators (who now, ironically, count Woo amongst their number) for furiously kinetic displays of concentrated carnage. Chan's gun-battles somehow manage to illustrate the brutal violence and terrifying confusion of the moment without confusing the viewer, and he stages each massacre with flair and purpose and attention to detail that is unusual (the car park shootout is actually a homage to the notion of the samurai's sacrificing of their lives in Kurosawa's Ran). True, he overplays his hand, leaving little for the disappointing showdown with the villainous 'cowboy' (another dig at Hollywood?), and some loose ends are left hanging (presumably for a sequel that has so far failed to materialise), but if what has gone before hasn't left your appetite sated then you've probably never seen an action movie you've liked.

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Wilpuri

I've never been a big fan of Aaron Kwok, but he's actually really good in this movie. Much better than in China Strike Force or Storm Riders.Gordon Chan is one of the best Hong Kong -action directors, and he really knows how to combine drama and fastpaced action. The gunfights in this movie are very good and the kung fu scenes are pretty well made too. The fighting is mostly quite realistic (at least compared to movies like New Dragon Gate Inn, Iron Monkey or other high-flying action flicks) and all the characters aren't great kung fu masters.Recommended for... anyone who likes GOOD action movies.

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SkylessWing

In 2000 AD Aaron Kwok plays a computer games developer/dealer, who's brother inadvertenlty lands him in trouble over a computer bomb.The film centres around Kwok trying to find the bomb while avoiding terrorists and wondering who to trust, which thankfully delivers many thrilling and sometimes violent action set pieces set in Hong Kong and Singapore.The films structure is odd, with some scenes having nothing to do with the film at all. Gordon Chans directing is commendable, though varies during the film. In the first action set piece he cleverly uses black & white slo mo shots to enhance the emotional and violent impact of the scene, but this technique is abandoned for the rest of the action scenes. The rest of the action seems to be shot with steady cam giving an arthouse feel. But then he gives us an almost MTV car chase.On the whole 2000 AD is a very good film. Aaron Kwok does a very good job as the confused Peter, and Francis Ng is excellent as the dry witted law enforcer.

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Rainsing

It's been so excited after viewing this movie. The story is good and the gun fighting scene is excellent. It's probably the best after the bank robbery scene in "Heat". The action is so realistic and make you can't breath. The characters are also real. Like most of us, we spent most money on buying video game, hi-fi, etc. We like to play game but when the real horrible thing come true, we may not be able to handle it.This movie will definitely become my all-time favorite action movie,

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