Distributor: Universe
Directors:
Ma Chu Cheng
Jingle Ma

Main Cast:
Ekin Cheng .... Tango One/Paul Wong
Jordan Chan .... C.S. Koo
Kelly Chen .... Blue Szeto
Terence Yin .... Alien
Vanessa Yeung .... Alien's Henchman

Storyline: Scientists Tango, C.S., and Blue are working on top-secret VR-Fighter Training. ("I know Kung Fu!") Terrorists are kidnapping/recruiting and/or killing scientists around the world who are working with this technology. The first part of this movie is a little slow. Nothing much going on, we get to hang around Tango,CS, and Blue at work in the laboratory and a bit outside of work too. (Having all grown up at the same orphanage, they are all best friends. )
Blue gets kidnapped by Alien (head terrorist) and the movie starts to pick up as Tango and CS decide to use the VR-Fighter training on themselves. Pretty cool stuff. They go to rescue Blue. Some very well choreographed fights and gun scenes. After the rescue it is discovered that VR-F training can cause episodes of extreme violence in some individuals. CIA tries to arrest Tango and CS. CS escapes (violently of course!) And ends up trying to stop the terrorists from using some subliminal programming broadcast during the World Cup soccer games or something... Meanwhile Tango has been 'reprogrammed' and is now hunting for the fugitive CS. (Tango has no recollection of CS)... convoluted storyline and morals follow...
Oh yeah, and Vanessa Yeung plays one of the terrorists. (hottie hot hot!) Unfortunately she's only in a few scenes briefly. Couple nice shots of her though.
The video quality is okay. Nothing to shout about. The audio quality however, was suck IMO. I had to diddle my stereo for a while to get somewhat acceptable sound from it. (And still, gunshots and breaking glass and such was severly muted. -sounded like toy cap guns)
While it is a decent movie, the sound issues take a lot of the wind out of it.

There are some nice extras on the disc though.
3 behind the scenes things:
-Visual Effects
-Stars Interviews
-Action Choreography
all of the above have English subs! Nice suprise, as they usually don't.
Stars filmographies (only in cantonese) (Jackie Chan's is listed first! No, he's not in the movie, but I think he produced the film.)

Included is Ekin Cheng's music video for the movie.

Trailers:
Hot War
Extreme Crisis
A Hero Never Dies
Enter The Eagles

A nicely full-featured disc.

Score: 5/10 (with good audio this movie and the extras on the disc it could get a bump to 6.5)

cheers,
Gabe

^^bump^^ No comments? Liked it? Disliked it?

cheers,
Gabe

I really liked this movie. I would have to agree with you on the slowness of the beginning. After Tokyo Raiders, I have found an appreciation for Ekin Cheng, and have liked all the movies I've seen him in (Storm Riders, A Man Called Hero).

I would of given it either a 7.5 or 8/10. I thought it was visually stunning, and a nice surprise.

I thought Hot War was pretty solid. Just got the DVD this week. Having thoroughly enjoyed Tokyo Raiders and Fly Me To Polaris, I wanted to see this directorial debut film from Jingle Ma.

Basically, the thing that mainly hurt it was some of the horribly acting, mainly from the white actors. The movie was somewhat slow at the beginning - but once it picks up, its great. The twists are quite interesting and the action was staged really well. I was happy to see the film got a "heart" toward the end, as we got insight into Tango's thoughts about his situation and his friends compounded by Kelly's monologue right at the end. That was what really helped the film make an impact.

For all those that have seen the trailer and think it looks "Matrix-y" - I'd let you know that this is much more in the vein of Purple Storm than the Matrix. In fact, the VR training is actually a relatively small portion of the film.

The DVD itself, though, is a mixed bad. The video was really good looking for an HK film. Pretty clean and sharp. The audio was horrible, though. The voices sounded muffled the whole time and sounds effects were mixed way too low - making the impact of a hit seem like little impact at all.

Overall, though, I'd recommend it. It's not quite as pure fun as Tokyo Raiders - but still a very solid film. I'm with roseart - after Tokyo Raiders and this, I don't think Ekin is as bad as many people say he is. He just has to have the right roles.

I like this movie pretty much. Like Chris, I like Ekin Cheng (after Tokyo Raiders) and of course Jordan Chan (Y&D w/ Ekin, but Jordan stole the series IMHO).

The FX were nicely done. Kelly Chen was yummy. Good Action. Not outstanding; but great cinematography during the shootouts. I think it's a keeper. 7.1890124/10.0000000

Thanks for the comments guys. Maybe I should watch it again in a few weeks. I'm guessing my score of it will go up... it did have good choreography. (even if Alien looked funny having bleached hair)

I still have A Man Called Hero to watch... I like Ekin Cheng too...I think like Klotera said "He needs the right roles"...

cheers,
Gabe

Stick to your guns man! Don't let others sway your opinion - you're caving like a shifty politician. You gave it a 5 and now you gotta live with the consequences. j/k.

I just watched it today. Everything I would have said had been said before, so I just want to make a comment. I can't figure out if Kelly Chen just can't act, or is it that she always gets roles that make her look very passive and sometimes even lifeless. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy watching her movies. In fact, I have more of her movies on DVDs than any other HK actress. But I can't figure out if that's just her style, or she can't act. What do you think?

Beeeil

I've said this many times myself about Kelly Chen... She seems like a lifeless wooden statue most of the time. There's a few movies that have her actually doing some acting, but yeah usually she seems pretty much like a vegetable or a zombie.

If all zombies look this good, we need a few more of them in this world. The mysterious look of hers calls me to reach out to her to learn more about her (to find out if she's a zombie in all of her movies).