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Starring
:
Leon
Lai
Jordan
Chan
Sam
Lee
Shu
Qi
Michelle
Saram
Alex
To
Action
:
Jacky
Yeung
Producer
:
David
Chan
Claudia
Chung
Doris
Tse
Director
:
Wilson
Yip
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SKYLINE
CRUISERS (2000)
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
One
of the unusual aspects of Hong Kong cinema is how directors
move from one project to another totally different project.
Johnnie To is a prime example of this, moving from arthouse
thrillers like 'The
Mission' to enjoyable commercial hits like 'Help' and 'Needing
You' with great success. Wilson Yip tries his hand at the
same idea with 'Skyline Cruisers' - a film that was released a
mere six or seven months after the excellent 'Juliet
In Love'. Both projects are very different with 'Juliet In
Love' offering a thoughtful and touching essay on love and
'Skyline Cruisers' attempting to be a Hong Kong 'Mission:
Impossible'.
In
the world of high-class theft, Mac (Lai) and his team of
superthieves are untouchable and the film opens with their
stealthy operation on an Australian financial business. With
their fame widely spread across the world of espionage and
surveillance, the team find their services in high demand.
Their next big mission is the recovery of a Cancer-cure drug
which has been stolen from its developer by a greedy rival.
This mission calls on the thieves to negotiate the usual
high-tech security systems and evade the numerous guards that
are roaming the complex. However, although the operation moves
along without too many hitches, the team discover that the
highly sought after drug and formula are not in the complex
and the whole exercise is a rather risky waste of their time.
The real reasons become clear when Mac meets a mysterious
woman who is also looking for the drug and promises to help
him answer the questions he's facing. One of the answers
involves Soto, an old rival of Mac and a fellow superthief -
but still many questions are left unanswered.
Many
have wrongly assumed that 'Skyline Cruisers' is a sequel to
Teddy Chen's popular high-tech action film 'Downtown
Torpedoes'. Although that isn't the case, the comparisons
between the two are fairly obvious and in style it could be
perceived as a virtual remake of Chen's film. Unfortunately
the weaknesses that befell 'Downtown Torpedoes' are even more
apparent in this less entertaining work; the plot ties itself
in too many knots without fully explaining any of them and the
characters are less developed than there is any excuse for.
'Skyline Cruisers' though suffers in far more unexpected ways,
namely action and direction - two aspects one assumed would be
well looked after. Every time the action threatens to really
explode into adrenalin-based excitement, Yip's strangely
pedestrian directing slows it back down again and therefore
the film never truly ignites. If this wasn't enough of an
error in an action film it is then combined with uninspiring
editing which merely confuses when it should clarify. Yip also
allows a rather self-conscious style to take over the
narrative which was something he slipped into with the ending
of the otherwise enjoyable 'Bullets Over Summer'.
'Skyline
Cruisers' is certainly not all bad though and these criticisms
are not an indication of a totally wasted production. Any film
with Sam Lee and Jordan Chan in is always worth at least
considering and even the not especially magnetic Leon Lai
offers some degree of entertainment. The opening does promise
a fun and breezy film before it gets bogged down in confusion,
but there are moments that keep the viewer watching. Still, it
is certainly more absorbing than the dreadfully self-important
'Mission:
Impossible 2'. However, those hoping to sample a classic
example of Hong Kong action film-making will be best advised
looking in another direction.
Rating:
 
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