The Wicked City

WICKED CITY is a crazy Hong Kong slice of sci-fi action based on a Japanese manga and anime. It takes the wackiness of the 1990s craze of wuxia epics and transfers it to a contemporary or futuristic setting where monsters in human disguise roam the city and integrate with society. The film hits the ground running and throws you in at the deep end, trying to keep up with a fast-moving plot involving a war between cops and monsters that never makes entire sense.

It's bizarre stuff indeed and completely schlocky from beginning to end. Old dependables Leon Lai and Jacky Cheung play two cops hoping to avert an all-out war between humankind and monsters but the main emphasis of the film is on insane action sequences which have been inspired by TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. Thus we get scenes of characters being chased around by 'liquid monsters' and even a laughable attempt to copy the motorbike-out-of-the-window shot in the Cameron film.

Of course, the Cameron movie didn't have any scenes of long-limbed monsters wreaking havoc in hotel rooms or the absolutely bizarre, random interludes seen here. It's pretty poor stuff, it has to be said, and the direction and editing is very choppy, but I enjoyed it regardless, although perhaps on a so-bad-it's-good level. Given it's a 1990s Hong Kong film, the main guys entangle with a sexy femme fatale, here played by Macau-born actress Michelle Reis. The familiar-looking sergeant is none other than Yuen Woo-ping. Bad guy Roy Cheung starred in the PRISON ON FIRE movies. Best of all is Kurosawa veteran Tatsuya Nakadai who bags a great support role and is effortlessly cool as always.