Young upstart cops are thrown into a maelstrom of danger in this Hong Kong-lensed action thriller. Ten tons of powerful explosives, recently recovered from smugglers, have been stolen by a Japanese terrorist group, led by criminal mastermind Akatura, and the Hong Kong police have to act quickly before the explosives fall into the wrong hands or are used against the wrong people. Chan (Eric Tsang), a effective but non-conformist police detective, decides to use cops that no one will suspect are cops; he pulls three promising but unlikely-looking students from the Police Academy and gives them a crash course on tracking terrorists. Jack (Nicholas Tse), Alien (Sam Lee), and Match (Stephen Fung) are soon sent out to infiltrate the operations of Akatura's right-hand man Daniel (Daniel Wu); along the way, they join forces with Y2K (Grace Yip), a female crime fighter with a talent for electronics. But the young cops soon discover that busting an international terrorist network is no piece of cake; their initial plan goes haywire, and they learn that Akatura plans to use his new-found firepower against the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. Boasting a high level of visual polish, Gen-X Cops features visual effects from Joe Viskocil and Sam Nicholson, who have worked on such blockbusters as
Independence Day,
Apollo 13, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Jackie Chan also makes a brief cameo appearance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide