Special Unit 2002

Special Unit 2002

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Customer Reviews

GHOST BUSTERS meets THE MATRIX, Hong Kong style!

Reviewed by Libretio, 2009-10-10

2002

(Hong Kong - 2001)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

A psychic cop (Nicholas Tse Ting-fung) who battles wayward ghosts for the Hong Kong police department is teamed with an eager rookie (Stephen Fung Tak-lun) who is destined to die and become his ghostly helper. But their plans are thwarted by a vengeful water spirit (Alex Fong Lik-sun), who emerges from the Other Side to destroy them both...

Long on spectacle and short on plot, Wilson Yip Wai-shun's half-hearted blockbuster contains a typical mixture of awkward comedy and heart-rending melodrama, assembled in piecemeal fashion by no less than four credited screenwriters (Vincent Kok Tak-chiu, Gwok Ji-kin, Szeto Yam-kuen and Yip himself)! Fate and Destiny play an important role in the patchwork narrative, though such philosophical musings are quickly submerged beneath a tide of CGI effects and wire-fu combat sequences (choreographed by Poon Kin-gwan), including a remarkable fight between Tse and Fong in a swimming pool which rings the changes on an old formula, in no uncertain terms.

However, the film exists primarily as a vehicle for its leading men, both of whom are rendered beautiful by Poon Hang-sang's flattering camera-work and Stephen Tsang Pak-chuen's 'Matrix'-style costumes, co-designed by Stephanie Wong Wan-lai. As with so many HK movies of this type, Tse and Fung are given a couple of lacklustre romantic interests (Danielle Graham and Rain Li Choi-wah), but Yip focuses primarily on the intense relationship between the film's male protagonists, and their mutual affection is invested with a fair degree of homoerotic pathos. Sam Lee Chan-sam and industry veteran Law Kar-ying are featured in supporting roles, while Yip himself cameos as a doctor.

2002

Reviewed by Donnar, 2009-04-26

I did not know what to expect and this movie fairly exceeded even that! It is one of the funniest and coolest movies I've ever seen. As with a lot of new Hong Kong movies, you never know what comes next, it's funny in the clever way and the ghost-human relationship combines the old chinese beliefs about afterlife with the modern moviegoer's expectation. Good actors, including former swimming champion-turned actor, not to mention the trio from Gen-X Cops again! Good CGI, everything. I do recomend this wholeheartedly!

All in all a pretty solid DVD that was pretty fun to watch.

Reviewed by Dennis A. Amith (kndy), 2008-09-04

After watching "2002", the first thing that came into my mind was "Silent Mobius" meets "Blade" meets "Men in Black".

The plot is about a ghost hunter named "TIDE" of the special unit "2002", a task force of SPI (Spirit and Paranormal Investigation). Tide believes he is cursed and that anyone close to him will die. Thus he has no friends and he can't have a girlfriend. He teams up with a ghost named SAM (Sam Lee) who helps him out but since reincarnation is approaching, it is time for TIDE to find a new partner and so he finds WIND. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to WIND...to be a partner of TIDE, one will have to be dead.

The concept of cool ghostbusters or spirit hunters is pretty nice. The movie has nice special effects and really awesome fight scenes but the problem with the movie is that it tries to be serious and it tries to be humorous (like a manga). Although it's nice to have the humor, for a movie like this...sometimes the humor seemed a bit out of place.

There are some parts of this movie that may confuse the viewer as well, so pay attention to the movie. A bright spot to this movie is to see the three guys from GEN-X Cops together again. Although their time together is limited, it was still pretty fun. Also, to see model Daniel Graham in this movie was pretty awesome and she did ok for her supporting role.

All in all a pretty solid DVD that was pretty fun to watch. Although it deals with the supernatural, there are no sick parts in the movie.

Check it out!