Review of 2000 A.D.

Introduction

2000AD is a techno-thriller from the makers of hit movie Purple Storm. Hong Kong Legends have released this movie on a Special Collector’s Edition DVD, with remastered picture and sound and a whole host of extras.

Video

The picture by HKL is, as expected, up to their usual high standards. The print is anamorphic 1.78:1, and contains a high level of detail and accurate skintones. Some of the colours do seem to be muted, but that can be put down to the director’s choice of film stock as opposed to the transfer.

Audio

This disc contains both English (dubbed) and Cantonese 5.1 tracks, of which I picked the latter to listen to. The sound certainly has a punch to it, with full use being made of the front soundstage and LFEs. This track is certainly one to show off the action scenes to your friends, as the bass is quite punchy. One problem however is that the dialogue seems a quiet compared to the sound effects – which is annoying, as when the film switches from Chinese to English dialogue there are no subtitles to follow.

Features

HKL have included a good set of extras on this SE disc. The commentary by Bey Logan and director Gordon Chan is informative and entertaining, as always with a Bey Logan track. The interviews here are excellent, much better than the usual ones we see on DVD. The Gordon Chan interview lasts 15mins, whilst the Andrew Lin one lasts 18mins – both go into great detail about the filming of 2000AD and cover things not talked about in the commentary. The Making-Of clocks in at 20mins and is somewhat strange – it is a behind-the-scenes look rather than a true documentary. You’ll see what I mean! Rounding off the extras are a picture gallery and 4 trailers.

Conclusion

2000AD is a very disappointing film, and one of HKL’s weakest titles to date. From the Top Gun rip-off title sequence to the oh-so-cool camera angles and stupid colour tints, it is obvious that director Chan is going for style over substance. This is not helped by a weak script, thin characterisation and poor acting. The plotline is less of a coherent story than a series of action sequences and stunts. Whilst these sequences are not bad, they are far too disjointed and unspectacular to remain in the memory for long.

Overall this is a very mediocre HK actioner, but on a very good DVD that has excellent picture and sound, and varied enough extras to cover the entire making of the movie from every perspective.