This movie, for me, is only a slightly above average sci-fi crime thriller film. I have watched maybe 100 other sci-fi movie that is better than this one.
One of the good things about this film is the cast's acting performance. Aaron Kwok excelled in his role as a desperate, falsely blamed cyber security engineer. The actors who played the police chief and the villainous boss also delivered great performances. The plot is also pretty simple and easy to understand. It isn't exaggerated or too nonsensical like some other sci-fi movies. However, my favourite thing about this whole movie is the dark web scenes. The visual and sound effects used in these scenes are very thrilling and engaging. While watching these scenes, I can help but feel as if I was in that scary, horrible place with the MC.
Now let's move on to its flaws. I agreed with the critics that some of the visual effects seemed quite rough and perhaps old-fashioned. You know, like the ones that you see in movies that were released in the 2000s or early 2010s. This movie also feels quite boring in the middle. The beginning is pretty good and fast-paced. It quickly tells the audience what is going on and there are a lot of virtual scenes added to make it more interesting. The protagonist also discovered that he was framed early on so yay for smart protagonist. I don't know when it starts but after the protagonist discovered the truth and had to prove his innocence, the movie starts to feel dull and uninteresting to the point where I yawned a few times. You have the same old chasing and fighting scenes. The villain kidnapped the protagonist's daughter and threatened him with his daughter's safety. Just the same old stuff.
It was not until the protagonist went into the dark web that I became interested in the movie again. After that, for most parts, it was entertaining though the ending feels very mediocre. Like I mentioned before, the plot of this movie is pretty simple. While that's a good thing, it's also the main reason why the film feels quite boring. There are some questions that if they are shown and answered in this movie, would make it FAR more entertaining. Like, who owned the foreign seashore accounts that the villain boss transferred the money to? The writers could also explore the protagonist's background a little bit more. He mentioned once that he used to be a hacker and was imprisoned for it but that's all. There's no further explanation. Why did he worked as a hacker? How did he went from being an ex-criminal to a digital security expert? All of these questions if answered would make me more invested in this movie. It would have also add extra layers of drama and emotions to this movie.
Overall this film is a mediocre but enjoyable watch. Can it be SO MUCH better? Definitely.
Do I like it? Well, not really but Aaron Kwok is sexy as heck and I would watch any film that this guy stars in. Would I recommend it? Not so much but if you are bored and don't know what to watch at the cinema, maybe you could give this a try. Probably you will like this movie better than I did.
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