Synopsis: Two future cops take on time-hopping triads and a couple of feuding, sword-wielding aliens to bring peace to the streets of Manilla.

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Views: You have to wonder what happened in Philip Ko Fei's life that made him go from a kung fu superstar to a heavily criticized director, responsible for some insane and terrible movies later in life. Regardless of his career choices, I'm proud to say that I'm still a huge fan of the late Philip Ko and have always been excited to see him on-screen. Ultracop 2000 is a particularly interesting one – hated by many for how crass and cheap it looks, the film was shot in the Philippines and written by the man himself as many of his films were around this period. Taking his cues from movies like Dark Angel, Terminator, and even Clarence Fok's The Iceman Cometh, Ko's sci-fi adventure wants to be so much more, but almost fails on every level. I say almost because there are a handful of things in Ultracop 2000 that still make for an interesting watch, such as particular moments of action or comedy scenes that comes across as if they were penned by Wong Jing. His vision of a futuristic Manilla is probably bang-on, considering the place probably had never changed that much over the film's timeline of 8 years. Even the costumes of the future cops are very much as 90s as they get, with no attempt to make them look like they're from another timeline – even just a little. I honestly don't think it's because Philip Ko was a bad director as such, but I feel that the budget for Ultracop 2000 was hardly a fifth of what was needed for the man to realise his vision here!

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Yes, I know, it sounds like I'm trying to defend Ultracop 2000 – but believe me, I'm not. The film is still bland on a visual level and far too talky for it's own good. There are certain scenes that are definitely directed much better than others, which is probably down to Ko Fei sharing directional duties with Filipino director Joe Mari Avellana (who also helped write the script). Joe had been quite popular over the years as a writer and director, but mostly as an actor having starred in films such as Caged Fury, Bloodfist 1 & 2, Rage with Richard Norton, The Hunt For Eagle One with Mark Dacascos, and much more. As if he didn't have enough to do as co-star and co-director, Philip Ko also looks after the action which is pretty questionable for the most part. I can only imagine that he wanted to make this something of a modern-day wuxia piece, with flying alien swordsmen and super-powered fighters – but instead, the martial arts elements come across messy a lot of the time with wire-enhanced moves that are so ridiculous, it reminded me of his follow up project, Lethal Panther 2, which also starred the Osh and was a much better film overall. While there is enough action going on throughout (most of which is gun-toting action if not flying aliens) the last 15 minutes offer some madcap action that lets Yukari Oshima and Philip Ko put their skills to use. But it's just too little too late.

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With almost 300 films to his name, there is definitely much better out there from the great Philip Ko Fei. But if, like me, you need to see every Hong Kong action movie ever made then, Ultracop 2000 will certainly test your patience. Yukari Oshima looks as great as always but is slightly wasted given what we know she can do. Around this period she made a lot with Ko Fei including Angel Mission (aka Born To Fight), Hard To Kill, Fatal Chase, Guardian Angel, Deadly Target, and Power Connection which I quite enjoyed. The great Melvin Wong stars as one of the big bad triads – although how he got talked into that role I'll never know – and the rest of the cast is filled out with popular Filipino actors and extras. But all in all, I'd say this one is for die-hard Hong Kong movie/Philip Ko Fei/Yukari Oshima fans only. And even that might be at a push...

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Overall: Boring and insane at times, Ultracop 2000 makes for an interesting watch if not just to see Yukari Oshima and Philip Ko in action!

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DVD Extras: Trailers