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 here are a lot of differences between a Heist film and a
Caper film. A Caper film concerns itself with looking "cool" as its
protagonists steal from or break into high-tech security systems, buildings,
etc. using gadgets that won't be invented for another 50 years or so. Heist
films are more low-tech and down-to-Earth in its thievery. Sometimes the heists
are elaborately plotted and staged, but never out of the realm of reason; when a
Heist film's "ultimate job" is pulled off, we don't shake our heads
and go, "That's impossible", but rather, "Hey, why didn't I think
of that?" Caper films, on the other hand, doesn't concern itself with
plausibility, and instead goes for the "Wow" factor with its many
high-tech gimmicks, gadgets, and inventions.
Wilson Yip's Skyline Cruisers is a Caper film that
concerns a foursome who specializes in high-tech capers that involves -- what
else? -- high-tech facilities. The team is led by the stoic Mac (Leon Lai), who
is still pining over the love of his life who died during one of the team's
capers 3 years earlier. Mac's present team consists of Bird (Jordan Chan), the
team's gadget man; Sam (Sam Lee), the team's all-purpose man; and Michelle
(Michelle Saram), the team's, well, girl. When the foursome are hired to steal a
cancer drug from a mad scientist type who had stolen the drug away from its
rightful owner, Mac readily accepts, hoping to do good for once in his life.
Things get complicated when it turns out there is a second group -- and
eventually a third -- also plotting to get their hands on the cancer drug. Just
who is stealing from whom here?
Skyline Cruisers is directed by Wilson Yip (2002),
and the film is essentially a rehash of the Mission Impossible franchise
and a dozen other Caper films of the past decade. As a result there's nothing
here that hasn't been done, and done a dozen times better. As odd as it may
seem, despite the movie's many inventions and stunts, there isn't all that much
excitement going on. The movie features hand-to-hand combat as well as gunplay,
but like Yip's 2002,
everything is so elaborately staged
and executed for the "cool" effect that they seem too obviously fake
and unreal. Stated another way: I was not convinced. Besides that, the film is
sorely lacking in humor -- both the usual Hong Kong "awkward humor"
kind and the "Hey, it's really funny!" variety.
Like a lot of recent Hong Kong movies, Skyline Cruisers
features a group of familiar faces as well as pop singers in starring roles.
Leon Lai takes over the lead in this one, and along for the ride is Jordan Chan
(Young and
Dangerous 6), who looks like a more focused and less insane version of Sam
Lee (Gen-X Cops). Qi
Shu shows up as June, a member of a second group of thieves bent on stealing the
cancer drug. Shu was excruciatingly annoying in Young
and Dangerous 6, but for whatever reason she is light years better in this
one.
As all Caper films are want to do, Skyline Cruisers
has a series of double-crosses that gets to be a little ridiculous after a
while. The quest for the cancer drug takes a back seat to elaborate caper
sequences that involves everything from fake contact lens to thermal tunnels to
backpacks that turns into skateboards and parachutes and a variety of other
things. Despite all that, I couldn't shake this indifferent feeling as I watched
the movie play out. Everything is geared for the Mission Impossible
crowd, but I just couldn't bring myself to become interested. The movie is
borderline, lost somewhere between dull and okay, which is rather hard to
accomplish when there's plenty of gears and high-tech gadgets flying around. And
I'm a man who likes his gears and high-tech gadgets in my movies, so there you
have it.
Sam Lee and Michelle Saram proves once again that Hong Kong
filmmakers just don't like to bother with creating fictional names for their
characters, and Jordan Chan shows what Sam Lee could be if he toned down the
"goofball" persona just a little bit. Leon Lai is appropriately somber
through much of the film, and Qi Shu didn't make me conjure up images of nails
going down a blackboard.
So why didn't I like Skyline Cruisers more? It's
hard to put into words, but I suppose the most accurate description of my
feelings toward the film can best be summed up with the word: "Blah."
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