Gene Generation, The |
  • USA / South Korea • 2007 • 96m •   • Directed by: Pearry Reginald Teo. • Starring: Bai Ling, Alec Newman, Parry Shen, Faye Dunaway, Ethan Cohn, Robert David Hall, Michael Shamus Wiles, Daniel Zacapa, Erin Layne, Jeff Imada, Nils Allen Stewart, Richard Cetrone, Hiro Koda. • Music by: Scott Glasgow.      In a futuristic world, Michelle lives everyday battling with DNA Hackers who use their skills to hack into people's bodies and kill them. She is an assassin, battling her past demons and trying to keep her younger and extroverted brother, Jackie, out of trouble. When Jackie gets involved in a petty crime of robbery, he propels himself into the world of DNA Hackers, Shylocks (Loan Sharks) and Gang Fights. Wanting the respect that the world has never given to him only makes it harder for Jackie to peel himself away from the underground trades, against the hopes of his sister, Michelle. Michelle always wanted to leave the city and lead a calm and quiet lifestyle. As emotions and gunfire get into the way, Michelle and Jackie soon find themselves battling between their lives and finding out that in an immoral world, love can still survive. Blood is thicker than water.
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Review:
The story line of the flick is quite thin and more or less important. The movie doesn't build up much tension but a quite interesting desperate atmosphere. The pace is hold on a high level with a lot of fighting scenes with a high variety of guns and swords plus some martial arts moments that are sadly not always quite well cut and caught by the camera team. The movie contains also some emotional and erotic moments that are a welcome change in this dark tale of dystopia. Thanks to this good degree of variety, there aren't too many lengths in here.
To be honest, the biggest reason to watch this biopunk movie featuring many science-fiction and action elements are the tight leather clothing, the exotic face painting and the highly exposed beauty of main actress Bai Ling. To my positive surprise, the world star that made it from Sichuan province to California is not only nice to watch but she is also acting rather well. Her relationship to her brother who is always in trouble with money, gambling and mighty enemies and her romantic connection to a neighbour that is a hunted scientist are credible and she shows some great emotions in those scenes. That's the reason why I think that she has way more potential than being limited to play the crazy, lonesome, superficial whore image that Hollywood made out of that eccentric woman that has been through many hard times in her life. This is one of the rare movies from the last years where she can finally exploit a little bit more than this stereotype and truly act. The director still plays with her image of course but this time she plays authentically a responsible, serious and tough woman and not only a strange sex monster. There is only one sex scene and this one is quite credible. The rest is the same kind of dark eroticism that you also have in the Underworld movies and that fits quite well to the final product.
The other actors in this movie do a rather good job, for example Parry Shen or the short appearances of acting legend Faye Dunaway. Only Alec Newman is not quite convincing in this flick and his emotions towards a shining Bai Ling could be more passionate.
In the end, this movie is surely better than its reputation. I would definitely watch it again on a dark autumn or winter night. It's a very entertaining flick with cool action scenes, great music and a surprisingly good main actress in a dark dystopian atmosphere. Of course, fans of Bai Ling should also watch this. On the other side, the special effects are not well caught and the story line could be a little bit more original. This movie might be interesting for those that like movies such as Underworld, Equilibrium or The Matrix.
Review by gridoon2012 [IMDB 18 December 2010] from the Internet Movie Database.
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