After his foray as director in 2013’s Firestorm starring Andy Lau, scriptwriter Alan Yuen Kam Lun returns once again with his latest feature film The Rookies. From a script written by Yuen himself, The Rookies is a spy caper high on comedy with a sprinkling of action, aided by foreign locations and an extended guest appearance from Mila Jovovich. It all sounds good but the final outcome is a very standard affair. Released only in a select few cinemas The Rookies made little impact in the Chinese cinema box office.

Zhao Feng (Darren Wang Dalu) is an internet sensation whose fans adore him for his extreme stunt antics. His latest stunt involves a 2 man race up a high rise building all the while live streaming. Due to a mishap in his latest stunt he ends up in the middle of a black market exchange of a deadly weapon, fortunate for Zhao super spy Bruce (Mila Jovovich) crashes in to stop the transaction. Bruce decides to recruit Zhao in joining there espionage organization sending Zhao to Budapest with the hopes of stopping a terrorist group lead by Iron Fist (Dave Lee McInnis) who intends to release a deadly toxin upon the world. Miao Yan (Sandrine Pinna), a bipolar cop that now resides in the last department that is willing to accept her is sick of her inept department and chief (Lam Suet) so she ventures to pursue Zhao after witnessing his live stream. Miao Yan lands in Budapest and join forces with Zhao as well as lifelong friend Ding Shan (Xu Weizhou) and LV (Liu Meitong) in an attempt to stop the evil Iron Fist.

The name Alan Yuen may not be instantly recognizable but he is an accomplished script writer having penned the script for Jackie Chan’s New Police Story, Rob-B-Hood, Shaolin and the highly acclaimed Monster Hunt. His previous directional feature Firestorm was a commercial success that hinted at a bright future ahead for Yuen, surprisingly it took him this long to have his next directional film. Though The Rookies is not a complete mess of a film, it fails to successfully meld all its ingredients into a logical and cohesive product demonstrating Yuen’s scatter gun approach and inability to juggle multiple elements. Yet fun can be derived from the film as its spontaneous and randomness helps makes the proceeding easier to sit through. At 113 minutes the film moves at surprisingly brisk pace spending little time to settle down or in establishing relationships and characters, with a romantic love angle coming out of nowhere and never really convinces. The abundance of characters also harms proceedings as Yuen has little time to establish a clear motive for the lead villain whose plans is generic to a fault, not too dissimilar to any of the early Bond villains, in which clearly Yuen draws much of his inspiration from. The film is also tonally inconsistent and the abrupt changes can be quite jarring with moments of violence that heavily juxtaposes the comedy that played before; legs gets sliced, fingers chopped and people get shot. A huge problem that the film does suffer is the editing which is so erratic it can be disorientating, even the briefest of gestures are cut making movements feel choppy and this also transitions into the action scenes.

Handling the action is Stephen Tung Wei (Scooby Doo, Hitman) and what is displayed is fun and creative if a little over edited. The film has a heavy serving of action and there is enough variety to keep things interesting. The opening sees Bruce crashing an illicit transaction, the fight that proceeds is a fun introduction demonstrating creative use of the environment with Bruce effectively disarming her opponents, weaving from the chandelier, under the stairs and along the walls, though the action is often hidden in some rather erratic editing, it may be used to disguise the fact that Mila is doubled for most parts. Midway we are presented with a car chase which employs inventive camera movements and highlights some great driving skills from the Hungarian stunt drivers. A three wheeler motor car chase through a festival and onto the streets is an interesting moment with creative use of the vehicles hitting a briefcase around as our each party attempts to catch the case. The finale ends in a Bond-esque villain base, audience is treated to an extended action sequence mixing gun fire, parkour chases and fights. Those expecting long intricate choreography may be disappointed instead Tung utilizes a combination of quick strikes and throwdowns similar to what he employed in Heroic Duo or Mekong Operations. It can occasionally feel odd that our non-trained protagonist are able to evade and take out a whole base full of enemies but it is the type of film where you have to suspend your logic. Miao Yan serves most of the fist cuffs while Zhao is more evasive maneuverers.

If you approach the film with the expectation of it being a live action cartoon then it can satisfy to a certain extent, the heavy amount of screen animation such as floating on screen text to emulate live internet feeds and text messages all help to create the illusion. The costumes and sets are also highly exaggerated with flamboyant dress codes and lolita costumes lending itself not to be taken seriously. Sets often are highly larger-than-life and the toys provided for the protagonists are often silly.
It maintains a level of visual appeal and can be fun witnessing the quirkiness on display, sometimes pulling random moments that come out of nowhere. Surprisingly the visual effects are of a high standard and that is important considering the abundance of it on display. A large portion of the film was shot in Budapest and the beautiful locations help in creating visual appeal as well as leading an international feel.

Lead Taiwanese actor Darren Wang’s smug performance can irritate at times but this matches his onscreen persona effectively. Sandrine Pinna fares much better in her role fluctuating between nerdy to hot head with ease, her bipolar tendencies can often become over the top. Dave Lee McInnis best known for his role as Raiden in the web series Mortal Kombat does the best with what he can trying his hardest not to cross the line of cartoon villainy which is not helped that his character is written as such. He carries certain gravitas and charisma in his scenes and it’s a shame to see him in such a weak role. Xu Weizhou plays the odd ball inventor of the team with enough charm and fun but his role is not established enough to give any real meaning or purpose to the character. Then there is his onscreen love interest LV played by Liu Meitong who does the sweet and bubbly assistant bid well. Sadly Mila Jovovich fares the weakest out of the lot with an over exaggerated performance and coarse voice to emphasis her level of mystery and forced coolness. Weirdly she spends the latter half of the film sitting out in most of the action which becomes a little of a shame considering her impressive intro. Familiar faces pop up such as Lam Suet as the safe playing police chief, Lo Meng as the unfortunate colleague, Kathy Chow as the hip mum and Danny Chan as the cool triad boss, all bringing some weirdness and quirks to add to the fun of the film.

It does feel that Allan Yuen wanted to attempt to much but never really settling on comfortable genre. With so much rubbish that China and HK have been releasing of the late The Rookies don’t quite fall that low into that category but it does not reach the heights that it should have. Despite its many flaws there is fun to be deemed from the occasionally amusing comedy and the often satisfying action sequences.