Future Cops
6.2 /10 1 Votes
Language Cantonese | 6/10 IMDb Genre Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi Duration Country Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Jing Wong (screenplay) Release date July 15, 1993 (1993-07-15) Genres Action Film, Martial Arts Film, Thriller, Chinese Movies Cast (Ti Man), (Broom Man), (Lung), (Chan Tai Hung / Yu Ti Hung), (Chun May), Andy Hui Chi-On (Kei-On)Similar movies Terminator Genisys , X-Men: Days of Future Past , Men in Black 3 , The Boy Next Door , Star Trek , Back to the Future |
Future Cops (Chinese: 超級學校霸王; literal title: Super-School Tyrant) is a 1993 Hong Kong action-comedy film loosely based on the Street Fighter video game franchise, starring an ensemble cast of Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok, Chingmy Yau, Dicky Cheung and Simon Yam.
Contents

It was the second live-action film to feature characters from the Street Fighter series, the first being City Hunter starring Jackie Chan, which was also directed by Wong Jing, but released 6 months earlier. The following year the official Street Fighter motion picture was released, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Plot

In the year 2043, an evil crime lord (The General/M. Bison) is trying to take over the world. He was arrested and was sentenced to jail by the Judge. The General's minions, Kent (Ken), Thai King (Sagat), and Toyota (E. Honda) travel to the year 1993 to kill the Judge before he has a chance to get into office. During a battle with The General's minions, the Future Cops Lung (Ryu), Broomhead (Guile), Ti Man/Iron Face (Vega), and Sing (Dhalsim) hear of their plot. The Police Director decided to send them back to the past also to protect the Judge. Lung ultimately stays behind because he is the Police Director's brother in law.

Once the Future Cops get to 1993, they land in the backyard of 20-something year old high school student Tai-Hung, who helps them stay under cover by letting them live with him and his family. Ti Man pretends to be a fellow student while striking up a romance with Tai-Hung's sister Chun-May (Chun Li); Broomhead pretends to be a music teacher at the school while also striking up a romance with one of the students, Crab Angel; while Sing follows Tai-Hung pretending to be his servant, all the while protecting him from the evil school bullies, while Tai-Hung pursues a romance of his own with his long-time friend, Choi-Nei. Eventually the villains show up, wreak havoc, and many battles ensue.
Kent also goes undercover as a teacher in an effort to find out the identity of Tai-Hung. He subtly ambushes Ti Man with poison that regresses his intelligence to those of a 5-year old, before tricking Crab Angel into bringing him to a lover's spot. Broomhead tails them, and after a series of fights, decides not to kill Kent. Kent, not wanting to owe him a favour, injects the antidote into Ti Man before leaving.

The General eventually takes over the school as the principal and has the school in a lockdown to force the cops to hand over Tai-Hung.

At Tai-Hung's birthday party, he realizes that the villains are after him and wishes to coward his way out of the situation. This continues even after the cops inject microchips into Tai-Hung, Chun-May, Tai-Hung's father (Blanka) and Tai-Hung's mother (also invoking the power of Chun-Li) to give them super powers.

The cops confront the villains in the school. After crashing his hoverboard into the school building, Tai-Hung manages to awaken his powers as Son Goku (Goku). Meanwhile, the other heroes fight with The General, but are unable to defeat him. Kent, disagreeing with the way The General approaches the matter, becomes a turncoat and joins in the fight. Only when all the heroes join forces are they able to win. In the end, Lung arrives that night to inform the crew of an invasion in Japan by Super Saiyans.
Cast
While the majority of parodied characters are from the Street Fighter franchise, some characters are also based on popular anime in Hong Kong at the time, such as Doraemon and Dragonball.
Reception
The film moves through strange romance, wacky comedic situations, and a couple of bizarre musical numbers (many of the Chinese actors in the film are also accomplished pop singers), until the introduction of the villains halfway through the movie. There are some fight scenes featuring the special attacks and fighting styles of the Street Fighter characters. Though the characters bear an obvious similarity to those of Street Fighter, Fantasy Productions could not get the rights to use their names at the time the film was being made. All in all, the plot of the film has little to do with the actual storyline and characters of the original Street Fighter series.
References
Future Cops WikipediaFuture Cops IMDb Future Cops themoviedb.org