Review: I want to say it before I go on with this review; "Nicholas Tse, if you ever need a buddy or a friend to go clubbin' or something, I'm your man. Jimmy's cool, we can bring him along, too." After one seating of this movie you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you don't like Nicholas Tse that's fine, but I'm not the one sitting in the "nerds only" section wishing to become "somebody in this godforsaken world." In three words, 2002 is in every sense--Funky Fresh Goodness.

After a slight, and I mean slight, disappointment in his most recent outing with Skyline Cruisers, the extremely promising Wilson Yip is back with killer vengeance to regain his status as "the director with flash and style." In other words, "Yip is freaking hip." Yip's 2002 is a movie that takes leaps and bounds in the fresh and cool category. The story is smooth and slicker than your daddy's "the Fonze" hairdo. The characters are manifested on an upper echelon of bad-ass. Though what I'm about to say may come as a shock to some of you who are in denial of your "true" feelings, Tse and Stephen Fung are guys we're really, really aching to be. These guys are skilled-craftsman. They're magnificent onscreen and they make me feel all warm inside . . . did I just write that? Never mind, 2002 is a fresh new movie from Hong Kong that doesn't overdo it, but damn, it truly delivers the goods.

The story is simplistic in manner. 2002 is a special unit in the police force's SPI (Spirit and Paranormal Investigation) division designated solely to supernatural activities. The unit is a man-ghost team consisting of Chiu (Nicholas Tse), an ultra-cool psychic, and Sam (Sam Lee), an entity who's lending his powers for the greater good of humanity. However, the duo will soon have to part ways because it's Sam's time to reincarnate and a new man has been chosen by "fate" to take his place. Well lo and behold, that man happens to be traffic cop Fung (Stephen Fung) who has an uncanny ability of seeing and sensing spirits. So if it sounds like Men In Black with a Ghostbusters twist, it is. But it's so much more than that.

Everything in this movie is jazzed up in way. You can feel the sheer star power Tse and Fung brings to the screen. They've done it in countless of other movies and 2002 is no exception. Adding Yip in the mix absolutely multiplied that very same presence brought upon by the tandem. You could say that if Tse and Fung were "gay," they'd make a great onscreen couple simply because of that great chemistry they have together (no, I'm not gay). The movie itself has a nice overall storyline. Yes, it has been used, but it's not hackneyed. In fact, it totally breaks the genre open, well in my eyes anyway. I was expecting something old and drawn out, but I came out with a different perspective on this type of genre that I haven't seen before. This movie is a must-see, to say the least. The action is superb. Nice camera shots and angles make for some sweet fight scenes and don't let others build too much hype on the ending because it's not that good . . . it's phenomenal. The use of slo-mos during the more frantic climax was truly the highlight of this film. Yip breaks barriers by creating beautifully crafted, yet twisted in a way, kinds of fight that will linger in our thoughts well after the movie.

The characters are also placed on a supreme pedestal of fine divinity. What I mean by that is that they're godlike in some ways. Chiu is like a flashback into the old James Dean movie, "Rebel Without Cause." Tse portrays the character so well. You've got to believe that in real life, Tse is this damn cool. No ifs and buts about it. Fung, on the other hand, must play a part that looks somewhat like a reprise role from the duo's other movie, "My Schoolmate, the Barbarian." Fung (not the person but the character) was a nobody up until the point where he becomes apart of the awesome task force. The other cast members refined the movie in very auspicious ways. They gave us more viewpoints and made us sympathize with Chiu and Fung. We don't just see them as brawlers with cool gadgets and gizmos anymore, but as normal homosapiens with a weird wacked out occupation. Chiu and Fung are actually hopeless romantics wanting to meet their significant other. This is where the story changes and exceeds what some other HK action movies fail to do--make us "want" to root for these guys.