Ultimate Code
Director: Wu Zhiting
Year: 2021
Rating: 5.0
Good to know that the Chinese can make as brainless
an action film as America does. I actually had to read another review in
order to understand what this was about and to get a little background on
the director. So, thanks to Derek Elley on the Sino-Chinese Blog. This makes
as much sense as a peanut butter and radish sandwich, but some of the action
isn't bad till we get to the end when it goes bonkers CGI like the Jet Li
film, The One. The director and star Wu Zhiting shot the film four
years before it got a release in an attempt from Zhiting who had no director
credits or many acting credits to make him an action star. Since there seems
to have been nothing from him since - per IMDB - it doesn't seem to have
worked. Not that he is terrible but he only shows one expression in the film
and that isn't jovial. He is pissed off throughout the film and his grim
relentless look says to stay out of his way.
His character is Xiao Yu, a professional
killer who has been enhanced by a computer chip inserted into his body. He
was the number one killer for X Corporation which is being run by a madman
who wants to conquer the world by putting chips into the population. Wait
a second. Shot in 2017 with a corporation named X, a psycho running it and
putting chips into people that can be controlled. Maybe Zhiting should be
a fortune teller instead. Xiao betrayed this psycho Mick and has been imprisoned
by him. Mick is played by Frenchman Philippe Joly who has had parts in a
number of Asian films - Dragon Blade, Little Big Master, Chasing the Dragon
and Goldfinger - and has managed to acquire the Chinese name of Langsen which
translates to Wolf Forest, which is pretty cool. Mick takes the wife (Le
Guan) and child of Xiao's hostage and tells Xiao that if he doesn't retrieve
this code that was stolen by Enoch in seven days, they will be killed - by
a laser that will divide that into fourths. Which is a messy way to go. I
would not want to be the janitor.
Enoch is played by David Belle and is the
main reason I watched this. He is the Frenchman who is given credit for inventing
parkour and was in a few parkour films. His moves are amazing. But he gets
written out of the script early on after a fine chase on foot and motorcycle
with Xiao after him. First though Xiao picks up a female journalist (the
lovely Meng Lu) who he thinks has some connection to Enoch and is more than
just a journalist. He is right - she is looking for revenge - Enoch killed
her parents years ago and she has become a tech genius. Enoch had been part
of X but along with other escapees are now trying to stop Mick from taking
over the world. Damn another person who wants to take over the world. Both
sides want to kill Xiao and some solid action comes along. The film looks
fine, sleek and lots of techno babble and computers - but damn next time
Zhiting needs to write a better script.
