Huh that’s interesting. I kinda remember it not being that well received at the time. It did get a cult following over the years so maybe the IMDb rating has gone up since then?
It flopped at the box and was regarded as a ripoff of the matrix's aesthetics by critics. But it was well received by home audiences. I remember it fondly as a quick to syndication movie. It definitely has some lows in quality at points and the plot could've been stronger. But its highs were very solid.
Back when Netflix had everything I watched that one thinking it would be a cool scifi film, but turns out its a kong fu movie and I was not in the mood for a that so I was disappointed. The sound track slapped though!
I nearly literally started a friendship based on showing the other person this movie. It's a fantastic movie and apparently why Christian Bale was chosen as Batman.
I cried harder at that dog scene in that movie than any other movie ever. Even right now I'm tearing up thinking about it. It may have been in part because I watched it alone so I didn't feel the need to filter myself at all and there wasn't anyone to comfort me. Fuck, man. Fuck.
But yeah, apart from that, I liked it too. It's a bit cheesy, sure, but I really enjoyed a lot of it. I thought the gun stuff was cool. I forget the name they have it. Gun Kata or something? Like when they'd slide into a pitch black room and just shoot all around them. That was cool. It's such a cheesy thing but so cool lol.