Barbie Hsu stars as Grace Wong, a single mother and electronic engineer working for a toy designer. For reasons unknown, Grace is kidnapped by a sadistic gang that wants something her brother has. She is taken to a remote shack, where she is held captive, but thanks to her engineering skills, she is able to put a smashed telephone back together. Although she can't actually dial the phone, she is able to get it to dial randomly, which is how she connects with Bob (Louis Koo). A single father himself, Bob is something of a loser. He works for a collections agency, and he hasn't been much of a father to his young son, who is getting ready to leave for boarding school in Australia. At first Bob thinks Grace's call is a prank, but he soon comes to believe her, and finds himself racing around the city trying to keep her young daughter from harm. Meanwhile, disgraced cop Fai (Nick Cheung) crosses paths with Bob, and though he doesn't believe him initially, the former detective begins to realize that there is something suspicious going on. As Bob desperately tries to save Grace and her daughter from certain death, he is also trying to make it to the airport to see his son off, knowing the boy can't handle another disappointment.

In its earlier incarnation, Cellular was a mildly entertaining movie, but to be honest, many of the film's details have long since slipped from my memory. I do recall that it was not so exceptionally entertaining that I wanted to see it again. By contrast to the version of Cellular that exists in my faulty memory, Connected is a superior film. In the original film, Chris Pine played something of a slacker, whereas Koo plays more of a sadsack failure. The film early on establishes Bob as a man of good intention who nonetheless has a bad reputation of being a disappointment. This makes the character more torn about the decisions he must make throughout the film, which in turn gives Connected more of an emotional depth.

Connected also works better than Cellular with its impressive action sequences, especially an extended chase sequence where Bob pursues the gang after they've abducted Grace's daughter. Not much of a fan of car chases, it is still hard not to be entertained by this high speed demolition derby. The rest of the action is equally impressive, but it is interesting to note that the action, while certainly over-the-top, is much more toned down than the Hong Kong movies of the 1990s. Films like Hardboiled took the action and violence of Hong Kong cinema to unreal heights, but in recent years there has been a move to something a bit less hyperbolic. Yes, the action is still big and bombastic, but it is definitely toned down in a way. But that is not a bad thing, as it keeps Connected a bit more grounded in reality, as opposed to a fantasy world of hyper violence.

Connected is one of the better Hong Kong action thrillers to come out in the last few years. It moves at a quick pace, maintains a great sense of tension, and builds a strong relationship between Bob and Grace, which is especially impressive since physically they are only in one scene together. Director Benny Chan has amassed a solid list of credits, including New Police Story and Gen-X Cops, which seem to have been building up to Connected, a very entertaining film that establishes him as one of the best filmmakers currently working in Hong Kong.

Video:
Connected is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is very good, with a crisp, clean image transfer and vibrant colors. The original source material appears to be free of any scratches or defects, and there are no problems with artifacts or any sort image degradation.

Audio:
Connected is presented with a variety of audio tracks, including the original language tracks in Mandarin and Cantonese (with a minimal amount of English) in 5.1, as well as Mandarin only and Cantonese only (both 5.1), and Vietnamese in 2.0. There are optional subtitles in English and Chinese. The English subtitles are easy enough to read, but the translation is not the best, and at times the subtitles go by faster than can be read. The sound mix is good, and if you understand Mandarin and Cantonese, then the subtitles won't be needed and the audio levels will be more than acceptable.

Bonus Material:
Disc One has an audio commentary with director Benny Chan, in Chinese, with optional English subtitles. Chan's commentary is good, but I have a lot of trouble with subtitled commentaries, so I didn't listen to the whole track. A second disc is loaded with tons of bonus material. A "making of" featurette (20 min.) and a "behind the scenes" featurette (38 min.) are both impressive, especially the behind the scenes footage, which does a good job of showing how much work went into some of the action sequences. There is also a collection of deleted scenes (34 min.) that seem more like extended scenes than deleted. These are all pretty entertaining, but one scene in particular really needs to go back into the film, as it really helps establish Bob's character, and brings him a bit more depth. A selection of alternate scenes (9 min.) is interesting, but proves that the right decisions were made in editing. Overall, this is a nice package of bonus features.

Final Thoughts:
To be perfectly honest, I had little interest in seeing Connected, as I was only mildly entertained by Cellular. But Connected is a superior film that is more entertaining in every way. Fans of Hong Kong cinema will definitely enjoy it, but so will those that appreciate tightly-paced action thrillers.