Classic Chan: Supercop (1992)

We continue our exploration of some of Jackie's famous Police Story film series, today joined by the lovely Michelle Yeoh. Next time, Thrasher will re-visit the cult-classic, Rumble in Vancouver. I know I'm excited.

Also known as Police Story III in Asia, Supercop builds upon the adventures of Jackie/Kevin Chan, who is now officially recognized as being a "supercop." As such, he is sent to partner with Jessica Yang (played by Michelle Yeoh), a member of the mainland Chinese police, in a dangerous undercover assignment that involves breaking a convict out of a labor camp in order to infiltrate his older brother's drug cartel. Jackie brings the same brand of lovable yet lethal goofball who is not afraid to slap a woman if she gets too sassy. He still has the same lovely, though perhaps under-appreciated, girlfriend from the previous films, but is now joined by a woman who slaps back. And this is my favorite thing about this film: it is one of the few times where Jackie has a true female counterpart (unless, of course, you want to count Jennifer Love Hewitt in The Medallion) who can rival his ability to provide spectacle through stunts. She is a pleasure to watch, whereas watching Scarlett Johannson (or most other actresses put in an action-fighting role) often requires the suspension of disbelief. Indeed, she does all of her own stunts, too, of which there are quite a few to be found. And I find that this can make for a better martial arts film. In contrast, there are some cases where Jackie has very impressive fight scenes but a story that is hard to sit through or follow, causing me to have the desire to simply save the parts of these movies I do like and make an action compilation. Supercop does not have this problem at all; action scenes happen often and always further the plot. It all culminates in a stunning visual climax involving stunts with a helicopter, dirt bike, and train. What is unfortunate is that I found certain problems about the scene that distracted me from enjoying it in all its glory. The largest is the method by which Chaibat, being pursued by Chan who is hanging on the rope ladder of his helicopter, tries to stop him. Chaibat has his pilot run Chan into some of the more iconic spires in Kuala Lumpur, which fails, and eventually into an oncoming train, which catches the rope ladder and forces the helicopter to land on it. I typically dislike when villains leave the protagonist in some elaborate trap and leave, allowing him or her to escape. The feeling I get from that is quite the same I get here. Chaibat is carrying a large assault rifle in the helicopter and there ought to have been some explanation as to why he wouldn't use it to get Chan off his rope ladder (something like he ran out of ammo or it dropped out of the chopper). Also puzzling is why they don't just cut the rope ladder (and the excuse that they didn't have a knife is belied by the fact that one of the men on the helicopter pulls out a huge bowie knife to attack Jackie). The ending also left me puzzling why Chaibat's wife would assist in rescuing Jackie and Jessica, since she had previously been sentenced to death by the Malaysian government for conspiracy against the state. Some explanation about how they could extradite her to Hong Kong for leniency in providing the numbers to the Swiss bank accounts would have been welcomed. These three seemingly small quibbles caused disproportionately large problems in my enjoyment of what otherwise is a fantastic action scene. But please don't let my spending half of the review talking about some problems give you the impression that this movie was anything less than one of Jackie's best outings. It is, in fact, my personal favorite of the Police Story series.

 

Classic Chan: Police Story 2 (1988)

It's axiomatic: for every good action movie, there bound to be a sequel or three. In that vein, join Thrasher as he follows Chicken Man's lead with a look back at Police Story 2. Keep checking in with Code Redd Net for more Classic Chan.

Police Story 2 is something of a lost classic, at least in North America, as it lacks both the critical sway of the original and the mainstream theatrical release afforded to the subsequent entries in the series Supercop and Jackie Chan's First Strike. It's a pity, as PS2 features some fine stunt work. In this one Chan plays the same cop as before, only this time he's been demoted to highway patrol duty as a result of his propensity for property damage. His obligations as a police officer and as a boyfriend are challenged when the mob boss he put behind bars in the previous film returns, determined to draw out the subdued Chan. Cornered, Chan retaliates and consequently resigns from the force, only to be reinstated when his former colleagues realize just what kind of results he's capable of producing. In something of a strange move, the film begins by recapping the most spectacular moments from the original before beginning this story in the proper manner. In a certain sense it works to set up expectations which this film seeks to supersede, but in another sense it doesn't work because it's a pretty high bar to meet. Nevertheless, Jackie continues to perfect here the action-comedy formula that has served him well throughout his career. As Chicken Man noted in his review of PS1, in these pre-watershed, pre-Rush Hour films, Chan does indeed get to play goofier characters that more effectively underline his immense talent for physical comedy as well as, and often totally in step with, his peerless athletic prowess. The choreography here is splendid, especially one of my all-time favorite fights, that being the playground brawl between Chan and a bunch of thugs. If, as Chicken Man suggests, the original's fight scenes impressed because they were "nearly believeable," PS2 is a bit of a lateral, pushing towards the ridiculous but not really going there. Jackie's films have a history of walking a narrow tightrope between the possible/probable and the pull of spectacle, and for the most part Police Story 2 keeps its balance.

Classic Chan: Police Story (1985)

Welcome to the first installment of our ten part series taking a look at some of the better known  Jackie Chan films. We are big fans of Jackie, in terms of what he did to the genre of martial arts films, his impact on global cinema, and because he is just plain fun to watch. We start here with Police Story. Tune in next time to see Thrasher analyze Police Story II.

 

To be perfectly honest, I hadn't seen all of Police Story until preparing for this review and it was quite fascinating to compare it with some of Jackie's later works. One thing that was a bit surprising is how tongue-in-cheek it was, even for Jackie. Police Story is not at all similar to the demeanor of Crime Story. It is actually more reminiscent of Spy Next Door in that Jackie starts out somewhat like a glorified babysitter when he is assigned to protect a mob boss' girlfriend as a witness. He plays tricks on her in order to convince her that she needs his protection, which eventually backfires in several ways. This demonstrates that when Jackie works solo he tends to be the competent policeman who doesn't take his superiors too seriously. But when paired up with a Westerner, the latter takes the part of the screw-up and Jackie is the serious one. Both styles definitely work, but I think that I prefer to see Jackie be the goofball, as he can be very funny. And this is not only in terms of his ability to do physical comedy, but also, in this case, in his chauvinistic treatment of his girlfriend and the witness he's protecting. Another interesting thing in Police Story is that it has a bit less fighting than we've come to expect from Jackie. In fact, the marquee scene from it (if the special features of the Mr. Nice Guy DVD are any indication) is Jackie driving a car through a shantytown built on the side of a hill. I can really only recall two major fight scenes from this movie. The thing that struck me most about them is that they didn't seem ridiculous (like in some martial arts movies) but nearly believable. Jackie didn't engage legions of opponents; the most at once he fought, I believe, was maybe three, and he took a lot of hits doing so. The most enjoyable action scene for me was in the climax where Jackie shows off his athleticism and daring in the confines of a large mall. The biggest drawback might be the plot, which revolves around convicting a drug lord. After witnessing the danger the police put the residents of the shantytown in during their shoot-out and subsequent vehicular pursuit to apprehend him, it's hard to be convinced that the police's war on drugs is making Hong Kong safer. But overall, it offers some good (if far between) action scenes and laughs. 

Finest Fights: Police Story (1985)

Still bringing you the best fight scenes available on YouTube, only now, we bring 'em intermittently.

Aha, so today we have one of Jackie Chan's finest, the mall brawl from Police Story. You should know, Police Story is going to be featured in an upcoming countdown here at Code Redd Net, where we revisit ten of Jackie's best films. Consider this an early preview:

And, as an added bonus, enjoy the "making of" Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster for PS1:

 

Sadly, Stuntmaster was never released for the Game Gear. Danny had to convince himself otherwise :(

 

Finest Fights: Police Story 2 (1988)

Still bringing you the best fight scenes available on YouTube, only now, we bring 'em intermittently.

I just got done watching Police Story 2, and while it's not quite on the level of the original, I must say I've been waiting a long time to see a fight scene take place in a playground. This one doesn't disappoint, not at all.