Christmas 1991. That was the first time I saw Jackie Chan’s Police Story (1985). It was part of a Channel 4 season of asian action cinema movies. It wowed me back then, and seemed to be head and heels over every other “kung fu” action movie that was around that time and spawned a personal interest in Hong Kong action cinema, which included collecting Impact! magazines and watching other films.
Despite seeing Police Story and its numerous sequels countless times, I’ve never seen it at the cinema.
The BFI’s nationwide season “Art of Action” gave me a fantastic opportunity to watch both Police Story and its sequel Police Story II, and I thought I’d share my review of both movies, and try to analyse which is better and why.
Sadly, neither were the 4K version; and the film quality seemed to be quite fuzzy in places; and I was a bit disappointed that they showed a slightly different version of Police Story II which didn’t have music for the playground fight, and had weird video edits of the first movie that I definitely remember weren’t in the version I remember seeing. Despite this issues, I’m really happy I got to see both films on the big screen.
Police Story (1985) directed and stars Jackie Chan and shared the screen with Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin and Yuen Chor; who himself was once a director.
Chan plays “Chan Ka-Kui”, a police officer trying to take down drug lord “Chu Tao” (played by Yuen Chor); but when the court case against Chu Tao fails; Ka Kui becomes framed for the murder of a fellow dirty cop and must clear his name.
The movie highlights a range of stunts, action and slapstick humour. Ranging from the opening bus stunt, which Chan performs himself; through to the finale, the iconic mall fight sequences; Police Story has a lot going for it.
It’s also well known that Police Story was made as a result of Jackie Chan’s frustration and dissatisfaction with The Protector (1985); and you can see it throughout the movie.
Chan’s portrayal of “Ka-Kui” is also different to the “I want no trouble” mode that Chan had in his later career. Kai Kui is volatile, and when pushed to boiling point; he explodes.
In addition, the movie film style is at times moody, especially during the iconic mall fight sequence. The way the film captures Chan seems unique and wholly different than any other movie that he starred in afterwards.
I also feel that Police Story is the most iconic of Chan’s work. There are so many movies that were “inspired” by Police Story. Whether it was Tango and Cash (1989) paying homage to the bus shootout sequence, or Rapid Fire (1992) (starring Brandon Lee, who himself stated in a few interviews that he was a Jackie Chan fan) which copied the motorbike through the glass sequence, or a clothes rail fight sequence. Then there is Bad Boys II (2003) which wholesale paid homage to the shanty town sequence.
There are also sequences which still intrigue me to this day. When Chan confronts his superior “Raymond Li” and rants at him; I often wonder what inspired this rant. I recall someone stating it was a reaction to the British empire, which at the time ruled over Hong Kong; and yet, I hear other sources that say it was actually a thinly-veined rant to movie directors who took liberties with stunt performers, and I’ve heard it was a rant on James Glickenhaus, who directed Chan on The Protector (1985).
Another sequence which also I recall having some commentary was the sequence where Mars is the fake knifeman in Bridgette Lin’s house; where I recall seeing somewhere that a Hollywood director wanted to remake the whole sequence in a modern movie; but then being rejected as they felt it wouldn’t work in today’s market.
Regardless of these two side areas, the biggest reason why I think Police Story is my personal favourite is the mall fight sequence. It’s action all the way, its dynamic, its moody, and the soundtrack really kicks it into another gear.
For me, Police Story (1985) is worth watching, despite some small flaws.
Police Story II (1988) has Chan returning as Ka-Kui; demoted to road traffic duties – where he is hounded by Chu Tao; who has been granted bail from hospital due to health issues. Ka Kui is considered reckless by his superiors and is bad publicity for the Police force forcing Kui to resign his commission, only to be brought back into the fold due to a group of blackmailing bombers.
I remember when I first saw Police Story II almost 20 years ago, but I always remembered I didn’t really like it. The mood isn’t the same as the first movie, it seems to be scaled back and not as ambitious as the original.
Further, I really didn’t like how Police Story II suddenly changes its plot almost half way into the movie to be about mad bombers, a theme I don’t think really has aged well in this post 9/11 world. It doesn’t help that the bombers aren’t doing all of this for political reasons, but for money. I just found the bombers in this movie to be quite drab compared to the villains of the original.
Ka-Kui is still volatile. Early on in the movie, Ka Kui runs across a highway to get into a restaurant and half way destroys almost most of it to get back at the villains of the original; and afterwards he sits down wondering if his own recklessness is consuming him.
There are also way more fights than the original. By far the best fight sequence in the movie is the playground fight, where Chan fights off a bunch of goons. The best version of this fight sequence is the one with the music overture; and not the no music version which I saw.
I also feel this sequel really drags, especially in the middle. We are introduced to characters, such as the taskforce, that only used a few times and we never see them again. There are sequences which drag too long, and the movie should move on.
The last sequence is at a dynamite factory. I just find this sequence to be a let down compared to the mall sequence in the first movie. The mall had Jackie fighting his way up; only having to come back down again, and he had to fight multiple competitors, in amongst a crowd of innocent by-standers — whereas, in this sequel, Jackie is fighting at best 4 guys.
The only interesting character of the bomber villains is the deaf mute character played by Keung-Kuen Lai (Benny Lai); his kicks are like lighting and his triple kick in mid air is amazing, even though the way they filmed it; it looks like he is on wires; when I know he did it for real.
The deaf mute character also uses radio controlled cars. I seem to remember reading in Impact magazine that Chan was upset that Hollywood had also used radio controlled cars in the Dirty Harry sequel movie “Dead Pool” (1988).
The fight sequence between Lai and Chan is interesting. Chan almost gets knocked out early, and its very fast fight sequence, with plenty of kicks. Chan gets beaten up quite a lot, until suddenly he remembers he is in a fireworks factory, and gets the upper hand – not from skill, but from using his brain.
I don’t really enjoy the fight sequence between Lai and Chan, but I can’t put my finger on why. In other movies Chan thought much bigger, stronger characters. In this movie Lai is physically smaller and shorter than Chan. Also, the way Chan disposes of Lai at the end just felt underwhelming.
The fireworks factory fight ends with the entire factory exploding, in what I remember to be the biggest movie explosion in Asia up until then; and I remember that Chan had brought in people from Hollywood to do it.
For me, Police Story is better of the two movies. Yes, Police Story II has more fights and a better, tighter character arc; despite dragging and changing plot near the middle. It’s because its culturally important; has a fantastic mall fight sequence, the grittiness, and even down to the music choices make it a better movie for me.