LoveAsianFilm.com - Police Story (1985)

Police Story (1985)

Director : Jackie Chan
Producer : Leonard Ho Koon-Cheung
Writer : Jackie Chan,Edward Tang King-Sun
Action Director : Jackie Chan's Stunt Team
Cast : Jackie Chan, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Charlie Cho, Yuen Chor, Danny Chou, Mars, Kwok-Hung Lau and Bill Tung.

Synopsis :
The story is about a police raid on a drug gang
goes awfully wrong, and for detective Jackie Chan, nothing seems to go right from there. The gang boss is acquitted at his trial, when Jackie's evidence mysteriously disappears. Jackie's attempt
to rescue a beautiful but reluctant key witness results in his being framed for murder. Now on the run from both the gang and his own squad, Jackie must stay alive long enough to bring
the gang to justice and convince his colleagues of his innocence

Review
by Edward Tang

There are some films that will always live because they truly are the best of the genre. Police Story for example has everything you could ask for, truly humorous moments and some of the best action you could ever ask for on screen. Jackie Chan hit bad in America so he decided to come back to Hong Kong and make a true action film, and that's exactly what he did. The film contains probably one of the best stunts you could ever have seen, literally this stunt looks insane, but gives the film something you'd never see from a Stallone or Ah-nuld vehicle. This film still lives on as one of Jackie's finest (his favorite "action" film) and one of the films that is COMPLETE 100% entertainment from beginning to end.

The cast is very good, using Brigitte Lin to basically the extent of a somewhat jumpy and angry co-partner. Maggie Cheung would be Jackie's girlfriend who played the girl who would scream and be there for his character if something went adrift. The female parts weren't bad, but seemed to mostly be that of waiting for Chan to rescue them. Bill Tung and Lam Kwok-hung play Jackie's superiors in this film and they do a good enough job. The cast was good, the bad guys seemed to be all so typical, nothing totally vicious or totally worthless, but all and all they did the job so that when Chan destroys them at the end, you are rooting for the man.

Of course the film has to open with something memorable and that is of course the chase down the shanty village, where they basically destroy the hell out of the cars. The scene sets the film, it knows when to have some thriller aspects, as Chan chases down the bus that the bad guys got on. The stunt with the umbrella off the bus was truly cool, and the entire scene is just fast-paced and excellent. The thriller elements are noticeable, especially the entire "corrupt" cop angle that they pulled off to a key, and everything from in between the "hit" put out on Selina and so forth.

But can you really call this a serious film? No, Jackie uses corny pranks like the old days! Three cakes in the face! The scene is corny, but it does the job as far as comedy goes. I thought the entire "staged" killing scene with Mars was completely genius. You've got Jackie wanting Selina to trust him and give him the support he needs to protect her, so he hires his buddy from the police squad to pretend to kill her. Jackie comes to the rescue and saves the day, whilst trying to make it look like the passed-out Mars (she hit him in the head) is still fighting. But then the comedy is thrown to the curb, as he utilizes the "real" assassins right after this confrontation with Mars, pure goodness.

Of course if you've seen this movie, you know it to be entertaining, but it also has one of the best endings ever. Forget the surprise crap, you've just got an all out battle in a mall. This is the best scene in the mall, showing how good Jackie really is, doing a few harsh stunts and some always impressive fighting. The all out emotion that Jackie expressed at the end, punching the guy with glasses, taking out the lawyer and FINALLY punching the main jerk-off, what a moment. Then after this array of greatness, we are treated to Jackie's first showing of his "outtakes" at the end of the film. Great stuff in those as well.

What can I say that hasn't been said about this best picture winner? This film adds humor, thriller elements, action and comedy to the mix. If you are a fan of Jackie Chan, I'm sure you've seen this a few times on itself, and you know what I'm talking about. But for a great night and a fun time, this film is one of the best out there.

Plot :
Acting :
Entertainment :
Overall :
Notable Scenes:	- the opening stunts : crashing down through the villages - double-decker bus stunts - running down from the hill - shopping brawl - the light pole stunts