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Review
by Kozo: |
Eschewing
any need for a back story, Jackie Chan's classic Police
Story series kicks off with its first installment. Intrepid
policeman Chan Ka-Kui (Chan) and his comrades attempt
to take down evil crime boss Chor Yuen, and manage
to snag his girlfriend Selina (Brigitte Lin) as their
key witness. Contracts are put out on them both, so
Chan must protect Selina from a mob-style rubout.
Meanwhile, his loyal girlfriend Maggie Cheung gets
jealous and pouts like Maggie Cheung did in all her
earlier films. Then there's fighting and stuntwork.
To evaluate this film
on the basis of its finely detailed plot and crackerjack
acting and script would be meaningless because the
film doesn't have any of the above. The acting, while
appropriately amusing, is nothing special and the
story and script could have been written by nearly
anyone. Simply put: bad guys try to get Jackie Chan,
so he must run around all over Hong Kong as they try
to do away with him. Eventually, he strikes back in
inimitable Jackie Chan style. That's it, end of story.
It wouldn't be suprising if a Jackie Chan script only
had twenty pages, with occasional notes stating: "Greatest
Action Sequence Ever in a Shopping Mall ensues".
And it does. Police
Story possesses some of the most insane stuntwork
ever put on film, and the proof of that is the sheer
amount of people put in the hospital. Reportedly,
the amount of pain felt on this production was so
great that Chan was forced to start his own stunt
team, which he uses to this day. Highlights of the
mayhem include the above mentioned shopping mall fight,
which could contain a world record for broken glass,
and a bus chase which ends with stuntment flying out
of the front window and accidentally landing
on unpadded asphalt. There's also a car chase through
a shanty town, and numerous stunts performed by Chan,
his stunt team, and even Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung.
The comedic elements
of the film are finely handled, too. Despite being
a kick-ass kung-fu artist, Chan Ka-Kui is also a lovable
regular joe who mouths off at inappropriate times
and is constantly trying to placate his girlfriend.
Jackie Chan's generous comic persona is in full effect
here, and is a welcome change from the hard-ass action
heroes of the eighties. Police Story is a prime
example of what made Chan so appealing to audiences.
In the end, the film
could be—and has been—dismissed by some
as nothing more than a well-made action film. True,
all the hard work done by the production team was
merely for glorified B-movie status, but they more
than outdid themselves. Police Story is one
of those rare cases of a film's artistic execution
overcoming its typically limited genre. The planning
and sheer chutzpah that went into performing the film's
action and comedy is as commendable as all the hours
Merchant and Ivory spent trying to figure out Howard's
End. Despite its violent content and lackluster
storyline, Police Story is a truly admirable
work. And a Hong Kong Cinema classic. (Kozo 1993/2002) |
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