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The
Skinny: |
The original Police Story was a slam-bang action movie that was high on stunts, but low on plot. Still, the movie had some of the greatest action sequences ever put on film, not to mention a strong cast and a winning performance by Jackie Chan, so quibbles about plot are pretty much beside the point. Three years later, Jackie Chan and company returned for Police Story 2, a film which was more plot-driven, better camerawork, and seemingly higher production values. The results, however, are nearly identical. |
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Review by
Calvin
McMillin: |
Wasting no time whatsoever, save recapping the events of the first film, Police Story 2 picks up right where its predecessor left off. Despite all his Herculean efforts to apprehend the bad guys in 1985’s Police Story, super detective Chan Ka-Kui (Jackie Chan) is “rewarded” with a stern reprimand from his superiors and a humiliating demotion to traffic duty. Constantly hounded by the creeps from the first film, Chan decides that he and his long-suffering girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) deserve a nice, relaxing vacation from the continual gangland drama.
But when mad bombers threaten his home turf, Chan has no choice but to stay behind and help the police, much to the disappointment of his pouting girlfriend. For the remainder of the film, Chan has to shoulder the hefty responsibility of locating and capturing the terrorists while at the same time trying to salvage what he can of his crumbling relationship with May. But when poor May becomes the target of the bombers' extortion plan, Chan discovers that he’ll have face her kidnappers alone in the film’s (literally!) explosive finale.
Overall, Police Story 2 is standard Jackie Chan fare, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Jackie Chan is always an engaging presence, giving the audience topnotch stuntwork and intricate fight scenes, while at the same time providing a healthy dose of comedy to keep things light. His character, Chan Ka-Kui, is the consummate everyman, a likeable and often puckish do-gooder who may have superhuman abilities, but clearly has to pull out all the stops just to survive. Interestingly enough, one of his best stunts in the film is done with a complete air of nonchalance. While crossing an intersection, Chan gets hit full-force by a car (the stunt-driver miscalculated) that barrels into frame and sends him hurtling off screen!
From a filmmaking standpoint, Police Story 2 is head and shoulders above its predecessor. The inventive camera angles, the creative use of handheld camerawork, and general staging of otherwise banal scenes gives the film an overall look that is far superior to the original. And while the first film boasted some stellar action sequences, its plot wasn’t as impressive, playing out more as a collection of loosely-connected events at the service of the stunts than anything else. Police Story 2 is vastly improved in this department, as the entire film is driven by police procedural/thriller-style plot. The bad news is, however, it’s a complete snooze.
Still, the actors are charming enough to make up for this deficiency. Maggie Cheung is her usual appealing self, as is Bill Tung in his ever-ubiquitous role as Uncle Bill (randomly pick a handful of post-1985 Jackie Chan films, and you'll see what I mean). But nobody comes to a Jackie Chan flick expecting Hamlet. Believe me, when the action heats up, Police Story 2 delivers. While the finale of the original is hard to top, the last fifteen minutes of Police Story 2 comes pretty damn close. (Calvin McMillin 2002/2009) |
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