Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I've been wanting to see the Jackie Chan classic Police Story for such a long time that it's ceased being funny. I'd seen the sequels Police Story 2,Supercop , Supercop 2 and Jackie Chan's First Strike and enjoyed them all. Not only that but I've been a big fan of Chan's work ever since I was introduced to him in Rumble In The Bronx; and so of course I've wanted to see the film that many believe to be his best.

So then what did I think of the film, and far more importantly what should you expect to find if you watch it. Personally I loved it, it's now my favorite Jackie Chan movie with Drunken Master coming in at a very close second. For anyone who hasn't seen it though, well you should expect a Jackie Chan movie. Maybe at this point I should consider those who've never seen a Jackie Chan movie made outside of America before. Basically Jackie Chan makes martial arts films, true martial arts films. Those of you who saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and were disappointed by it may want to try looking into the films of Jackie Chan. His films all retain his own unique style thanks to the way he has been influenced by a number of different sources. He was always a fan of slapstick comedy from the likes of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin and he tied a similar sort of comedy with his kung fu. It was this that drew him out of the crowd when he first appeared on the scene. My personal favorite area though, is the way he looked to dancers like Gene Kelly for inspiration. Those of you who saw his recent American hit Shanghai Knights will have noticed Chan's homage to Singing In The Rain, but in most of his films he uses that kind of grace to turn each action scene into a ballet of violence.

I suppose I really should be telling you about this particular movie though. Not that it's ever that important in a Jackie Chan movie but the plot of Police Story, well it's a story about the Police. It sees an officer in the Hong Kong police force who succeeds at arresting a dangerous crime lord. However he does such a good job that his superiors assign him to protect the key witness in the trial, and his girlfriend is none to happy that this involves an attractive woman staying in his house.

Now we can move onto the more important things because Police Story is notable for the fact that it contains more of those dangerous stunts than Chan's other films. It was in this film that many of Chan's elite stunt workers were seriously injured in the principal photography alone, and the opening bus sequence put a further 4 into hospital. The price of excellence was very high, but that excellence was achieved. Police Story features stunts such as Jackie Chan hanging off the back of a moving bus, standing in front of said bus and even a scene where he scales the outside of a multi story building. Chan does all of these stunts himself and he is not covered in multiple safety wires. To be perfectly honest, those used to the big CGI explosions of a Michael Baye film will probably view the stunt work as small scale, but for me personally, as well as most of Chan's fans this element of real danger is what makes the scenes more exciting than anything to come out of Hollywood.

This dedication is shown throughout the films fight scenes too. The film won the award in 1985 for the best fight choreography and when you see it you can see why. The way Chan moves, both in the dodging and attacking, is so graceful it looks more like a dance routine than fighting. Of course this is something I could say of a lot of Chan's films (whenever I see a trailer for a Jackie Chan film it makes a big deal about winner of the best fight choreography award) but I was still very impressed with the fights in Police Story. It has the best fight choreography I have ever seen, especially in the film's spectacular closing act. I'm a little stuck on how to describe the fights to anyone who isn't already familiar with Jackie Chan's style. They're not a violent as Bruce Lee's fights, usually being more funny than shocking. Other than that and the comment about dancing I've already made I honestly don't know how to describe them. Sammo Hung has adopted a similar style, another martial arts star but those in the west may be familiar with Hung's Television show Martial Law which, as I understand it, adopts the same hyper kinetic fighting as some of Jackie Chan's movies.

Ordinarily I would end my review here, things like acting and whatever are rarely the point of a Jackie Chan movie. It's just that I've read through a few of the other Police Story reviews on E-pinions and I've noticed that a common criticism is the acting, based on the films English Dub. Let me just give forth my opinion, whenever possible do not watch a foreign film dubbed into English because seeing a Chinese person speak in a bad English accent whilst their lips try to speak Chinese just sucks. These films should be watched in their original language whenever the studio's will allow this. This was how I saw Police Story and I can tell you now that the acting was not half bad. Obviously it's not going to win an award, but then it's not supposed to. Chan's got that kind of mischievous voice that fits his characters so well, and he gets the Chaplin Esq. comedy perfected thanks to his facial expressions and exaggerated mannerisms. Maggie Cheung is excellently cast as the mischievous damsel in distress and Brigitte Lin is hilarious as Chan's frustrated girlfriend. Of course all of that changes if you see it dubbed.

That's all I really have to say. I'd like to be able to comment on the dialogue, but i have no way of analyzing it. The subtitles were good and not the basic chatter that you get most of the time, but I still don't know how it compares. The film could have the smartest, wittiest dialogue ever, or it could have the kind of cloying dialogue that makes Michael Baye proud. I'll leave that for anyone who speaks Cantonese to tell me.

The rest is a review of the UK Region 2 Hong Kong Legends DVD

The Disk

Extras
I am so happy to find a commentary on this film. Hong Kong cinema expert Bay Logan discusses it.

The Animated Biography feature does exactly what it says on the tin, and it does it well. It's an in depth profile of Chan's career from his humble beginnings as a Stunt-man kicked by Bruce Lee right the way through to the time he found fame in America. It looks back to his first American films including The Cannonball Run 1&2. Now when I first saw those films I didn't know who Jackie Chan was, but even then he remained my favorite character in the films. It also looks into all of the collaborations between Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, and the fact that it's animated means you don't have to read large portions of text from your TV screen, something that tends to give me a headache, it's all narrated to you and you can listen whilst enjoying the video of some of Chan's better stunts and fight sequences.

There's a Photo Gallery, I don't know about you but viewing still pics for a film I've just watched bores me. Still at least they're there if you like them.

The Trailer Selection contains a number of Different trailers. There's 2 Police Story trailers, the original theatrical trailer and the Hong Kong Legends DVD trailer. Then there's trailers for a number of other Hong Kong legends DVDs which I'll list here. There's...
Armour Of God
City Hunter
Battle Creek Brawl
Miracles
The Big Boss
Fist Of Fury
Way Of The Dragon
Game Of Death
Once Upon A Time In China 2
In The Line Of Duty
Iron Monkey
Purple Storm
2000 AD
Iron Fisted Monk
They're all well edited trailers and so if you enjoy trailers will enjoy them all.

There's a Jackie Chan Interview where Chan talks about his films. The thing that I liked seeing was when Chan discusses how he gets scared when pulling off a particularly dangerous stunt, and how he's able to overcome that fear because he believes in his abilities. This is something you don't see in the movies, and it just makes the stunts even more impressive when you know that he's scared. I still think he's insane, but I have even more respect for his dedication to his art.

Lastly an Out-Take Montage sees a few new out-takes that never made it to the closing credits. Some are pretty serious, involving Chan mistiming a big drop through a sheet of glass, to the relatively light hearted scene where his noodles were too hot. There's a few shots of a very dazed Chan, and it's all played out against the classic theme tune.

How does the DVD look?
The picture quality is amazing. The film is over 10 years old, packaged on 1 disk with all of it's extras, including quite a lot of trailers, and this is usually a sign of disaster. Yet the film has been given a high rate of compression. Unfortunately...

How does the DVD sound?
The sound quality suffers for the sake of the amazing Video. It's not unwatchable but it does sound very muffled, being like a direct recording from a VHS. It's a shame because the film has an excellent theme song. I don't have a clue what the lyrics are, but it has such a light hearted and hyper kinetic feel that it is the perfect companion to Chan. I really wish it had come through clearer but still I accept that getting the rate of compression so well on such an old film must have been difficult. Though the film definitely benefits from a Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

Overall
Police Story is the best Jackie Chan movie I've had the privilege of watching. Excellent stunt work and fight choreography. A classic theme song and well timed comedy from the actors. It's just an overall great film, and the disk is not half bad either. No region 1 DVD available yet though so HAHA.

Related Articles
Police Story 2
Police Story 3: Supercop

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older