Police Story

Feature: This first in the Police Story series is a must have for any serious Jackie Chan fan. Depending on what country or version you get your hands on, this like many Jackie Chan films is titled under different names. Jackie Chan's Police Force, Jackie Chan's Police Story , Jing cha gu shi (China: Mandarin title) , Police Force , Police Story (UK) and the running time of the film is also different depending on what version, 101 min / Japan:106 min (extended print) / UK:99 min / USA:90 min. How ever you get to see this film, I say it is a must see. If you’re looking for a deep story, this one may not be for you. But if you’re looking for some incredible action then check out Police Story.

The names may change depending on the dubbing…years ago when I first saw the film Jackie Chan’s character was known as Kevin and the bad guy was known as Koo. Now with a different version that is sub titled and in Cantonese and A Mandarin track as well, the character is called Jackie. Go figure. The plot is of the basic kind, the lead character is a cop who has been trained for special assignments. In the middle of a really big drug bust Chan’s character captures the crime boss. Throw in the crime bosses secretary who Chan is trying to convince to testify against her boss and all hell eventually breaks loose.

Amid all this chaos Chan’s character is trying to keep a romance going with his girl friend May, Chan having to guard such a beautiful woman as Selina does not help very much with May who comes off like a jealous whiney brat more than once. Koo is acquitted and a confrontation with Koo and his men when trying to save Selina gets Chan framed for another police officers murder and forcing Chan to go on the run from the law as he tries to clear himself of Murder.

It’s a story with several comedic moments that breaks up a rather serious and at times violent story line, throw in some betrayal that you could see coming a mile away for good measure and you have what could have been a hum drum cops and robbers story. But wait, this is a Jackie Chan film and the rather dullard plot line is saved by some awe inspiring bone crunching action and more glass breaking in certain scenes than I have seen in a very long time. (Accept for the latest film New Police Story) Chan and his stunt people pull off some rather amazing things for this film. So much so that depending on what a film buff you are you may see some of these stunts attempted to be mirrored in other non Chan films, (Tango and Cash come to mind) these other attempts are watered down at best and at worst laughable. No one does it like Jackie Chan does it.

One particular scene in Police Story is actually shown a couple of times right after another in the film. It is a scene in the final fight in a shopping mall, Chan’s character leaps towards a string of lights and slides down several floors below. For those in the know as to why this scene merits a look at it twice, it is the fact that the lights where supposed to have a mere fraction of electrical power to them for the stunt. The person who was handling the light set up and power, seemed to have not understood the instructions because the string of lights had full power. Jackie Chan burned and tore some of the skin from his palms in that slide down those lights.

As with some of the cooler Jackie Chan films we get a treat at the end of the film as the credits roll to a montage of behind the scenes footage of the filming, including several of the accidents that can and do happen during such a stunt heavy film. Certification: Australia:M / Finland:(Banned) / Finland:K-18 (re-rating) / Hong Kong:IIA / Netherlands:12 / Norway:15 / Spain:13 / UK:15 / USA:PG-13 / West Germany:18 / Singapore:PG

Special note, be sure to check out The New Police Story which is also known as Police Story 5 and is a 2004 release.