Police Story – Review

Well, what can I say about Police Story? Quite honestly, I have no idea where to begin. I have seen the film at least three times and have never thought about doing a review for it until now. I guess I should begin with my opinion of the legacy of the film. Police Story is, not just the greatest film that Jackie Chan has ever done in terms of action; it’s one of the greatest films of all time. Police Story revolutionized the action genre.

Jackie Chan stars as Ka Kui, an officer included in a string operation to take down notorious drug lord Chu Tao. The criminals blow the police officers cover and action ensues. A car chase through a shantytown and a double decker bus are all part of the beginning action sequence. The entire sequence is very well done. Each frame is busy with something to do and with Jackie Chan in the director’s chair, showcases his brilliant directing skills by displaying his assortment of amazing action sequences. Chu Tao is caught but Ka Kui is reprimanded and is assigned to protect Selina, Chu Tao’s secretary who is supposed to testify in court. She doesn’t cooperate at first but after Ka Kui stages a break in in Selina’s house, she becomes more cooperative. Of course, this causes problems with Ka Kui’s girlfriend May and jealousy partakes. When Chu Tao gets out of jail, he wants revenge, frames him for the murder of a cop by using Ka Kui’s gun when Selina was captured by Chu Tao, so Ka Kui must then clear his name which becomes a big mess for Ka Kui.

All the action scenes in this film further the plot line of the film. It’s not just the plot to further the action scenes. Each action scene is well choreographed and the final action sequence (the mall scene) is definitely one of the greatest action sequences ever put on film. The amount of stunts that Jackie and his stuntmen do is incredible and jaw-dropping to say the least. The crew nicknamed this film Glass Story because of the large amounts of glass that was broken during the final action scene in the mall. Even Bridgette Lin, who plays Selina and Maggie Cheung, who playes May, gets in on the stunts. Everyone is fair game in a Jackie Chan film. When the film has down time, it isn’t boring at all. In fact, the film has quite a bit of comedy in it. The scene when Jackie gets cake on him while holding the phone is funny cause when he puts the phone away from his face, there is an indent where the phone was. It’s a hilarious scene.

This review doesn’t do Police Story justice. You really have to see it to believe it. I remember seeing this film for the first time and just remembering the pure joy I had in watching it. I would laugh during the action scenes because they were just plain awesome. One stunt in particular, when Jackie slides down a pole with lights around it during the mall scene, had me convinced that Jackie Chan was a lunatic. Go see this film if you haven’t already; you won’t be disappointed.