Police Story review

After a botched police drug bust, Chan Ka Kui arrests Selina Fong, secretary to the suspected drug boss. When she agrees to testify against her boss, Chan is assigned to protect her despite her ambiguous motives, while trying to keep his job and upholding the honor of the police force.

As the other landmark series in quintessential 80’s Jackie, Chan crafts another piece to prove he’s one of the few worthy to direct his films. There’s the indescribable aura to the film (and Police Story 2 to a lesser amount) in this combination of 80’s camp, crime drama and Jackie’s unique action touch. Layered with apparently standard cop tactics and less than surprising traitor plot twists, Police Story simply contains things that can never be duplicated. Down to the cheesy, yet catchy cop music or the flawless blend of comedy and action, these elements were solely products of their industry and time. The stunning opener hardly relies on Jackie’s fighting prowess and more on the glorification of stunts and ridiculous explosions. Movies are not made like this anymore.

Action-wise, the crazy stunts and subtle environment oriented fighting is at its best, especially with a mall showdown that just keeps on pushing, satisfying your prayers that it never ends. The film straddles the line between comedy and drama as it shows a satirical view of the silly parts of police life, while it depicts the bold strength of commitment and sense of duty earnestly. It even ties in cute bits of romance with Jackie’s all too pathetic relationship with Maggie Cheung as May, and the necessary bits of vulgar misunderstanding in Chan’s job to protect Brigitte Lin’s character. As carefree, entertainment based experiences go, Police Story stands near the top as a classic. If you’re going to watch one Jackie movie, this may just have to be it.





A