55
202
11
The Butterfly
Tornado Alley
This review may contain spoilers
Super Cop is supposed to refer to Jackie Chan’s character in this movie but could just have easily been referring to Michelle Yeoh’s character.
Jackie Chan’s Chan Ka Kui from the previous Police Story films goes to China and teams up with Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Yang Chien Hua to go undercover and break Yuen Wah’s bad guy out of prison and join his brother’s (Kenneth Tsang) drug gang in order to take out the Big Bad. After being accepted into the gang, they all go to Malaysia and meet up with Lo Lieh’s drug general. Lots of shooting and things blowing up ensue. They also have to bust Tsang’s missus out of jail before she is executed because she’s the only one who knows the number to the Swiss bank account where a fortune in drug money is stashed. Along the way, they run into Chan’s tour guide girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) who blows his cover because she is the dumbest girlfriend in cinema history.
The plot isn’t very strong or consistent. Most people don’t watch Chan’s movies for the plot anyway. The action is slightly different in some places because it relies more on guns and explosions. If you enjoy Chan’s comedy schtick, it’s dialed back here, but should be still enough to satisfy you. As always, the draw to his movies are the insanely dangerous stunts he performs mostly himself. Super Cop is not short on them. The bonus is that Michelle Yeoh performs most of her own death-defying stunts as well.
Chan gave his usual manic performance, though he didn’t mug as hard for the camera in this one. Michelle Yeoh’s gravitas made an excellent foil for him to play against and there was never any question that it was a partnership of equals. The two had good screen chemistry with Yeoh nearly stealing the show. It was hard to watch the talented Maggie Cheung play the jealous dim-witted girlfriend. Yuen Wah and Kenneth Tsang made excellent bad guys. One of my favorite old kung fu stars, Lo Lieh, made a brief appearance as a general supplying the drugs to the different cartels.
I would like to have seen more hand-to-hand combat, but what there was played out well, no surprise with Yeoh and Chan. The stunts were quite good with Jackie dangling from a helicopter over Kuala Lumpur and Michelle Yeoh landing a motorcycle onto a train. Rumor has it that the stuntman who initially attempted it broke his leg trying the stunt. Michelle Yeoh was able to land the scary jump herself.
Fans of Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh movies should be satisfied with Super Cop. The two martial arts stars bring enough daring action and excitement to help overlook the flaws in this film.
17 April 2022
edit--I liked this movie better than Police Story 1 which was graded on my pre-1990's curve so I went ahead and bumped this up to an 8 on the curve because the stunts were just as amazing and the cast was stronger. It also didn't have the 30 minute lull in the middle of the film. 25 March 2024
Jackie Chan’s Chan Ka Kui from the previous Police Story films goes to China and teams up with Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Yang Chien Hua to go undercover and break Yuen Wah’s bad guy out of prison and join his brother’s (Kenneth Tsang) drug gang in order to take out the Big Bad. After being accepted into the gang, they all go to Malaysia and meet up with Lo Lieh’s drug general. Lots of shooting and things blowing up ensue. They also have to bust Tsang’s missus out of jail before she is executed because she’s the only one who knows the number to the Swiss bank account where a fortune in drug money is stashed. Along the way, they run into Chan’s tour guide girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) who blows his cover because she is the dumbest girlfriend in cinema history.
The plot isn’t very strong or consistent. Most people don’t watch Chan’s movies for the plot anyway. The action is slightly different in some places because it relies more on guns and explosions. If you enjoy Chan’s comedy schtick, it’s dialed back here, but should be still enough to satisfy you. As always, the draw to his movies are the insanely dangerous stunts he performs mostly himself. Super Cop is not short on them. The bonus is that Michelle Yeoh performs most of her own death-defying stunts as well.
Chan gave his usual manic performance, though he didn’t mug as hard for the camera in this one. Michelle Yeoh’s gravitas made an excellent foil for him to play against and there was never any question that it was a partnership of equals. The two had good screen chemistry with Yeoh nearly stealing the show. It was hard to watch the talented Maggie Cheung play the jealous dim-witted girlfriend. Yuen Wah and Kenneth Tsang made excellent bad guys. One of my favorite old kung fu stars, Lo Lieh, made a brief appearance as a general supplying the drugs to the different cartels.
I would like to have seen more hand-to-hand combat, but what there was played out well, no surprise with Yeoh and Chan. The stunts were quite good with Jackie dangling from a helicopter over Kuala Lumpur and Michelle Yeoh landing a motorcycle onto a train. Rumor has it that the stuntman who initially attempted it broke his leg trying the stunt. Michelle Yeoh was able to land the scary jump herself.
Fans of Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh movies should be satisfied with Super Cop. The two martial arts stars bring enough daring action and excitement to help overlook the flaws in this film.
17 April 2022
edit--I liked this movie better than Police Story 1 which was graded on my pre-1990's curve so I went ahead and bumped this up to an 8 on the curve because the stunts were just as amazing and the cast was stronger. It also didn't have the 30 minute lull in the middle of the film. 25 March 2024
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