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The Butterfly
Tornado Alley
Police Story is the little movie that spawned a long-lasting franchise of action-packed movies starring Jackie Chan. This first one was a product of its time with violent cops and villains with little concern for civilian lives or property. There was also plenty of Jackie Chan’s patented comedy alongside the fists, kicks, bullets, and breaking glass.
Sgt. Chan Ga Kui is part of a sting operation on drug cartels having a meeting in a shanty town. They are particularly after Boss Koo and his gang. After destroying most of the squatters’ village, and a spectacular rundown of an escaping bus, Chan slaps the cuffs on Koo and becomes a local hero and is used for recruitment. Superintendent Li decides to use Koo’s secretary, Salina Fong, as a witness, which puts her life in jeopardy. Chan is ordered to be her bodyguard. From then on, the case and Chan’s life take a turn for the worse.
I enjoyed the first third of this film and the last third. The middle third dragged badly for me. There was a long “comedic” scene with his girlfriend. A painfully bad trial scene. And then another comedic scene where a woman who had been raped and a woman who was being beaten by her husband were completely ignored during a phone gag. I also had to remind myself that the beautiful and talented Maggie Cheung was paying her dues in the thankless, idiotic girlfriend role.
The stunts were phenomenal for the time. The umbrella and bus stunt, numerous fights involving sugar glass, and the final stunt with Chan in a mall sliding down a tall pole surrounded by draping lights were leaps and bounds beyond the status quo in 1985. They were also inherently dangerous. Chan was injured twice during filming. Brigitte Lin even stepped up and was thrown through a table and also a plate glass window. Few movies unless they were filmed in a glass factory would have more people shattering glass with their bodies. Proof also that movie glass is magical as no characters were badly cut despite all the bodies bouncing off the huge panes and shattered pieces of translucent blades.
Police Story broke new ground for fighting and action stunts even though the story did not. Chan’s athleticism and flexibility was a thing of wonder. My rating is based on the astonishing stunts at the beginning and ending of the film and also on my pre-1990’s grading curve.
25 March 2024
Sgt. Chan Ga Kui is part of a sting operation on drug cartels having a meeting in a shanty town. They are particularly after Boss Koo and his gang. After destroying most of the squatters’ village, and a spectacular rundown of an escaping bus, Chan slaps the cuffs on Koo and becomes a local hero and is used for recruitment. Superintendent Li decides to use Koo’s secretary, Salina Fong, as a witness, which puts her life in jeopardy. Chan is ordered to be her bodyguard. From then on, the case and Chan’s life take a turn for the worse.
I enjoyed the first third of this film and the last third. The middle third dragged badly for me. There was a long “comedic” scene with his girlfriend. A painfully bad trial scene. And then another comedic scene where a woman who had been raped and a woman who was being beaten by her husband were completely ignored during a phone gag. I also had to remind myself that the beautiful and talented Maggie Cheung was paying her dues in the thankless, idiotic girlfriend role.
The stunts were phenomenal for the time. The umbrella and bus stunt, numerous fights involving sugar glass, and the final stunt with Chan in a mall sliding down a tall pole surrounded by draping lights were leaps and bounds beyond the status quo in 1985. They were also inherently dangerous. Chan was injured twice during filming. Brigitte Lin even stepped up and was thrown through a table and also a plate glass window. Few movies unless they were filmed in a glass factory would have more people shattering glass with their bodies. Proof also that movie glass is magical as no characters were badly cut despite all the bodies bouncing off the huge panes and shattered pieces of translucent blades.
Police Story broke new ground for fighting and action stunts even though the story did not. Chan’s athleticism and flexibility was a thing of wonder. My rating is based on the astonishing stunts at the beginning and ending of the film and also on my pre-1990’s grading curve.
25 March 2024
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