New Police Story Reviews

An old face. A new story.

After a series of mis-fires Jackie returned to The East for another outing in the Police Story saga. The first film is one of his best, often imitated but never bettered. The third film of the series must rate as one of the best sequels ever made, as Jackie teams up with Michelle Yeoh in action city central.

The years may be sneaking up on Chan but if New Police Story is a sign of things to come then the old snake is still putting up a good fight. With a little light relief thrown in for good measure.

The film certainly starts out a little darker. Jackie battles with inner demons, not to mention those of the alcoholic variety in the opening act. Soon the story kicks in though and we are back in familiar territory. Wild stunts, big explosions, a little mild comic relief. The body count is high but the stunts are just as impressive. A stand out fight scene takes place in a Lego store, vintage Jackie Chan indeed.

Nicholas Tse and Charlene Choi offer youthful spirit in the supporting roles and though the final outcome may not convert new fans to the ways of Jackie Chan, old fans will relish this return to form for one of action cinemas very best.

[Highly rated reviewer]

New Police Story

Chan Kwok-wing (Chan) is a police inspector assigned to catch a ruthless young gang of bank robbers (led by Wu). He ttakes his team into their hideout only to see them all killed in front of him in turn.

A year later Chan is a drunk on extended leave from the HK Police force until a the gang resurfaces and a young cop (Tse) comes to find Chan and get him back on the case.

To begin with lets be clear about what New Police Story is not. It's not Police Story 5, not in story (Jackie is no longer playing Chan Ka-kui, or Kevin Chan if you're a dubbed movie viewer) and certainly not in tone.

This is a dark, serious film, much of it about the internal struggle of a cop to get over a catastrophic error. That's not a bad thing in principal but this is a Jackie Chan film. I'm a huge fan of Jackie's but lets face it, there's a reason his characters are usualy named Jackie or Chan something, he's no actor.

Watching him emote is awful, he screws up his face, bellows odd lines and does a drunk act so bad you'd have to assume he's never been drunk, ever. This makes the middle hour of the film excruciating.

However it's not all bad news on the casting front. Nicholas Tse has an absolute ball and shows some screen presence as Jackie's new partner. Charlene Choi and Charlie Young do what they can with eye candy roles

Sadly Daniel Wu is a very wooden villain, which makes his Hong Kong film award for best supporting actor utterly mystifying.

On the plus side New Police Story does, on occasion, remember that it is a Jackie Chan film. Aged 50 when this was filmed and no doubt feeling the effects of endless injuries sustained over his 30 plus year career Chan still put himself through the mill for his fans. There are two great, if short, hand to hand fights that show he still has the old mastery of props and much of the speed he showed as a youth. A breathtaking scene atop a bus which sees Jackie doing all manner of death defying stunt work is the highlight of the film (and indeed perhaps of any Jackie Chan film since Rush Hour) and worth the price of a ticket all by itself. The problem is that, spellbinding though these moments are, there are simply too few of them. This is not a film for Jackie Chan newcomers, it would put them off, but for established fans it's just about worth the time to see their hero cut loose again, just try and ignore his acting.

One of Jackie's best films

Plenty of action, brilliant story line.

Different...ish.

The inspiringly named 'New Police Story' is not what you would expect from a Jackie Chan film. The first 45 minutes are dark and really quite shocking, more akin to 'Saw' than 'Rumble in the Bronx'. It's refreshing to see Jackie actually playing a part as opposed to smiling and stunting his way through a plot, and his acting is, despite what some might say, on the whole convincing.

It is worth bearing in mind that this film was intended for a Chinese audience, so their acting style preferences and conventions are different to what we expect in Hollywood. It would, for example, prompt cringes from a Western audience to know the lead also sings over the ending titles, or have him engage in a spot of kung-fu to save his chums from impending death. This, along with slightly OTT character portrayal are more common in Asian cinema, and as such, we shouldn't condemn their acting on this count.

The film does not quite deliver on its early promise of a dark and intriguing plot and reverts back to the Chan of old once the plot begins to unravel. Nevertheless, it shows a different side to Jackie, and the Chan of old is certainly better than the Chan of late.

Excellent

Excellent addition to the Police Storey movies. Well worth a watch for any Jackie Chan fan. Excellent action and storey line. Not usually a fan of subtitles but this film was very enjoyable and watchable

DIFFERENT BUT INTERESTING

A FAST PACE MOVIE - THE PLOT WAS OKAY BUT NOT TERRIFIC - BUT ENJOYABLE IF YOU WATCH ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON IF NOTHING ELSE TO DO

New Police Story - New Jackie Chan

For those avid fans of true Hong Kong Cinema, Jackie Chan has never disappointed over the past 3 decades.

However with age and experience Jackie Chan's physical prowess has diminished in the past years. His Hollywood movies are banal to say the least, space fillers to say the best.

New Police Story is the continuation of one of Jackie's best know characters. In this movie we no longer see the slick, time perfect action and stunts as we have previously, but a totally new and improved Jackie.

A full hour into the movie and you do not see a single stunt. It seems that Jackie has replaced stunts with script, punch up's with plot. The lack of action in the opening hour are not missed. You are still glued to the screen looking in anticipation.

New Police Story still holds true to Jackie's simplest of rules. No special effects, No CGI, just plot and action.

It is a new type of Jackie Chan movie, with a new Jackie Chan.

It does not fail to disappoint.

Not as expected but worth a watch.

Not what I was expecting from a Jackie Chan movie. The first hour featured youths with heavy arsenals of guns and sadistic tendancies killing for fun... far darker and more brutal than any jackie chan film I've seen before. Then there is the added emotional storylines that are far deeper than any other jackie chan film has been before, plus trying to sandwich these in made the film drag at 2 hours. However if you persist, there is some awesome Jackie Chan style action to be viewed and some gorgeous shots Hong Kong. Definitely watch this if you are a Jackie Chan fan, but do not expect the usual mix of comedy and action, this is far darker!

allan

good film but in chinese not very good

Police Story

Didn't realise it was in chinese so didn't watch it.