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Police Story (1985)

November 17, 2003 • Film, Reviews

Literally: Police Story
AKA: Police Force
Director: Jackie Chan (Sing Lung)
Producer: Leonard Ho Koon-Cheung
Writer: Jackie Chan (Sing Lung), Edward Tang King-Sunn

Cast: Jackie Chan (Sing Lung), Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia, Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, Chor Yuen, Bill Tung Piu, Ken Tong Chun-Yip, Lam Kwok-Hung, Mars

Running Time: 106 min.

Plot: A police raid on a drug gang goes awfully wrong, and for detective Jackie Chan, nothing seems to go right from there. The gang boss is acquitted at his trial, when Jackie’s evidence mysteriously disappears. Jackie’s attempt to rescue a beautiful but reluctant key witness results in his being framed for murder. Now on the run from both the gang and his own squad, Jackie must stay alive long enough to bring the gang to justice and convince his colleagues of his innocence.

These movies made Jackie a popular superstar in his own right. And I wish I could say that I liked them.
In these productions, Chan began to really focus on spectacular stuntwork. As a movie, this one is a collection of stunts. Personally, I thought the stunts themselves were filmed in a lackluster manner, but it is obvious that Chan is doing something very scary every time.

Everything besides the stunts in this one is pretty lame. Jackie is supposed to be a policeman. That’s the plot. The rest of it involves a variety of misogynist episodes with Brigitte Lin as a reluctant witness to the mob, and Maggie Cheung in the beginning of her mini-career as Chan’s grossly abused girlfriend. Brigitte gets kicked around a lot, but Maggie gets it worse. It really takes what fun that is left to be had right out of this movie.

-Alan Lawrence

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