New Police Story

Without a doubt one of the best fusion genres is the action-comedy. It can give you thrills while making you laugh creating a film that may not make the top ten lists for most critics but it will certain be fun to watch. For many years now Honk Kong action star Jackie Chan has been at the top of the pile for this genre. It takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to strike out and move away from the formula that made him a house hold name. With ‘New Police Story’ he tries his hand at the far more difficult genre combination, the action drama. This is the sixth installment of his Police Story series and while the others had a good dollop of humor this outing allows Mr. Chan to show a more serious side. This film is part of the series in name only but if does continue to provide a platform for the amazing physical stunt work that Chan always provides. Chan plays officer Wing, a broken down drunk who has been on a alcoholic rambling for over a year; initiated by some horrible event in his life. He lost the nine men assigned to him on a special weapons and tactic team and naturally, he blames himself for the deaths. The team, which included the brother of Wing’s girlfriend Yee (Charlie Yeung), died while trying to take down an insane cop killer specializing in bank robberies, Joe (Daniel Wu). Since every busted up cop needs a young energetic partner Wing is paired up with Fung (Nicholas Tse). Fung is almost obsessed with getting Wing back to the former glory and performance record he had before that fateful shootout. While much of what motivates Fung is not all it seems he pulls Wing into investigating the gang that got away. It seems that they have not only picked up with the robbery spree but there is now an ultra violent video game on the internet that is based on their murder of Wing’s squad.

Unlike many of the previous Jackie Chan ‘chop sockey’ flicks this film actually is plot driven. Among the most important aspects of the film are the relationships that Wing must balance. First there is his girlfriend Yee. While she doesn’t seem to hold the death of her brother against Wing the haunting memory of that night in the warehouse is always on his mind. While Wing loves Yee every time he sees her he is torn between what he feels for her and the memory of her brother dying on his watch. She wants to bring him out of the bottle but her very presence adds more guilt to Wing. Next there is his partner Fung (or Frank for those reading the subtitles). While Fung has other motives than just the redemption of Wing the growing bond between the two men comes across as organic and realistic. Some of the secondary relationship sub-plots also help to add a bit more drama. Joe is having problems with his abusive step father (talk about your father issues) and Fung is trying to get a relationship with police lab technician Sa Sa (Charlene Choi). Balancing out all this out pouring of emotion and inner turmoil is action and there is plenty of that to go around. As the audience gets to see the resolve grow in Wing as he pulls his life and physical prowess back in shape there is a certain satisfaction with the return of a hero. Although the plot lines are cobbled together from a plethora of different flicks the do gel here and create a fun flick. It works well enough that you can forgive such retread threads as having the sadistic villain lashing out because his step daddy beat him on a regular basis. Even the sociopath kids playing the video game invoke more pity than hatred with the audience.

Watching this film you would never guess that Jackie Chan is a man in his fifties. He was born around the same time as I was so I was amazed at what he can put his body through. It would appear that Chan has never heard of the law of gravity or at least he doesn’t believe that he is in gravity’s jurisdiction. As he flies over double-decker buses through allies and effortlessly over obstacles that would hinder mere mortals, he is as lively now as he was twenty years ago. Still, the years do go by and Chan is a realist. He knows that if Keanu Reeves can become a martial arts action star it is time to depend more on actual acting. Doing the stunts that made Chan famous apparently also gave him the dedication to do his best act emoting on screen. While Chan will never be one of the best actors he gives it his all and does so honestly and that does translates on screen. Nicholas Tse does well in his role as the young, enthusiastic partner. He managers to balance hero worship with the right amount of ambition. He is also no slouch when it comes to the action sequences. It takes a lot to do those stunts opposite the master but Tse holds his own. He also is able to bring some dimension to his character instead of just letting him become a scenery chewing add on. Charlene Choi is beautiful and talented. She may be unknown over here in the states but in Asia she is considered a rising star. She has a natural chemistry with Chan making it believable that such a pretty young woman would stay with a broken down drunk. Daniel Wu does a very good job here as the nefarious villain. Instead of going over the top with pure evil he brings in the abusive relationship with his step father not as an explanation but just that he was brought up only knowing violence.

Lion’s Gate certain brought this film to DVD with some consideration for the audience. First of all they present both sub titles and dubbed tracks so no matter what your preference happens to be you are covered. The video is responsible not exceptional. There are scenes that are too soft with the contrast and the color spectrum is off just slightly. The Dolby 5.1 audio track fills the room especially during the fights. The rear speakers provide a rich back fill while the front speakers exhibit better and usual channel separation. The extras a re bit quirky but entertaining. The film is introduced by Jackie Chan admonishing the viewers to purchase the film and avoid pirated copies. It is sure to have the same impact as those FBI warnings on every film but at least it showed a little flair having the star deliver the message. There is also a scene specific audio commentary featuring Chan. Fortunately included in the commented scenes is a couple of the fights so we get to hear Chan espouse on the arduous nature of such work. There is also a look at how Chan dubbed the film for English speaking audience. He gives a little insight on his feelings for foreign viewers here. In all this is not only a good beer and pizza flick but it has enough substance to hold up as a ‘real’ film.

Posted 5/23/06