Review of Police Story (1985) by Reginald C — 27 Dec 2008

There comes a time in every boys youth where he discovers kung fu films and decides he wants to be like Bruce Lee, or better still, Jackie Chan. I pity modern youths who have no kung fu role models to instil a desire for brutal physical discipline in them (it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to imitate the incomparably tedious Jet Li), perhaps this is why our streets are plagued by juvenile gang shootings and acts of despicable and inexplicable brutality committed by teenage boys. Or perhaps there are just a few too many (dare I say it) immigrants crowding this little nation of ours. In any case, POLICE STORY is the ultimate kung-fu recruitment film and also possibly Jackie Chan's all round best film ever. Set in Hong Kong in the 1980's, it is a continual stream of destruction, violence, and Chan's trademark stupid comedy. Like, in one scene he treads in a poo, then MOONWALKS the poo off his shoe. Why? There is no reason why. Jackie Chan simply does it because he is a genius. Needless to say, a comical slap bass riff plays while he performs his footwear faeces removal dance. The film is not just about stupidity, however. It has a profound moral message to do with social corruption of all forms. This is expressed in the form of pointed satire, to wit : this brief exchange between Jackie Chan and the police chief.

CHIEF : If you want me, I'll be...

CHAN : On patrol ?

CHIEF : At my house.

CHAN : But you're meant to be on patrol !

CHIEF : Doesn't mean I can't pass by my house.

The film is just one great moment after another : Chan destroying a shanty town (incidentally obliterating the livelihoods of hundreds of itinerant chinese labourers), Chan stopping a bus and all the baddies falling out onto the pavement, Chan being humiliated in an extremely funny courtroom drama scene, Chan running over a baby in a pushchair, etc. The film just never lets up and climaxes with a massive battle in a shopping centre as Chan hammers a mob of gangsters (or should that be a gang of mobsters ?) in an attempt to protect the evidence that will enable prosecution of the Boss Baddie. At the risk of being pretentious I must state that the fight choreography and editing techniques used in this prolongued fight scene have yet to be surpassed. Chan hurling himself into the middle of a triangle of enemies and demolishing them with a combination spinning leg sweep and 360 degree roundhouse kick is a moment of cinematic genius that brings a tear to my eye whenever I see it. After using baseball bats, a motorbike, and a hell of a lot of broken glass to pulverise the baddies, Chan then jumps off the top floor of the shopping centre and slides 120 feet down an electrified pole, ripping down hundreds of metres of fairy lights and crashing through ten panes of glass in a stunt so fantastic they actually show it three times. THEN he catches the bad guy, screams "There is no justice !" (or words to that effect) and ruthlessly punches the middle aged mobster numerous times in the stomach hard enough to rupture his spleen, then slams his face through some more of the ubiquitous glass sheeting before being dragged off by his colleagues. Leaving us with a parting shot from the two worried looking police chiefs :

CHIEF : What are we going to say about this in the report ?

SUPERINTENDENT : Well I saw nothing.

I give this film BRILLIANT OUT OF TEN. Jackie Chan is God !!!