New Police Story

NEW POLICE STORY features all the hallmarks of one of Jackie's Hong Kong pictures. It has ridiculously dangerous stunts, ridiculously beautiful women, and ridiculously ridiculous villains. This is stuff is vintage Jackie the Stuntman stuff - Jackie the Joker is nowhere to be found.

Here's the setup: Jackie's the HKPD's hotshot cop, instructing everything from weapons to martial arts. He leads a crack squad into a bloodbath orchestrated by previously mentioned ridiculous villains, then loses his confidence and descends into alcoholism. Of course, the ridiculous villains are still out there, and eventually Jackie's gonna have to get back on the horse.

NPS surprised me with its depiction of alcoholism. Hey, this is the Drunken Master we're talking about, right? Here, Jackie plays his despair and self-loathing absolutely straight, showing that while a young drunk can be cute, an older drunk is just sad. The guy has some moments of real pathos here, and I bought them; much to my own surprise.

OK, so there isn't much doubt that Jackie will pull himself together and take on the ridiculous villains. What about the stunts? Well, stand by to be dazzled. Though he's clearly using wires now, Jackie's fight choreography and execution are dazzling as always. Additionally, look out for a slide down a burning rope and the first time you've probably ever seen stuntmen ride bikes, rollerblade, or run(!) down the side of a skyscraper. This movie had enough "Wow!" moments to merit repeated replays for family members, nearby friends, and stray dogs.

Of course, it wouldn't be Jackie without ridiculously beautiful -and increasingly age-inappropriate- women. Charlie Yeung, twenty years his junior, plays Chan's fiancee without so much as a nod toward the age difference. Her performance is average, at best, but she sure looks nice.

Finally, there are the ridiculous villains. Seriously, what is it with Chan's Hong Kong ouvre? His villains are all either Australian or Chinese guys with dyed hair and seemingly limitless flows of cash. In this iteration, they happen to be a gang of -get this- XTreme Gamers who rob banks and kills cops for fun. I knew Poochy would turn out to be a malevolent force in the minds of the young. These villains have paper-thin motivations, but they're quite good at things like rollerblading and bicycling, which gives Chan and his choreographers some fun stunt-creation options.

And that's what it's all about, really: finding neat stunts and structuring a movie around them. NEW POLICE STORY does just that, and it does it well. I recommend it to any fan of Jackie's work.