Police Story (1985)
Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Chor Yuen
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Comedy
Jackie Chan is his own brand having left undeniably a cinematic stigma. For those who only know his (far less memorable) Western output, logic dictates to go and experience his legendary Hong Kong productions. Any cinephile who prides themselves as action afficionado is well aware of the 80s action mecca: Hong Kong is unmatched to this day with its death defying (and lawsuit inducing) stunts, precise editing and extravagant set pieces. Chan’s unique blend of believable street fighting and Charlie Chaplin-esque comedy was a staple of that industry becoming a striking box office magnet and generating in the process his own subgenre: slapstick martial arts.
While his peer and pioneer Sammo Hung was invested in delivering visceral fights in his Winners and Sinners (1983) and Wheels on Meals (1984) through hardcore contact work, Chan took a few elements from his Big Brother and molded an on-screen counterpart that left behind his humble Chinese Opera beginnings to embrace the use of environments for complex (and quite obviously painful) face offs with successful results (e.g., Project A (1983)). Then 1985 happened.
READ ALSO: The Best Martial Arts Films of All Time
Police Story is hailed as one of the greatest action and martial arts films of all time featuring breathtaking sequences in one of the few Chan starrers with real stakes as opposed to the child friendly persona he will adopt in the mid 90s to a lackluster effect. Jackie displays exquisite skill in orchestrating highly energetic hand on hand skirmishes occurring amidst the (let’s be honest) telegraphic crime procedures and tonally oppositional comedic segments. Its opener is a full assault on cine-logic packing so many larger-than-life breathtaking stunts that Hollywood sought to recreate less successfully (e.g., Tango and Cash (1989), Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II (2003)).
Yet, it is the fighting presentation which sticks to the viewer’s mind. Chan fights off multiple goons a few times culminating into a shopping mall brawl that has to be seen to be believed. Using pitch perfect editing, contact blows, supreme athletics and lengthy takes devoid of the waiting-for-my-turn-to-attack henchmen, it is a punch to the gut with visceral fighting to the likes we will not experience till Gareth Evan’s The Raid (2011) 26 years later! Just this segment demonstrates Chan’s sheer commitment to the cause of entertainment endangering his life to achieve an exquisite physical performance.
“Don’t be a cop if you want to live to 100”
Bypassing the action though, Police Story is a product of its time, the now dated Hong Kong humor still having that … naive sexism on its female cast members that sees them as highly emotional and erratic individuals around their boyfriends testing the patience of a non-native audience. Considering the acting caliber involved here (Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung!) it is somewhat of a disappointment to watch two of the finest actresses of all time do nothing besides whaling and screaming helpless. Still though for what the Hong Kong industry lacks in subtlety, it makes up for an equal share in danger as both get to perform their own scary stunts.
Chan plays his relationship with the leading ladies for laughs through inventive skits (a fake attack to Lin’s flat is a stroke of genius) and lots of misunderstandings. His Ka-Kui remains a goofy, and lovable individual with skills that come handy even in the most of unusual of situations. For example, his ability to handle multiple phone calls is a sequence that would have made Charlie Chaplin proud. Such a character stands out against the dominant macho traits of the sunglasses, coats and cigarettes decade. His police officer gets hit, is occasionally afraid even overwhelmed but never backs down when people are in danger making him more relatable as opposed to a muscle mountain plowing through opponents at ease and his first serious in tone directional take has all the typical Chan-isms for latter films to follow: Bill Tung, shady businessmen, glorification of the latest technology, Japanese product placement, and humorous mischief.
This action gem from the East will not win awards for its storytelling ticking every single crime cliche out there with the efficiency of a two-year-old. However, despite its banal story, it provides a string of funny and thrilling segments in a beacon of superb filmmaking free of any flashy tools to attract the audience. Cementing Hong Kong as the true giant of the genre (try to find anything from the West that can match the excitement and energy here is a challenge), Police Story opened the door for more outrageous Hong Kong motion pictures, each one continuing to raise the bar with more ludicrous stunts and set pieces (a year after police story we got John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow (1986)). You can’t blame Chan though, the man deserves his accolades for pushing boundaries and breaking the ceiling with an untouched by time body of work. Now that is an achievement for generations to observe and follow.
Chan’s prime output
+Spectacular stuntwork
+Incredible fighting
+Likeable main lead
+Superb editing
+Cast
-Cheung, Lin underused
-Comedic aspects have not aged well
-Telegraphic proceedings