New Police Story (DVD)

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The majority of American audiences are probably most familiar with Jackie Chan through gimmicky buddy film franchises like, "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Noon." None of them really show what Chan is capable of. They're more like appetizers before a hearty main course made of "Drunken Master II", "Project A", and "Young Master."

The death of Bruce Lee left a hole in Hong Kong cinema that many others were eager to fill. Rather than fall in with the numerous imitators popping up, Jackie Chan carved a niche for himself mixing in spectacular action with copious amounts of light-hearted comedy and death-defying stunts inspired by silent film actors such as; Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. The highlights of Chan's early work include, "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and the original "Drunken Master", both collaborations with master choreography Yuen Woo-Ping ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "The Matrix").

Then, there's the "Police Story" series which spanned three films, of which the original is surely the best. The first "Police Story" has it all fights, chases, slapstick comedy, and some crazy stunts. The best are Chan's ode to Chaplin where he hitches a ride on a double-decker bus with only an umbrella and one where he slid down a huge pole wrapped in Christmas lights. The latter stunt practically burnt all the skin off of Chan's hands.

Now that he's in his fifties, Chan has gone on record saying he'd like to pursue more dramatic roles. "New Police Story" is a step towards that direction and has no connection at all to the previous "Police Story" films. Here, Chan plays Inspector Wing who must deal with a youthful gang of hi-tech crooks. The villains are rich kids heavily into extreme sports and violent video games. They also hate cops and even assign each other points for killing them.

Wing boldly claims he'll bring them to justice in just three hours. The arrest goes horribly wrong when Wing's team are all captured and killed right before his eyes. Wing is shattered and can only find comfort in the bottle. It's up to Fung (Nicholas Tse), an overly exuberant, rookie cop to pull Wing out of his funk and catch the bad guys.

"New Police Story" is definitely one of the best films Chan has put out in years. "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Knights" are certainly fun fluff, but not very satisfying. There have also been plenty of clunkers, "The Tuxedo" and "The Medallion" come to mind. Then, there are Chan films where I find myself skipping huge sections to get to some good action ("Who Am I?", "Gorgeous"). "New Police Story" is solid all the way through. No, there isn't that one jaw-dropping scene that makes you fear for Chan's life. But, there's plenty of good stuff to be found, before building up to a rousing finale.

The new film does sometimes emphasize the drama, but there are touches of comedy sprinkled here and there. It does keep the spirit of the original films and they even threw in a couple references. A chase scene involving a runaway double-decker bus recalls a similar sequence from the original film, as does a scene where Chan punches out a callous stock broker (similar to when he beats a mob lawyer).