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Rating:  -
I have always been a Jackie Chan fan. This, however is a dated Hong Kong action movie. Some fun to be had - but mostly a lot of really silly people running around firing their pistols badly. To be fair, you can see how Jackie Chan was perfecting the special style that he brings to the big screen so effectively in his more recent movies. See this flick and move on to his newer titles with far superior production values along with excellent scripts.
My short list of "mo better" Jackie Chan films are:
The Legend of Drunken Master
Jackie Chan's First Strike
Operation Condor
Jackie Chan's Who Am I?
Shanghai Noon
Add these wonderful DVD's to your collection and enjoy many times over.
Rating:  -
Jackie Chan demonstates in this film that not only is he a great martial artist and dare-devil, but also a great director and a good actor. He wanted to prove that Hong Kong could produce movies as good or better than Hollywood for less money. I think in some ways he succeeded in that goal.
In an interview on this dvd, Jackie says that the financial constraints made shooting stunts more dangerous, because they couldn't rehearse them as much.
Another interesting fact from the interview is that Jackie's house in this movie was his house in real life.
This dvd is great as many others have attested. Regarding the dubbing, I doubt it would have been possible to retain the old English dub as this version is longer than the old vhs version. However, it would've been better if they had gotten an actor who sounded more like Jackie.
Depite a few slapstick scenes, this movie has a very real feel. The bad guys are not catoonish, and the action is not on a stage or in front of a blue screen. When you see somebody falling off a roof, it is a real person risking his or her life to make a stunning scene.
I personally agree with others that this may be Jackie's best movie. However, I must admit that my wife hated it. She thought the slapstick scenes were just dumb, and she is less impressed with stunts. So, you can't please everybody.
Rating: -
Finally its on dvd, and long overdue - one of the best Jackie Chan movies ever made. Police Story is classic Chan at its best, including terrific action and great Chan humor. Jackie Chan plays "Kevin Chan", and is a one man army in this action blast.
After capturing a criminal drug lord in an explosive action-packed beginning sequence, the movie only begins to take off, as Chan constantly fights off goon after goon wherever he goes to protect a witness to the criminal. The drug lord only frames Chan for killing another cop, result, Chan becomes one angry and determined man to take matters on his own hands to capture the guy once and for all, who had escaped his first capture swiftly thanks to his ridiculous lawyer at the hearing.
The action is constant from beginning to end, and where there isn't Chan fighting and action, there is the comedy and humor, resulting in great pacing overall. The real treat of Poilce Story is the final fight in the shopping mall, where fist fly, glass breaks everywhere, motorcycles run, and Chan performs an outrageous stunt that is shown 3 times from different angles during the movie - sliding down a multi-story string of lights and crashing into a glass house. Simply amazing and one of his best known stunts ever.
Poilce Story is a must for the heart of any Jackie Chan collection, and now that its on dvd you can experience this much deserved movie in better than VHS quality. Thank God Poilce Story 2 is to be released soon too, another excellent Chan flick!
Rating: -
I have ALWAYS thought it was BIZARRE that this film was not out on DVD. Now it is. Dragon Dynasty, a label put out by the Weinstein brothers, is shaping up to be something very impressive indeed. It began by snatching a 2005 film that was released in Hong Kong but not mainland China, and not here in the States, even though it's all of: 1) one of Hong Kong's greatest films, 2) one of the greatest martial arts films in history, and 3) just about the only truly GREAT (meaning damn-near flawless) action films of the 21st century, as of yet. That film was Wilson Yip's Sha Po Lang, which they released as Killzone. A cheesy title, but at least they released it without tampering with it. It has its Cantonese soundtrack with English subtitles, and thankfully, no terrible music added for Americans, such as (c)rap. Now they've followed this up with a TERRIFIC release of one of the all-time classics: Jackie Chan's Police Story. I remember seeing this film on VHS with a grainy, fullscreen picture back when I studied martial arts and being blown away. This is Chan at his absolute best, before Hollywood got its hands on him and virtually ruined him. Thankfully Chan recognizes Hollywood's deleterious effect on his films, and returned to Hong Kong to film New Police Story, which was also very good. I'd like to say thanks to Dragon Dynasty. We have a great version of Tom Yum Goong (renamed The Protector) to look forward to, Tsui Hark's amazing film Seven Swords, as well as a classic Sammo Hung. I am really looking forward to see what else they'll release.
Rating: -
I first saw Police Story back in 1989 on VHS. I loved it and thought it was a riot. The fight scenes were great and I just couldn't believe the things Jackie Chan would do to put action on the screen. That is what makes his movies so great. You see the action and amazing stunts and you KNOW that is Jackie doing it, not some stunt double and since he's doing it, it's not that unbelievable. Plus, he knows how to be funny on screen and it works so well with everything going on. His fighting style is not some fancy martial arts. Like Jackie says, it's street fighting and unlike other heroes, Jackie gets so beat up and yet he still gets up and makes you cheer for the good guy.
Now, with this DVD release, you get the movie the way it was. The VHS was at 90 minutes. This version is at 101 minutes which means there were some added scenes which I can't remember for the life of me. It's been so long since I saw the VHS version that I don't know what scenes were put back in.
You can watch it in the English dubbed voices in 5.1, in the original Cantonese in 5.1 or the original Cantonese in mono. Personally, I love it in the Cantonese language because when they dub to American, they try to change the dialog a bit to fit the lip movement. With the Cantonese track, you get to feel the real emotions that the actors used in the scene. Also, unlike his later films, Jackie did NOT dub his own voice in here on the English track.
You would think that is where it would end with this, but no. There is so much more here than the movie.
First off, you have commentary by Rush Hour director Brett Ratner and Asian Film Expert Bey Logan. It's too bad Jackie didn't lend his comments as well. I would have loved that. However, you do get a conversation with Jackie Chan that lasts about 10 minutes where he goes over the stunt work, how he likes to do his own stunts, etc. It is especially interesting to know that they didn't have the budget to rehearse various stunt scenes, so they did them usually in one take. This resulted in some serious injuries, especially with the bus scene. It's amazing to hear how some people came close to death making this film, but when you watch the film, you can see why.
There is also a 35-minute feature where they speak with the people of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team (Sing Ga Ban). Here, many members of this team talk about what everyone's role was, how great it was to work with Jackie, etc. A VERY interesting retrospective on Jackie and his work ethic.
There is also a 6 minute feature that is a tribute to Jackie Chan with Brett Ratner talking about how this movie is so great.
Along with all of this, you also get various deleted scenes, alternate opening and ending as well as a deleted scenes montage that shows some scenes wrapped in between the released scenes so you can see where they would have fit in.
If you've never seen a Jackie Chan film before (what rock have you been under if you haven't?), then see this one first. The stunt work and action is raw and in real time. No wires, no digital enhancements, just pure, raw stunt work caught on film in real time.
Excellent DVD release and it's about time!
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