by guest contributor Volcan Kacar
Dedicated cop, upholder of the law and protector of the citizens, no it is not Judge Dredd it’s Jackie Chan for the second time as Sergeant Chan Ka Kui. Our favourite Hong Kong tough guy super cop is back again fending off the villains from the 1985 squeal Police Story, and at the same time trying to stop a group of bombers! With more thrilling choreography, astonishing stunts and high octane scenes that leave you on the edge of your seat, Chan Ka Kui is back doing what he does best, generally wreaking havoc! Police Story 2 is a brilliant amalgamation of comedy, romance, action and as always, martial arts.
Cast
Jackie Chan as Sergeant Chan Ka-kui, Maggie Cheung as May, Chor Yuen as Chu Tu, Charlie Cho as John Koo and Lam Kwok-Hung as Superintendent Raymond Li.
Plot
After the violent and high cost of damages from the events of the first Police Story, Chan is left with a demotion and on highway patrol duty. Chan’s girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) is pleased with the demotion, knowing that her boyfriend’s days of gun shootouts and jumping from moving cars are over. Now, he has more time to dedicate to being a boyfriend rather than the local superhero! However this ‘honeymoon’ stage is short lived when Chan is confronted by John Ko’s right hand man Chu Tao. It seems that Chu Tao has been released from prison due to being terminally ill and only having a short time to live, vowing to take revenge on the very cop that put him behind bars.
Some henchmen and including John Ko head to Chan’s apartment to terrorize him, leaving him no choice but to fight them. John Ko and his henchmen cross the line when they attack and beat up May and her mother. Infuriated, Chan goes and seeks revenge on the gang. Chan discovers them at a restaurant turns the place upside down. Giving John Ko and his henchmen a seriously good kicking. After avenging May’s honour, Chan is left ashamed of his actions. Knowing that he took the law into his own hands was not the right thing to do, so he resigns from Police Force. Chan and May decide to get away from it all and take a little honeymoon away to Bali. As karma would have it however, Chan is unable to escape the fame he earned from arresting the big time drug boss lord Chu Tao. A simple trip to a shopping mall gets intense when officers on duty recognise Chan and ask for help. Knowing that innocent people could get hurt, he is unable to resist and gets involved. Unable to deactivate a planted bomb, Chan tells everyone to evacuate the area. The bomb detonates, destroying the entire mall….
Praised as a hero, Chan has his duty as an officer reinstated and is assigned to discover the bombers and bring them down. Planting a surreptitious device in the mall, hoping this would help them discover the bombers’ identity, eventually leads Chan to a suspect a deaf-mute who is an explosives expert and a deceptively vicious martial artist. However, the stealth mission does not succeed and Chan and the police’s, cover is blown. Aware now that the police are on to them, they plan a synchronised bombing which will target the police headquarters. The gang knows their chance to escape is tight so they double their ransom and kidnap May. They lure Chan into a trap and strap him with an explosive vest forcing him to obey their orders. Chan is now a hostage and has to pick up the ransom money for the bombers! Just as Chan is about to seemingly give the bombers their ransom, he manages to drive his car into a tunnel. Knowing that there is no signal underground, the vest cannot be activated remotely, so he carefully disarms and rips the vest off. Chan now sets out on his rescue mission to save May who is being held captive at a fireworks warehouse. The final showdown begins between Chan and the deaf-mute! After over powering the villain and throwing him into a mass of barrels, Chan manages to rescue May in the nick of time for, just seconds afterward the warehouse explodes…!
Action
Of course we enjoy watching how the story plays out but as for any Jackie Chan film what we really want to see is the intense action, insane stunts, dazzling fight scenes and the amazing choreography that comes with it. Police Story 2 delivers on these with a vengeance! Police Story 2 is also loaded with physical comedy. Jackie Chan wins the day with his Charlie Chaplin-like performance, including a penchant for overacting when in pain!
It seems that a meal with Jackie Chan is never a simple affair. I realised this after the fight sequence in the restaurant when Jackie went to avenge May’s honour. The term “escalated quickly” really does come to mind here! What better place to show off Jackie’s skill in a restaurant full of fine china dinnerware, bottles of expensive wine and plenty of chairs and tables to break! Anything Jackie gets his hands on, can be a weapon -chairs, stools, tables and even pillars! One can’t help but feel sorry for the restaurant owner after Jackie and the henchmen decide to settle their differences here! Imagine how much the damages would amount to with all the furniture, dinnerware and glasses that need replacing…not to mention removing the pickup truck that smashed into the restaurant!
One of the most eventful highlights of Police Story 2 is the playground fight scene. This is yet another awesome example of Jackie’s high energy, creative stunt-style, brawling technique and choreography. As in all Jackie’s films, he uses the entire surrounding to his advantage! Whoever would have thought a children’s playground would be a brilliant location for a fight sequence? It was both fascinating and incredibly funny to see Jackie use monkey bars to gain momentum for a kick in a face and use slides to escape tight situations. Seeing Jackie lure all the henchmen to the jungle gym and fight inside the climbing frame reminded me of Mel Gibson’s Mad Max, Beyond The Thunderdome!
Summary
A worthy sequel to Police Story; featuring some more of that hard-hitting, raw, ground breaking action, and quite brutal martial arts that was awarded Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Critics award and finally more daring, memorable stunts.
Trivia
- A stunt went horribly wrong when Jackie Chan smashed through the wrong glass pane causing severe cuts to his head and body.
- The outtakes theme song is actually sung by Jackie Chan himself!
- There are many different edits to the movie, the longest cut is the Japanese one of 122 minutes, Hong Kong’s 101 minutes and the United States’ one of 92 minutes.
Film Rating: 7.5/10
