Police Story 3: Super Cop

After the dissapointing Police Story 2, Jackie steps off the director chair and let's Stanley Tong do the job. This entry in the series tones down the acrobatic fights trademarked by Chan, focusing more in vehicle chases, shoot-outs and regular (but well coreographed of course) hand to hand fights, and instead of Ka Kui running around Hong Kong, he travels from country to country while infiltrating a gang of drug dealers. Funnily enough this feels more of a natural sequel to the original than the jarring Police Story 2. The addition of Michelle Yeoh's Capt Yang brings a lot of freshness and contrast to Chan's Ka Kui wacky and hot-blooded persona, and steals the show for the most part. The only downside is that most of the secondary characters from the previous movies are either ditched or have just small roles. Still, you can go wrong with this one.

This is a really fun movie. Jerry Bruckheimer could learn a thing or five from Stanley Tong. I can only give it 8 out of 10 because it's not exactly deep, y'know? It is light as a feather, but it's also fun, fun, fun -- far more interesting and surprising than any "action" film I've seen out of Hollywood in a long, long time, all of which have seemed to me to be recycling the same script, plot, characters, and score to desperation. (Beats me how people could shell out eight bucks a pop to see Enemy of the State aka Mercury Rising aka Absolute Power...when they could rent Supercop for two bucks and actually see something unexpected.)

Of course, this film stars Jackie Chan being his usual goofy self, deftly making his extraordinary skills as a martial artist, stuntman, and physical comedian look as natural as breathing, but the other amazing talent in this piece is exhibited by the fantastic stuntwoman Michelle Yeoh (aka Michelle Khan), the same woman who for the first time blew away many Western moviegoers in Tomorrow Never Dies.

I think this woman is made entirely of rubber and springs. Most of her stunts in this movie are actually scarier and more daring than most of Chan's, and some of the most brutal took more than one take. And she did a lot of them in a dress!

Fortunately, she is also in the sequel to this, Supercop II. It's seven years old, and I can hardly wait to rent it. (When was the last time you were in a hurry to see an action flick almost ten years old?) Too bad I can't say the same for Rush Hour, which I had to click off after less than 10 minutes because Chan's co-lead character was such an obnoxious idiot.

I really hope Hollywood learns from Chan and his Hong Kong associates, and not the other way around. Indicators are not positive. Keep your fingers crossed. Meanwhile, watch Supercop and enjoy something fresh.

Though this is billed as the official third entry in the "Police Story" series, it doesn't really feel like a part of it. The higher production values and the rapid changes of international locations give it an almost Bondian feel. The comedy has been touched-up a bit from the previous entry, and it is actually frequently funny (unlike, for example, the comedy in "Twin Dragons" or the "Lucky Stars" films). The action sequences - from the (literally) death-defying stunts to the dizzyingly fast fight scenes - are incredible. The plot is much stronger than usual for a Chan film, though sometimes it collapses into chaos (particularly in the massacre after the meeting of the drug lords, where it's hard to know who's killing whom, or why). Michelle Yeoh cannot quite match Jackie in the comedy department - she doesn't have his facial expressions or comic timing - but she more than matches him in the action scenes, and she shows off some fantastic moves. The version I saw was (acceptably) dubbed, but thankfully did not include the rap soundtrack that others mention. (***)

This is a great film! Just last night I watched one of his not-so-great films and felt I needed to watch something that fits him, so I chose Supercop. I've forgotten how great it is!

Unlike most Jackie Chan movies, this one has a nice plot that is easy to understand and characters that you can easily take a liking to. The music isn't bad in some spots and the storyline is great. Let's not forget the action scenes, which are some of Chan's best (not his VERY best, but good nonetheless)!

I really recommend this movie to all Chan fans out there.

I've seen a lot of Jackie Chan films and its rare to find gem in the many jewels in the films he's made. There are real drama films like Crime Story, or the frentic action in the original police story, there's the three-brother action in Project A, there's the frenctic kung-fu in Drunken Master 2, and then there's this gem.

This is certainly the best in the police story series, the action is fantastic, the humor brilliant, the story well put together. The duo of Michelle Kahn (Yeoh) and Chan is amazing, and Yeoh almost steals the show in her own right - her persona and her instance to do her own stunts (like Chan) makes her a marvel to watch - this is why she is so damn good in Tomorrow Never Dies, but its a shame the director of TND never captured her in the same way Stanley Tong does!

Chan maybe getting older, and its getting harder and harder for him to surpass his best. In that respect, this is possibly the last, best action film we'll get to see. I enjoyed it, and I'm sure most chan fans will enjoy it too.

My Rating: 9/10.