Police Story

Jackie Chan, Hong Kong, 1985, 99 minutes

For all of you who have just been introduced to the wonders of Jackie Chan through his recent American films such as Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon this is a chance for you to see one of the finest films he has ever made.

This self directed film has Jackie Chan playing Kevin as an honest cop assigned to keep a witness, Selina Fong (Bridget Lin), safe from the drug barons she is testifying against. During the course of the film Kevin is framed for the murder of another policeman and finds himself trying to clear his name whilst protecting the girl and catching the bad guy. What's amazing about this film though is not the plot but the action. Jackie Chan's recent American blockbusters may have seen some dangerous stunts for a Hollywood production, but compared to his older Hong Kong releases they pale in comparison. This film sees him running up walls, hanging on to buses with umbrellas and sliding down a pole with Christmas lights, electrocuting himself and ripping his skin on every broken bulb. The stunts aren't just exciting to watch due to their danger but also the way that Jackie manages to bring the kind of innocent slapstick comedy that we haven't seen since Buster Keaton into every scene. This film is full of the type of stunts Hollywood has banned him from performing and you can see why during the credits which contain outtakes with Jackie getting all these lovely stunts wrong mostly resulting in much harm to himself.

This is a must see for anyone who is vaguely interested in Jackie Chan or who has ever wondered why martial art movies are so popular in the east.

Review by Rory Slaney
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2002