Police Story is one of those films that every Hong Kong movie fan has seen. In 1985, Jackie Chan had starred in an American movie called The Protector, directed by James Glickenhaus, which was his second attempt at becoming a Hollywood star. Unfortunately, the results were far from impressive and was a bomb at the box office. Since Jackie and Glickenhaus had many creative differences and other problems while filming The Protector, Jackie went back to Hong Kong where he re-shot and re-edited the film. Jackie still wasn’t satisfied and he wanted to show how to make a cop movie the right way. Thus, he made Police Story. The film was a huge hit at the box office, won Best Picture at the HK Film Awards, and spawned an extremely successful franchise. But still, the original is often considered the best of the series, it’s considered Jackie Chan’s best film, and sometimes even one of the best Hong Kong movies of all time.
The first Police Story is about a Hong Kong cop named Chan Ka-Kui (played by Jackie Chan) who single-handedly arrests a drug-lord, Chu Tao (Chor Yuen). Ka-Kui is later appointed to protect their main witness, Salina Fong (Brigitte Lin), who’s also Chu Tao’s secretary. Salina doesn’t show up to the trial and Chu Tao is released on bail. To get rid of Ka-Kui, Chu decides to frame him for the murder of another cop and Ka-Kui does whatever he can to prove his innocence.
The first Police Story is about a Hong Kong cop named Chan Ka-Kui (played by Jackie Chan) who single-handedly arrests a drug-lord, Chu Tao (Chor Yuen). Ka-Kui is later appointed to protect their main witness, Salina Fong (Brigitte Lin), who’s also Chu Tao’s secretary. Salina doesn’t show up to the trial and Chu Tao is released on bail. To get rid of Ka-Kui, Chu decides to frame him for the murder of another cop and Ka-Kui does whatever he can to prove his innocence.
Police Story is such an incredibly popular action movie. And I’ll tell you this: It isn’t popular because of the story. Police Story has the quintessential fun characters and story. There are a few scenes towards the middle which are done for comedic relief, but they sometimes feel a bit like unneeded filler. The film does have its successful bits of light-hearted comedy in true Jackie Chan-style. One of my favorite scenes is the telephone scene where Jackie's on the phone with four people at once. But this film actually succeeds tremendously when the tone is relatively dark.
The opening in the shantytown is very exciting and actually very serious. The last 20 or so minutes of the film is often considered the highlight, but I’ll talk about that later. The characters in this movie are a lot of fun. Chu Tao does make for a great villain. He doesn’t do any fighting of course, but he seems intimidating because he has so much power and so many people to fight for him. Bill Tung, who appears in the next three sequels, is very good in this movie too. Of course, Jackie Chan is the main focus of the film and is a fantastic lead yet again.
The opening in the shantytown is very exciting and actually very serious. The last 20 or so minutes of the film is often considered the highlight, but I’ll talk about that later. The characters in this movie are a lot of fun. Chu Tao does make for a great villain. He doesn’t do any fighting of course, but he seems intimidating because he has so much power and so many people to fight for him. Bill Tung, who appears in the next three sequels, is very good in this movie too. Of course, Jackie Chan is the main focus of the film and is a fantastic lead yet again.
But no one praises Police Story primarily for its characters. You knew it was coming. It’s time to talk about the action. There are a few brief fight scenes throughout the middle, but this movie features perhaps one of the best openings and endings to any action movie. Jackie Chan certainly knows how to do fight scenes and this film is probably the best representation of his talents. There’s so much creativity and complexity in these action scenes.
The action scenes from Police Story particularly stand out because of the dangerous stunts. It features some of Jackie’s best stunts and some of his worst injuries. The first major stunt in the film is the drive through the shantytown where just about everyone involved in the scene is risking their lives. This is followed by the infamous bus scene where Jackie hangs from the side of a double decker bus with an umbrella. Jackie’s stunt team really gets to show their stuff as they break through multiple panes of glass and take some incredibly dangerous (and presumably painful) falls. No one can forget the incredible mall finale. Brigitte Lin not only has a great performance, but she only lends her body for a few stunts. This scene finishes off with one of Jackie’s most amazing stunts which is an appropriately exciting end to an extraordinary movie. It gives me chills every time I see it.
The action scenes from Police Story particularly stand out because of the dangerous stunts. It features some of Jackie’s best stunts and some of his worst injuries. The first major stunt in the film is the drive through the shantytown where just about everyone involved in the scene is risking their lives. This is followed by the infamous bus scene where Jackie hangs from the side of a double decker bus with an umbrella. Jackie’s stunt team really gets to show their stuff as they break through multiple panes of glass and take some incredibly dangerous (and presumably painful) falls. No one can forget the incredible mall finale. Brigitte Lin not only has a great performance, but she only lends her body for a few stunts. This scene finishes off with one of Jackie’s most amazing stunts which is an appropriately exciting end to an extraordinary movie. It gives me chills every time I see it.
Though I don’t think that Police Story is the perfect action movie, it’s pretty darn close. The characters and story are a nice addition to the amazing fight scenes. It’s easy to say that Police Story is the best of the franchise and it's also one of the most exciting Hong Kong action movies ever.
Images from HKMDb and HK Cinemagic
Images from HKMDb and HK Cinemagic