Police Story 3: Supercop Image may be NSFW.
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警察故事3超級警察 「gíng chaat gu sih sāam: Chīu kāp gíng chaat」
Release Date: July 04th, 1992
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Stanley Tong
Writer: Edward Tang, Ma Fibe, Yee Lee Wai (Screenplay),
Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Yuen Wah, Bill Tung, Kenneth Tsang, Jospephine Koo
Considering it is the third entry in the franchise, Police Story 3: Supercop has a lot of firsts.
It was the first film not directed by Jackie Chan as Stanley Tong took charge.
It was the first film not entirely set in Hong Kong.
It was the first film to give Jackie Chan a co-star with equal-billing – a woman no less and not one who is never a damsel in distress.
Together, these firsts inject innovation into the franchise while meeting audience expectations of an action-packed experience. Indeed, this may be the best entry in the franchise following the first film (which is perfect, in this writer’s opinion!).
The plot of Police Story 3: Supercop sees Chan Ka-Kui (Jackie Chan) return to action following a fairly traumatic experience saving his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) from mad bombers who held Hong Kong hostage with high explosives in the last film. Chan’s next task is to take down drug traffickers who are using condoms and corpses to slip product past customs. Chaibat (Kenneth Tsang), the big boss behind it all, has a henchman named Panther (Yuen Wah) in a forced labour camp in Mainland China. The plan is for Chan to convince Panther to recruit him into Chaibat’s gang and make an arrest. Thus, Chan busts Panther out of the camp. He has help from an Interpol agent named Yang (Michelle Yeoh) who acts as his handler on their undercover mission where they pretend to be siblings.
Police Story is back and bigger than ever before with higher production values and insane stunts in what appears to be an appeal to a broader international audience.
The film is less a star vehicle for Chan as it also acts as a showcase for Yeoh. It certainly reduces the number of Buster Keaton-esque moments that Chan engages in and, instead, presents a buddy-cop movie that mines material from its odd couple on a case where cross-cultural confusion of different Chinese customs and language dialects (HK vs the Mainland) or just plain differences in character and gender make for comedy amidst the action.
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Inside a globe-trotting mission, our dynamic duo are constantly bickering as they try to avoid having their cover blown while asserting some sort of dominance over each other. Yeoh shows serious comedic chops by mining a vein of wry humour as she underplays things using understated officiousness in portraying her hard-nosed PLA military police officer in the face of Chan’s buffoonery. His cheeky grins over goofs, wandering eyes when beautiful women are around, and slapdash fighting style are contrasted to her balletic and efficient moves.
Their misunderstandings and differences make for plentiful material to use, such as moments when he smooshes her face as he plays up the bigger brother role and some killer lines such as Yang, strapped with an explosive-vest, yelling “I can’t get shot” and Chan yelling back, deadpan, “Neither can I.”
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The comedy marks a welcome return to light-heartedness when compared to the second film which had a pretty brutal bunch of bad guys bombing things and causing real pain (watch the out-takes and witness Maggie Cheung experiencing a pretty nasty head-hurting stunt!) that made for a bleak story. As explosive as Police Story 2 was, the third entry really excels.
Compared to the previous Police Story films, there is an ambition to the approach to make this as expansive and action-packed as possible. Story locations take in more than just Hong Kong but also long stretches in Mainland China, Thailand, and Malaysia. This globe-trotting aspect is designed to appeal to regional audiences while also following the trail of other Hong Kong action movies such as Iron Angels (1987), Iron Angels 2 (1988), Dreaming the Reality (1991), and Mission of Justice (1992). Similar to those films, well-choreographed martial arts is present but there are more gunfights, with bazookas and submachine guns, and more use of vehicles, with boats, cars, trains, tanks, and a helicopter.
The scale of ambition leads to some of the most hair-raising stunts I have ever watched as both Michelle Yeoh and Jackie Chan put their bodies on the line! Watch with gritted teeth as Jackie hangs from a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter careening over Kuala Lumpur into the path of an oncoming steam train. Gasp as Michelle Yeoh rides a motorcycle onto a moving train. These sequences are heart-stopping moments that hit hard because the two stars are actually performing the stunts and the risk to body and life adds that electric tension that makes Hong Kong stunts of this period so memorable. They look so fragile suspended high above the ground or skidding along a train car roof but so badass when they land the moment. Equally anxiety-inducing are the fights near the spinning rotor blades of a helicopter parked on the train. But even here, comedy sneaks in such as the moments when Chan, fighting on the train, lets passing scenery knock out an opponent. These fight scenes are top-tier and the sort that you show to friends to show how Hong Kong did action best.
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The films plotting is solid, a skeleton to hang the action on, while the supporting cast bring enough colour to enliven rote roles. Villains have texture with Chaibat allowed to be comically evil with Kenneth Tsang’s scene-chewing acting while the ever brilliant Yuen Wah makes Panther more sympathetic as the drug courier takes a genuine fondness to Chan and Wang that allows a softer dynamic to develop. This was also the last film to feature Maggie Cheung, who had played the love interest in the previous two films. She gets a bit more agency and action but, as ever, is a damsel in distress. Despite this, she brings a highly-spirited performance that makes her character fun to watch.
All of these changes made Police Story 3 a high-impact experience that managed to top the previous film and make it as memorable as the first entry in the franchise. It is a film that one can screen to anyone as it makes for an exciting viewing experience.