Police
Story 3; or, Super Cop with a Vengeance
Super cops
in Hong Kong are cheap and plentiful like commodities in supermarkets.
It took 5 years for Jackie Chan to become convinced by a
young, up-and-coming director Stanley Tong to make a third Police Story movie. The
end result became an unforgettable rollercoaster of awesome action set pieces
and the finest entry in the Police Story trilogy. I’m talking about Police
Story 3: Super Cop.
Release Info
Directed by: Stanley Tong Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Yuen Wah, Maggie Cheung
Language: Cantonese Original Title: 警察故事3超级警察 Runtime: 95 min
Chinese authorities are plagued with drug smuggling business
run by a ruthless criminal called Chaibat (Kenneth Tsang). They decide to carry
out a joint HK-China operation in order to break up the crime lord’s smuggling
ring. Inspector Ka-kui is sent to Guangzhou where he teams up with Inspector
Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh). The two go undercover and rescue Panther (Yuen
Wah), Chaibat’s right-hand man. This becomes their pass into the organisation, and
they soon after find themselves helping to stage a jailbreak of Chaibat’s wife
(Josephine Koo) in Kuala Lumpur. However, Ka-kui’s real identity is exposed and
now he has to save his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) as well as chase after
Chaibat.
Think Fast, Look Alive, Kick Hard
Police Story 3 does not waste time as it goes from a
straightforward exposition into breathtaking stunts. Contrary to the previous
two movies, the storylines of which seemed to have been crafted around action
set pieces, the plot line in this one appears to be the easiest to follow as Jackie
and Michelle work together to get through Yuen Wah to Tsang.
However, while I personally find this part as the best of
the series, it still carriers some of the series’ shortcomings, like, for
example, evident absence of grittiness (serious stuff is only subtly hinted at:
girls dying from drug overdose) which got replaced by usual Jackie’s
shenanigans (hiding from May; Inspector Yang posing as Ka-kui’s sister), but
these quickly pale in the blinding light of fast-paced action.
Super Cop does not offer a bus chase or exploding factory,
but in turn, we get to see a boat chase, criminals’ base camp scorched to bits,
and the outstanding finale in Kuala Lumpur which is a top-notch 10 minutes long
sequence. Basically, everybody just remembers the moment of a helicopter
landing on a speeding train (no CGI!), but for me, the best part is Jackie
hanging hundreds of feet above Kuala Lumpur's downtown. In an interview,
Jackie recalled fearing this stunt as he was attached to the helicopter’s
ladder only by steel wires.
However, Jackie was not the only person whom the movie has
taken its toll on. Michelle Yeoh not only had to jump with a bicycle on a
train, but she also had to jump on the hood of a car, which required multiple
painful takes. In addition, Maggie Cheung badly injured herself while
performing an actual fall out of a helicopter. If you have doubts as to how
much blood, sweat, and tears went into making this sequel, all the evidence
is present in the end credits’ outtakes.
In terms of trivia, it should be mentioned that this was the first
Hong Kong film to use sync sound; thus, you can hear Jackie’s original
voice (in Police Story 1 and 2, he was dubbed by a professional voice actor).
Also, Police Story 3 got butchered by the Dimension Films in 1996: standard
crappy English dub, music score replacement, scenes cut out, and some fight
screams added. Sadly, the Dimension version is the most prevalent one on DVD for years.
Throughout the film, Jackie Chan is basically Jackie Chan,
but Michelle Yeoh provides a worthy addition as his sidekick, Inspector Yang,
(she rightfully deserved a spin-off movie called Project S (1993), directed by Stanley
Tong). Maggie Cheung reprises her role as May, but her character is used mostly
for comedic effects. Yuen Wah proves to be a great baddie with a prowess strong
enough that he could carry the film as the lead, whereas Kenneth Tsang does a
commendable job as the villainous, James Bond-like, madman. Interestingly,
Josephine Koo, an award-winning actress still in the movie business, plays
the supporting role of a wife in distress.
Recommendations
Highly recommended to anyone who is into action or new to
Jackie Chan’s classics. Police Story 3 delivers everything required from an
action flick and to date remains a steadfast point of Jackie’s filmography. I
always enjoy going back to it in the moment of need. This movie is an excellent
showcase of great stunt work before the advent of the CGI era. Putting it
short, Police Story 3: Super Cop is a definite must-see.
Overall score: 9/10
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