POLICE STORY III: SUPERCOP
A film review by Eric Brochu
Copyright 1996 Eric Brochu
Starring: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh Directed by: Stanley Tong
Jackie Chan has rocketed to mainstream acceptance with Rumble in the Bronx, and Miramax and New Line have deals lined up to distribute four more Jackie Chan films between them. With Jackie in the public eye so much, many new fans are wondering about his older films. Unfortunatly many of the most readily available rentals are old, dull films, made before Jackie Chan really developed a personal style. With this series of reviews, I intend to cover a broad range of his better works. While they are not easy to find, I hope that people who read these reviews and are interested in the films will be inspired to seek out the specialty shops and Chinatowns where these movies _are_ available, and see Jackie not as he appears in his early chop-sockey films or even as he appears in the weak Rumble in the Bronx, but as the charming, talented, amazing entertainer that he is.
One of Jackie Chan's most spectacular and enjoyable films is his 1992 hit Police Story III: Supercop. While it is the third installment of this highly successful and entertaining series, there is no difficulty in understanding it if you haven't seen the first two. In these films, Jackie plays a determined and eager Hong Kong cop named Chan Chia-chu, who finds himself in the midst of all manner of criminal mischief, which he kung fu kicks and jokes his way out of with a "just part of my job" stoicism. A running gag which crops up in this movie is Chia-chu's relationship with his pretty, but jealous girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung).
At the beginning of Police Story III: Supercop, we learn that Interpol and the Royal Hong Kong Police are looking for a cop to do the almost impossible (and extremely dangerous, natch) job of doing something about drug smuggling in Southeast Asia. Guess who gets tricked by his superiors into volunteering?
After a classic Jackie bit in which Chia-chu makes arrangements with May in case he doesn't return -- without telling her he's doing anything dangerous -- he's off to China, where he is given an undercover identity as a small-time criminal by Director Yang, a Chinese police officer who just happens to be a beautiful woman (Michelle Yeoh). Well, in all honesty, I had trouble following the plot after this point; it has holes the size of a freight train, and I think there are some scenes missing in the version I saw (or maybe it just seems like there are). If you can look beyond this, though (and even I, fussy movie watcher that I am, had no problem with simply ignoring the gaps), you're in for a real treat: the movie, particularly the second half, alternates between hilariously funny and absolutely amazing, featuring some of the most amazing stunts ever put on film.
Jackie is in great form here. Sure, he doesn't have an amazing range as an actor, but that's not the point. He's as charming, witty and charismatic as ever, and a real joy to watch. And when he performs his stunts and fight scenes, it is easy to see why he is so deservedly popular an action star. In one heart- stopping scene, he leaps from a rooftop onto a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter, which then flies through downtown Kuala Lumpur trying to shake him off. The camera angles make it perfectly clear both that it really is Jackie on the end of that rope ladder and that it was shot without special effects: he really is flailing around thirty stories up or passing so close over a train that he is momentarily obscured by the engine's smoke!
Yeoh is also enjoyable to watch as the efficient Communist cop who ends up teaming with Jackie. Not only is she very attractive, she is a great action movie star, and she gets some of the best fight scenes, comic situations (just watch what she does when she finds herself in the middle of a gunfight with a bullet-proof vest full of dynamite (!) ), and stunts (in one amazing sequence, she jumps from a hill to the top of a moving train on a motorcycle). At times, she threatens to upstage Jackie on his home turf, certainly no easy feat.
One of the few weak points of the film, though, is that Yeoh and Jackie don't really have any chemistry together. I got the impression that nobody was really sure if they should have a cop-buddy relationship or some sort of sexual tension between them, so they decided to have neither, though there are a few hints at both. While it doesn't really hurt the film, it would have been nice to see something besides general coolness between these two engaging entertainers, especially since the unconventional but successful Chia-chu and the tough, by-the-book Inspector Yang are obviously meant to represent Hong Kong and mainland China: it would be nice to explore that subtext in a bit more detail.
There is, however, great chemistry between Jackie and Cheung, whom he runs into while undercover in Malaysia, and it is not at all hard to see why their relationship has been a thread running through the series. Jackie is at his most engaging when he has someone equally charming and down-to-earth like Cheung to work off of. The scenes where Chia-chu is torn between the demands of his job and his unwillingness to risk angering May are some of the warmest and funniest of the film.
Overall, this is a great action film, and features some of Jackie Chan's most amazing stunts, as well as a great supporting cast and some very funny bits. It is also one of his most "western" films in terms of action and style, and people who think they might be turned off by Jackie Chan's brand of kung fu comedy but are still interested in the man might want to look at this film first.
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