Police Story Review

Jackie Chan is a phenomenon that has launched a whole new genre of action movies. He mixes lightning fast action and slapstick comedy with such skill that you just can't recover your breath till long after the curtains have fallen. After every Jackie Chan movie, the footage of how all those action scenes were actually shot is shown and one can only wonder at the perseverance of that man, as he gets hurt time and again but still takes the risks to live up to the expectations of his fans.

Police Story is the movie that actually catapulted Jackie to fame in the Western Hemisphere. In this film Jackie plays Kevin Chan, a Hong-Kong cop, a character he would play again and again and again, in the numerous sequels to this megahit. The movie, directed by Jackie himself, is a slick story of cops and robbers.

Kevin in this movie is pitted against a powerful drug cartel. The film, apart from showing some beautifully choreographed action scenes, also depicts the frustration that cops face when their carefully laid plans to apprehend criminals come to naught, when the criminals slip out using legal loopholes.

Kevin is assigned to protect the secretary of the head of the cartel (Brigette Lin) when she decides to testify in court. But Kevin finds the going tough when she disappears, the villain is let off in court, and, finally, Kevin himself is accused of murdering a fellow-cop.

But as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Kevin pulls up his socks, thrashes the baddies, saves all the girls involved, and gets all the evidence necessary to complete the legal formalities as well.

It's an out and out Jackie Chan movie. And with Jackie himself in the director's seat, he exercises total control on the proceedings, and does a good job too. If you are one of those snobs who don't watch 'kung-fu' movies, fine, keep away. But, if you don't mind letting your hair down, just let Jackie take you on a roller-coaster ride of laughter and breath-taking stunts.