NEW POLICE STORY (SAN GING CHAAT GOO SI) by Benny Chan
Inspector Wing (Jackie Chan) from the Hong Kong police has lost a whole team of police officers in an attempt to arrest a gang of bank robbers and cop killers. The killers – a gang of spoilt rich youths with a penchant for video-games, extreme sports and cop-killing – escaped.
One year later Wing is still plagued by guilt, depressed, a heavy drinker and furloughed from the police force. He doesn’t see his girlfriend Ho Yee (Charlie Yeung), whose brother was one of the killed cops, anymore.
Then Fung (Nicholas Tse) shows up, telling Wing he is the brother of one of the killed police officers and assigned to Wing’s district as his new partner – with the assignment to find and arrest the gang. Reluctantly, but with growing enthusiasm, Wing is back in duty and starts working on the case with Fung and Sa Sa (Charlene Choi). One of their hot trails is a video-game the gang has published online – based on the killing of Wing’s team which took place in a booby-trapped and wired building, the other one an ex-cop who played a dubious role in the bank robbery. Soon the partners are on the trail of the gang – and winning the infamous video-game will reveal the location of the next crime.
THE RETURN OF JACKIE CHAN! After his Hollywood films which got more and more disastrous (The Tuxedo, Around The World In 80 Days) Jackie is doing the right thing – going back to Hong Kong and making a real Jackie-Chan movie instead of playing the clown in Hollywood.
There is less of the crazy breakneck action which you know from his earlier films (the traditional outtakes of stunts gone awry during the end credits alone prove that – but hey, nobody’s getting younger, even Jackie), less slapstick in the fights, but it’s darker and more violent than his previous movies, and Jackie is showing some of his dramatic talent as hard-drinking, guilt-stricken and desperate man (he’s still no Edward Norton, but at least as convincing as Arnold Schwarzenegger in END OF DAYS).
The supporting cast is excellent, but one of the few weaknesses is the lacking chemistry between Jackie and Charlie Yeung. They would have made a great father-daughter team (which would have been appropriate also due to the age difference), but you don’t buy it they are lovers.
Recommended for everybody who likes Jackie Chan or Asian cinema in general.
Lessons to learn from this film:
* Jackie Chan should do Hong Kong films, not Hollywood films
* don’t ride a public bus when Sandra Bullock or Jackie Chan are not on board
* treat your children well, even if they give you a hard time
* and never rely on a supposedly bomb-proof room in a Hong Kong police station
