Thursday Movie Picks: Police Detective

 

For the third week of 2021 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the subject of police detective movies as it play into police detectives trying to uphold the law as well as keep people safe from harm. Here are my three picks as it is devoted entirely to the Police Story film series starring Jackie Chan:

1. Police Story

The first of the two films to directed and choreographed by Chan is a film that everyone has to see in not just stunt work, action choreography, suspense, and presentation that includes Peter Cheung’s impeccable editing. It’s also a film that is really funny where if it’s watched in its original language or dubbed into English, Chan is always a joy to watch as he brings in a comedic style that owes a lot to the silent film performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. It revolves around Chan’s character Ka-kui who is trying to take down a drug lord with the help of a reluctant witness while the film includes what is probably one of the greatest action sequences inside a mall that remains a high-water mark of action film presentation.

2. Police Story 2

The second film of the series that is also directed by Chan has him reprising his role of Ka-kui as he is trying to stop a group of serial bombers while being demoted as a traffic cop due to events in the previous films. Also starring Maggie Cheung who reprises her role as Ka-kui’s put-upon girlfriend May, it is a film that has more dramatic stakes where Ka-kui is trying to be a good cop but also a good boyfriend to May as he’s dealing with all sorts of shit. The playground sequence is another inventive action scene that showcases choreography at its finest as well as a chase scene involving trucks, buses, and locations as it is proof of Chan’s gift as an actor that even his silent comedy influences would be proud of.

3. Police Story 3: Supercop

The third film that is directed by Stanley Tong and the last film in the series to feature Maggie Cheung has Chan’s character team-up with Michelle Yeoh who plays a Chinese office who teams up with the Hong Kong-based Ka-kui to stop a drug lord who threatens both factions just years before Hong Kong would return to Chinese rule. It is a fun film that has lots of great stunts yet Chan definitely meets his match in Yeoh whom he shares the spotlight with as she gets to do some amazing stunts making it a more collaborative affair. Yet, it was so successful that Yeoh’s characters gets to have a spin-off that features a cameo from Chan and another franchise regular in Bill Tung as Ka-kui’s captain.

© thevoid99 2021