Police Story 2

In this sequel to POLICE STORY, everyone is back. Jackie Chan is getting a dressing-down for catching the bad guys.... so expensively. He's busted to traffic cop, but when the bad guys show up to threaten him and girl friend Maggie Cheung, he busts some glasses. This gets him more lecturing from fatuous squad chief Kwok-Hung Lam, so Jackie quits and heads off to Bali with Maggie. However, some guys have planted a bomb, destroying a mall, and promise more unless the real estate company pays a huge ransom. The police don't know what to do about this, so they talk Jackie back onto the force. In terms of story-telling, this is not a well-constructed story, since with three stories -- revenge story by the bad guys from the previous movie; rocky relationship with Miss Cheung; and bomber -- a lot winds up abandoned; even though Criterion has restored this to pretty much the original length, it's apparent that a lot was lost in editing somewhere. Still, one does not watch a Jackie Chan movie for its exquisite story-telling, but for funny stuff -- Bill Tung gets gassy at one point -- and the funny, chaotic, acrobatic gags that Jackie Chan provides to his fans. He offers them here, even though they are not as madly funny as they would become over the next five years. It's important to note that, as director and co-writer, Chan is not a glory hog. The funniest sequence is the one where the young female officers are investigating a creep they want to turn. All in all, while Jackie Chan's movies would continue to improve because his popularity with audiences gave him greater scope, this is a lot of fun.

POLICE STORY PART II (Jing Cha Gu Shi Xu Ji) (USA: Police Story 2) Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic) Sound format: Mono Intrepid Hong Kong police officer Chan Ka-kui (Jackie Chan) battles a gang of criminals who have detonated several bombs throughout the territory as part of an ugly extortion racket. A disappointing sequel, POLICE STORY PART II is very much the mixture as before. The action scenes are as spectacular as ever - most notably an eye-popping fight in a children's park, and the climactic showdown in an abandoned factory - but the script (credited to Chan and Edward Tang) is weak and uninvolving, and the characters are basically stick-figures, broadly played by an otherwise talented cast whose collective hamminess serves merely to dilute the impact of some pretty violent set-pieces. The stuntwork is first-rate, but the movie is a lightweight affair. Clearly growing in confidence as a director, Chan accomplishes a number of genuinely striking visual flourishes (the child's ball in the bomb-rigged shopping complex; the slow fade from day to night whilst Chan and girlfriend Maggie Cheung remain seated at screen-left, contemplating their relationship in silence, etc.), demonstrating a level of maturity that would culminate the following year in his bravura Capraesque comedy-drama MR CANTON AND LADY ROSE (1989). Here, as ever, the fight scenes are lively, creative, beautifully staged, and very, *very* fast - blink, and you'll probably miss several kicks and dozens of punches! Of the cast, Chan has charisma and charm to spare but not much range as an actor, and Cheung is mere decoration, demonstrating little of the talent that would distinguish her subsequent career (FULL MOON IN NEW YORK, CENTER STAGE, etc.). Bill Tung is rather wasted as Chan's lovable superior, and there are cameo appearances by Chor Yuen (a longtime Shaw Brothers director, and chief villain in the first POLICE STORY), industry veteran Wu Ma (most famous for his recurring role in A Chinese GHOST STORY and sequels), future heartthrob Ken Lo (THE RED WOLF), and an early appearance by Lau Ching-wan, now widely recognized as one of HK's finest actors. Watch out for stuntman Benny Lai as a deaf-mute villain who steals the show with his superb fighting skills, particularly during the climactic face-off with Chan. Production values are solid, as usual, with typically expansive scope photography by Cheung Yiu-jo and expertly-crafted editing by Peter Cheung, both of whom performed similar duties on the original POLICE STORY in 1985. Followed by POLICE STORY III - SUPER COP (1992). NB. This review is based on both the original HK version of the film (101 minutes) and Chan's preferred longer cut (121 minutes), now available on DVD in HK. The re-edited, re-scored version released in the US in 1998 under the abbreviated title POLICE STORY 2 is best avoided. (Cantonese dialogue)

Police Story 2 is so tone deaf at times that it's almost unbelieavable considering it's made by the same team that made the awesome first movie. It retains the goofy attitude and the same superb stunt-work but the whole plot is contrived, violent and sad at times. It's like "gloomy slaptstick". The sadism of the new villains and the comedic actions of Ka Kui clash into each other like to tidal waves. Also the weird cameos of the bad guys from the previous movies doesn't help at all. If it wasn't for Jackie this would be a complete dissapointment, but fortunaly he makes it bereable enough to almost enjoy it through those rough scenes.

This sequel starring and directed by Jackie Chan again fails to have the same impact as its predecessor. Basically, with his unorthodox police methods, Jackie is demoted to be a traffic cop. Despite this, the villain from the last film who he put away is now out, and has vowed to make his life a misery. While he is harassing Jackie and his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung), the police are thinking of bringing Jackie back to help fight a group of bombers who are asking for a $10 million ransom. Also starring Bill Tung as Inspector Bill Wong, Kwok-Hung Lam as Superintendent Raymond Li and Charlie Cho as John Ko. I think the biggest problem is that this film is too chatty, with hardly any comedy, hardly any decent martial arts fights, no relevant thrills, and not enough action or stunt work by Chan, it's no surprise that I dozed off towards the end. Pretty poor!

After the scale and success of its prequel, audiences expected plenty with this follow-up movie. Characters from the first are carried over, including the villain, Mr Ku (Cho Yuen), although as Kevin Chan (Jackie Chan) discovers, a different group is behind the bombings threatening Hong Kong. But instead of being calm and cool about his kung-fu, Chan is now a hot-headed fighter, rushing in to confront villains without any further consideration. As a result, there are too many occasions where he doesn't come out on top. Compared to the first - as comparisons are inevitable - it is severely lacking, with an atypical lack of logic. Chan is fighting fit, the photography is sometimes dramatic and the score improved - but they fail to make up for the poor storyline and script. Better to see the first and the third and skip this one.

The first police story is a classic and still watchable and enjoyable till today but not this sequel... after the success of the first one this sequel was given no doubt a much bigger budget but it was a let down no less A lot of stunt was great but not a wow factor for me it was mediocre the story line was a drag first half of the movie has nothing to do with the second half A lot of product placement in the movie such as Mitsubishi and Lee Kum Kee which is noticeable... the explosive is no less very impressive but the story line for this one and the villain no doubt is forgettable except for the mute guy... all the jokes was not that funny.. I guess this is one of the most overrated movie of Jackie.

Police Story 2 is a sequel to the smash hit original but instead of improving it we see the film trying to cling on to the original film with dear life. It tries too hard to rejuvenate the sense and the feel of the first film by having the bad guys of the original trying to kill Jackie off. The plot revolves around the unstable character Kevin Chan (played by Jackie Chan) whose loose cannon approach to police work gets him demoted to traffic duites - this is where he meets up with the bad guys of the original and realises that his life is going to tormented by the crooks he put into jail. Then, half way through the film switches direction for no reason - it turns to a small group of terrorists who threaten a large company into giving them 10, then 20 million dollars. The film gets confusing after a while, although you never watch a film for its plot - you watch it for the kung-fu and brilliant stunts performed by the egnimatic Jackie Chan - this is where he doesn't disappoint. He makes use of a very low budget and uses every locale to its extreme - for example the jaw dropping fight in the kids playground or the amazing jump on to two moving veichles going in different directions leaves the viewer amazed and shows the unstable character of Kevin Chan exploding onto screen in every essence. The film then ends at a huge warehouse with one of the largest explosion sequences ever filmed in Asia - and right in the middle of it is Jackie Chan. Jackie doesn't disappoint in the action, nor the comedy - the plot and the lack of a credible storyline made this film fall flat on its face. Fortuently we find that Jackie Chan throws away the memories of this film with the amazing film Police Story 3: Supercop.

The Hong Kong super-cop (Jackie Chan) must stop a group of blackmailing bombers at the same time that the villains of the first Police Story are out for revenge. As much as I enjoyed this movie -- the humor, the explosions, the fast kicks to the face -- it has to be said that it never quite lives up to the first film. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, as sequels very rarely are as good as the original (though some select few do tend to be better). We still had awesome kicks, a humor that was a bit more crude, and we had way more explosions in this one (not surprising, given the villains are bombers). But we do not get to see as much glass break, and I think the overall destruction is never quite as high. How do you top the destruction of an entire village from part one?

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