Drug mafia boss Ku is released, but the drug trade is not stopped, and his first thought after his imprisonment is to take revenge on police officer Kevin Chang, who put him behind bars. Koo hires a hit man, who, however, is clearly not himself…
Meanwhile, a group of sophisticated terrorists scare the population with a series of bombings in crowded places and extort 10 million dollars from a commercial firm. Only policeman Kevin Chang can cope with this situation and save the girl he loves.
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Jackie Chan, luring the viewer into witnessing firsthand the multifaceted life of a policeman, undoubtedly bribes not so much with his acting skills as with his fearless execution of all the stunts and fights in person. But this, in principle, we could see in every movie of this freak from Hong Kong. Police Story 2′ contains many seemingly incompatible facets of cinema; it’s a comedy, a melodrama and an action film, but each of them is presented in a different, unlike the classics of the genre, Chinese, in a good sense of the word, style.
This style was still a little tweaked by the director himself – Jackie Chan, who, incidentally, performed the role by no means as badly as many of his own. It was painful to watch him cry, and it hurt, not from the pity, the compassion prevalent in those moments, but from the acting of Jackie, who so passionately tried to squeeze some liquid out of himself. Thanks to those terrorists who kindly suggested that Kevin was crying. But at the same time, there is clearly a suspense effect throughout the film, fueled by good music and Jackie’s agonizingly tortured grimace.
Of the director’s intentions I should mention a phrase that I already remember by heart: ‘These aren’t just bandits, they’re terrorists! I would gladly give my life so that others would not suffer. But nothing. The traps are set and we’ll catch these rats when they come for the money.’ Chan’s repetition of this phrase three times in the same episode clearly hints at its whole point. Jackie’s main idea and task was to instill in people’s minds a certain spirit of kindness, to show how dangerous and unscrupulous real terrorists can be, and that the first priority of every cop is to protect all mankind from them. Eh, we can argue all we want about Jackie’s acting talent, but the fact that he only plays decent, honest and law-abiding characters in his films is a real payoff. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen a single role of his that doesn’t fit that description. Maybe that’s why he’s so popular and loved by most of the population of this planet.
If we go on about directing, in addition to what was said above about traditional Chinese filmmaking, Jackie brings a bit of Hollywood to this film. It is not surprising, because Chan had already managed to shine in America by that time, thus becoming a huge star in his homeland. To me, the film does not suffer from wrong or failed direction, the events take turns, logically replacing one another. It’s only confusing to plug the main villains, the terrorists, only near the middle of the film. In the beginning, when he was fighting a certain organized crime group, they seemed to be the main enemies of Kevin and the entire police force. There’s another way to look at this situation, though. Chan sort of takes us through these criminals to the real terrorists, who pose a much bigger threat. And, besides, you had to somehow connect the first film with the second. So, a solid B for Jackie’s directing I can give it.
Those who like good, beautiful kung fu fights will also not be deprived. As usual in such films, the opponents of the main character are divided into strong and…not so strong. You have to fight a lot of them, and some of them are not always able to be defeated even 1 on 1. But there’s no complaints about the movie here. What we love Jackie Chan, it’s just for the fights, which he has always been staged just fine!
The actors also did not disappoint. I found the terrorists to be particularly strong. Those four guys, one of whom is deaf and mute, who is fond of radio-controlled cars with explosives and, despite not being very tall, perfectly owns his body and performs, in some moments, just mind-blowing actions!!! All the actors know why they were invited here, they know what to do and how to react. Their characters come through at a glance, and yes, maybe they weren’t always perfect, but in a kung fu movie, that’s not really a priority.
In conclusion, I would like to say a few more words. ‘Favorite action movie’, as the title reads, this movie became back in my childhood, when I, like many other young people, watched packs of kung fu movies. ‘Police Story 2’ stood out from all that mass, if only because it even had some elements of drama. Kevin’s love for Mei can do indescribable things! Very hooked by an episode as uncharacteristic of such films as that personal letter read by the gangsters. Also symbolic to me was the fight in the warehouse in the finale, one of my favorite episodes in all of Chinese martial arts cinema. I hope a lot of people share my opinion and find this film, if not a masterpiece, at least interesting and exciting.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (69.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Cantonese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Cantonese: Dolby Digital Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH.
