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Software Office ::
Jackie Chan's Police Story (Special Collector's Edition)
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Our Price: $14.24
List Price: $14.95
Your Save: $ 0.71 ( 5% )
Sales Rank: #40931 (lower is better)
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Dragon Dynasty
Starring: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung
Directed By: Jackie Chan
Avg. Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
EAN: 0796019796507
Format: Closed-captioned
Manufacturer: Dragon Dynasty
Release Date: 2006-12-19
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Jackie Chan's Police Story (Special Collector's Edition) Description
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Police Story breaks new ground with its breathtaking fights and incredible stunt sequences. Featuring a top-notch cast, which includes multi-award winning actresses Brigitte Lin & Maggie Cheung, director Chan combines a compelling storyline of an honest cop on the run from a false murder charge with dynamic visuals and full-blooded fight action which is electrified with emotional underscoring. In the case of this particular project the price of excellence was high, with many of Jackie's elite stunt team being seriously injured during the course of principal photography.
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Jackie Chan's Police Story (Special Collector's Edition) customer reviews:
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Who'd be a stuntman on a Jackie Chan film? 
You have to wonder who on Earth would grow up wanting to be one of Jackie Chan's stunt team - looking at Police Story it's pretty obvious that you'll spend more time in the hospital than on the set. These guys aren't faking getting hurt - they really are getting hurt, and you don't need to see the end credits outtakes montage of them being carried away to work that out. But then, it's not as if Jackie Chan isn't sharing their pain. If it looks like there's a real sense of danger, that's because there was.
Filmed comparatively cheaply (part of it even in Chan's own house) as a reaction to Chan's disappointment with US co-production The Protector, it's a mixture of impressive action, lacklustre plotting and broad comedy - this is the kind of film where the moment you see a birthday cake you know it'll end up in someone's face (the motivation can be found in this disc's deleted scenes if you're interested). If the comedy doesn't play so well with some Western audiences, there's no such qualms with the action, whether it's the 16-minute opening shanty town action scene that sees Chan hanging onto the outside of a speeding bus by an umbrella (and saw stuntmen hospitalised after a stunt stolen by Tango and cash went visibly wrong), and inventive fight scene in and around a car or the hardcore action finale in a shopping center where escalators, display cases, mirrors, lights, clothes racks and a motor bike (don't ask where that came from) all become deadly weapons. The bill for broken glass alone must have been huge, let alone the cost in broken bones.
It's not Chan's best film despite being one of his breakthrough hits, but it's certainly one of the best. Sadly Dragon Dynasty's Region 1 NTSC DVD doesn't have as good or as clean a transfer as Hong Kong Legends' UK disc: it's acceptable but there's a lot of grain and its clear that they haven't spent too much time restoring it even if the print is clear. Where it scores is in the extras - deleted scenes, alternate outtakes, and an interview with Chan, and original trailer among them.
Pure Jackie! Great Stunts!
This is an awesome look at the young Jackie Chan. In his prime, he was amazing -- fast, funny, and overwhelmingly powerful. This film has silly, stupid scenes that Jackie has become famous for. It has the great fight scenes and choreography that Jackie Chan is not only famous for, but in many ways, a style of film that he really put on the global market and created the world's appetite for.
This film is awesome, fun, silly and fabulous.
Jackie Chan: The Model Officer
By general consensus, Jackie Chan has made two very great movies above others: The Legend of Drunken Master and "Police Story". "Drunken Master" is a straight kung fu film while "Police Story" is more of a balanced action movie, incorporating gunfights and car chases with the martial arts. On the whole, I like "Master" more because its story progression is easier to understand and it has fewer pauses between action scenes, but "Police Story" is no slouch, either. While it does drag a bit in the middle, the film is a myriad of death-defying stunts and physical comedy; the movie's ability to perfectly balance the two is what has made it so unforgettable for a lot of folks.
The story: Ka Kaui (Chan) is a Hong Kong policeman-turned-hero after he single-handedly captures a notorious druglord (Chor Yuen, Twin Dragons), but in midst of protecting the key witness to the gangster's trial (Brigette Lin, Chungking Express) and trying to keep his girlfriend (Maggie Cheung, In the Mood for Love) from leaving him, he is framed for the murder of another cop and attempts to clear his name without getting arrested or killed.
The plotline is one of the two major issues I have with the film: I suppose that someone well-versed in Hong Kong cinema or proficient in Cantonese/translated subtitles would have less of an issue understanding what's going on, but I needed to read a synopsis to clarify some of the things that happened in the second half of the movie.
My second beef lies in the amount of non-action going on in the film: rest assured, there is no shortage of action involved, but since I cannot really translate a subtitled or dubbed performance into appreciation for acting ability, I couldn't be swayed by the film's dramatic aptitude, even though I've been told that Jackie, Brigitte, and Chor Yuen, Lam Kwok-Hung (Police Story II), Bill Tung (Rumble in the Bronx), and company do a fairly good job as far as action cinema is concerned.
Of course, Chan speaks a universal language with physical comedy; as far as I'm concerned, he has surpassed his idol, Buster Keaton, in how to make people laugh via body language and has perfected the art of "funny face" and taking a fall. This is especially well on display when his on-screen girlfriend assaults him with his own birthday cake upon assuming infidelity.
Still, it's the film's award-winning action content that makes it stand out, and as much as I could go on about it, nothing I write can come close to expressing my amazement at how well it has been done. For starters, the martial arts scenes are not quite as technically-accurate as Chan would develop them in the future, but nonetheless amazingly choreographed and well within Chan's top-ten list. There are about three big ones of varying lengths, but the final one-against-many brawl in the shopping mall is as beautiful and brutal as one can hope for. Of course, no matter how very good these hand-to-hand encounters are, the definite highpoints of the picture are the stunt scenes: episodes within the movie that redefine the term "stunt". Since there are too many cool instances within the film to name and my review already is pretty long, let me highlight the most breathtaking ones: 1) Jackie and the villains drive three cars downhill through a shanty village, destroying literally dozens of scrap metal and straw shacks in their way, 2) Jackie uses an umbrella to haphazardly hang onto the side of a speeding bus, 3) the near-entirety of the shopping mall fight, culminating in Chan's legendary leap onto an electric lighting structure, down which he slides a legitimate seventy-five feet before crashing through a glass ceiling. In a word, astonishing.
So, is it my favorite Chan flick? - no. Is it awesome anyway? - without a doubt. Should you buy the Dragon Dynasty release with a host of cool and exclusive special features? - of course, silly.
Jackie's first Jackie Chan Movie
Jackie Chan movies are truly a genre in themselves. Part action, part comedy, with a tad of drama and story, they aren't really able to be catergorized in any way other than as "Jacki Chan Movies." So, when you see Police Story, you get to see the first really Jackie Chan movie. It's a bit more raw and imperfect compared to the rest, but is in many ways his best. Jackie almost kills himself with his stunts in this movie, most of which hold up incredibly well (FYI: One stunt caused Jackie to suffer a disclocated hip bone, something that had never occured before in recorded medical history until Jackie's accident). If I didn't know this was one of his first real movies, I would have never been able to tell the difference. I highly recomend this movie to Jackie Chan fans, and think this movie maybe be fresh enough to bring a few new Jackie Chan fans along for the ride. Give it a try.
perhaps Jackie's masterpiece - even if he does end up with a phone-shaped cake face
I have to say that I vastly prefer Jackie Chan's work during the '70s and '80s, and I prefer his Asian movies to his Hollywood movies (although RUMBLE IN THE BRONX is pretty good). Jackie Chan has so many awesome action flicks under his belt I don't know that I can say for certain that POLICE STORY is his very best film. But if it isn't his best, it's absolutely right up there with the ARMOUR OF GOD and DRUNKEN MASTER thrillers and THE YOUNG MASTER (I don't know that THE YOUNG MASTER is actually considered among his best, but it's certainly one of my favorites). Directed and starred by Jackie, POLICE STORY is entirely his vision and one perfect instance in which all the elements that constitute a Jackie Chan picture combine to form this incredible synergy. After a bad experience in Hollywood (cough*theprotector*cough) Jackie went back to Hong Kong and decided to show the world something new in the genre of police drama. If I were to suggest a Jackie Chan film to someone who had never seen a Jackie Chan film, this is the one.
Jackie and gritty rarely go together, but there's a definite Dirty Harry vibe in POLICE STORY, what with Chan Ka Kui (Jackie) fighting not only drug kingpins but also police corruption. I had never seen a more edgy Jackie, and, yes, I understand the film is peppered with his trademark comedic bits. But he commits such intensity into the no-holds-barred action sequences that I'm blown away every time I see them. You can feel the impact whenever Jackie or his opponents absorb vicious blows or slam into unforgiving surfaces. This is Jackie Chan in his absolute prime, way back in 1985. I see his more recent efforts nowadays and I note how the guy has slowed down, and there's this bittersweet taste.
POLICE STORY, in my eyes, presents some of the most electrifying fight scenes and certainly the biggest stunts I've ever seen Jackie do. Plenty of jawdropping action set pieces, but there are two absolute standouts: that crazy insane car chase down thru the hillside shanty town and then the brutal extended fight sequence in the shopping mall in which Jackie uses anything and everything he can get his hands on to pummel a grip of goons. The mall sequence climaxes with Jackie's amazing slide down an electrified pole. The fast and furious nighttime skirmish with Jackie battling thugs in the street - where he's hurtling in and out of vehicles - that's not too shabby, either. Just another demonstration of precision and pinpoint timing between Jackie and his trusty stunt men. But, man, I wonder how many cars Jackie demolished in this one?
Humor is a constant in a Jackie Chan film, to the extent that sometimes I can't help but groan. But, here, the humor provides a stabilizing element against all the intense segments. POLICE STORY comes up with good gags, mostly involving the nonexistent romantic triangle of Jackie, Jackie's long-suffering girlfriend Maggie Cheung, and Brigitte Lin, the key witness whom Jackie is protecting. I always laugh when the film arrives at the courtroom scene. It starts out as this oh-so-dramatic event until, suddenly, it degenerates into an episode of Three's Company. For those who enjoy broad schtick, there are also moments in which pies and cakes are catapulted into people's faces.
What I gots is the Special Collector's Edition DVD and its special features are very solid, even though one deleted scene presents even more pies in the face:
- Director Brett Ratner and Asian Film Expert Bey Logan's informative audio commentary
- Five "Rare Deleted Scenes" (total running time 00:16:25 minutes): 1)an extended opening with new stuff including an office surprise birthday party and Chan Ka Kui apparently having just been newly assigned to this police department; 2)a brief press conference introduction; 3) an extended ending with alternate outtakes; 4) montage of very brief deleted shots shown in continuity within the official footage; and 5) outtakes without the closing credits which means that the blooper footage now fills up the screen
- "A Conversation with Jackie Chan" (00:10:22 minutes) - Jackie reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff about the making of POLICE STORY. One tidbit we learn is that, at the end of that double-decker bus sequence, the two stunt men on the second tier of the bus were supposed to crash thru the window and land on the car instead of smashing onto the asphalt road. Also, we learn that one of the stunt men went missing somewhen during the crazy drive down thru the hillside shanty town. Jackie also talks about his concerns regarding that death-defying slide down that electrified seven-stories-high pole in the mall
- "A Tribute to Jackie Chan by Brett Ratner and Bey Logan" (00:06:14 minutes) - these two guys talk about Jackie and POLICE STORY and the film's impact
- "Stunts Unlimited": A retrospective with interviews of members of the celebrated Jackie Chan stunt team, and they reflect on their stunts in POLICE STORY (00:34:07 minutes, with English sub-titles)
- the original Hong Kong theatrical trailer and the U.S. promotional trailer for POLICE STORY, as well as the promotional trailer for KILL ZONE
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