Theatrical is the word that best describes Jackie Chan's return to Hong Kong cinema with this reboot of his mega-successful 'Police Story' franchise (though NPS is not related to any of the prior films.) Whereas the original four films were a mix between comedy and action, the 2004 effort attempts to take a darker, more serious tone, though this usually results in unintentional comedy anyway.
The story concerns Chan's imaginatively named protagonist, Inspector Chan, who witnesses the deaths of his entire police team at the hands of a gang of young bank robbers who loathe the police. Chan then blames himself and resorts to drinking heavily until a mysterious character by the name of PC138 (Nicholas Tse) persuades him to find the criminals responsible and bring them to justice. The story doesn't exactly break boundaries in terms of originality, then. However, the way in which it is executed pardons that. The fights (which is all anybody's really waiting for in a Jackie Chan film) are pretty spectacular, with more emphasis on Chan's actual martial arts abilities in this movie than any of the ostentatious rubbish he starred in in Hollywood. The fight in the room full of Lego just begging to be destroyed (there's also a bank in the same building; it totally makes sense) is the best example of Chan's ability to kick ass. Similarly, the stunts are incredible and it's refreshing to see that in an age of computer-generated-b0llocks Jackie is willing to slide down a skyscraper, risking immediate death, in order to entertain the masses for a couple of hours. Plus, he sings the song played over the credits. What a guy.
As for the bad points there are many, though as this usually results in laughing like a girl, NPS is forgiven. It really is quite funny. For example, throughout the first half of the film, Chan cries in pretty much every scene, presumably to show the world the limitless depths of his acting skills. A typical scene involves a couple of actors standing around looking embarrassed while Chan, on his knees, weeps like a baby. He looks like an idiot. Also, his impression of a drunkard is more akin to Charlie Chaplin than Jack Daniels (I assume he must have been drunk all the time.) However, it is not all Chan's fault. Blame also has to be placed at the hands of the flamboyant villains, who look like they've stepped out of a retarded version of A Clockwork Orange, resplendent in their colourful masks and talking in a strange mixture of Chinese and English. Yeah, let's take them seriously. Also, their backgrounds are revealed to be "they take part in the X Games and have X Games watches OMG!", which is just an excuse to let the antagonists ride around on BMXs and Rollerblades, including one scene with a X Games-esquire event on top of a skyscraper. One can only assume that this is included in order for Uncle Jackie to show that he's 'down with the kids' and not a 53 year old Asskicker/Cantonese pop star who has released over 20 albums. Mission accomplished, Jackie.
Overall though, New Police Story provides exactly what you expect it to and possibly a little more (like floods of tears.) Perhaps next time Jackie will a) come up with a better title for the film than one he's been using since 1987, b) introduce more believable villains, c) remove the tragedy aspect entirely, d) not use a pistol because the only person he hits in the whole film is a girl in the neck, and e) remove any mention of extreme sports. Still, it's a million times better than Rush Hour 3.
The story concerns Chan's imaginatively named protagonist, Inspector Chan, who witnesses the deaths of his entire police team at the hands of a gang of young bank robbers who loathe the police. Chan then blames himself and resorts to drinking heavily until a mysterious character by the name of PC138 (Nicholas Tse) persuades him to find the criminals responsible and bring them to justice. The story doesn't exactly break boundaries in terms of originality, then. However, the way in which it is executed pardons that. The fights (which is all anybody's really waiting for in a Jackie Chan film) are pretty spectacular, with more emphasis on Chan's actual martial arts abilities in this movie than any of the ostentatious rubbish he starred in in Hollywood. The fight in the room full of Lego just begging to be destroyed (there's also a bank in the same building; it totally makes sense) is the best example of Chan's ability to kick ass. Similarly, the stunts are incredible and it's refreshing to see that in an age of computer-generated-b0llocks Jackie is willing to slide down a skyscraper, risking immediate death, in order to entertain the masses for a couple of hours. Plus, he sings the song played over the credits. What a guy.
As for the bad points there are many, though as this usually results in laughing like a girl, NPS is forgiven. It really is quite funny. For example, throughout the first half of the film, Chan cries in pretty much every scene, presumably to show the world the limitless depths of his acting skills. A typical scene involves a couple of actors standing around looking embarrassed while Chan, on his knees, weeps like a baby. He looks like an idiot. Also, his impression of a drunkard is more akin to Charlie Chaplin than Jack Daniels (I assume he must have been drunk all the time.) However, it is not all Chan's fault. Blame also has to be placed at the hands of the flamboyant villains, who look like they've stepped out of a retarded version of A Clockwork Orange, resplendent in their colourful masks and talking in a strange mixture of Chinese and English. Yeah, let's take them seriously. Also, their backgrounds are revealed to be "they take part in the X Games and have X Games watches OMG!", which is just an excuse to let the antagonists ride around on BMXs and Rollerblades, including one scene with a X Games-esquire event on top of a skyscraper. One can only assume that this is included in order for Uncle Jackie to show that he's 'down with the kids' and not a 53 year old Asskicker/Cantonese pop star who has released over 20 albums. Mission accomplished, Jackie.
Overall though, New Police Story provides exactly what you expect it to and possibly a little more (like floods of tears.) Perhaps next time Jackie will a) come up with a better title for the film than one he's been using since 1987, b) introduce more believable villains, c) remove the tragedy aspect entirely, d) not use a pistol because the only person he hits in the whole film is a girl in the neck, and e) remove any mention of extreme sports. Still, it's a million times better than Rush Hour 3.