New Police Story film review

certificate_15

New Police Story

There's nothing particularly new about New Police Story, a film that Jackie Chan made in Hong Kong in 2004 and which now gets a belated UK release. Chan has spent much of the last ten years successfully building his Hollywood profile, and he is now something of a banker when it comes to big-budget American action films. Fans of his original work in his home country will be pleased to know however that New Police Story sees the martial arts superstar back on home territory and in fine form.

Directed by Benny Chan, the film bears a striking resemblance to Gen-X Cops, released over here on video, in which an arcade game style is the order of the day. New Police Story is basically the battle between Chan's Inspector Chan and a renegade bunch of rich teenagers who use computer gimmickry to assassinate all of Chan's cadets in a brutal and violent introductory episode.

A year later and Chan has hit the skids: down on his luck, with the bottle as his best friend and on suspension from the force. When a young cop approaches him and tries to persuade him to join forces and seek out the gang that eradicated his team, Chan is resistant.

But his need to avenge his dead compadres takes over, and soon Chan and his young rookie are on the tail of the baddies. One by one, they seek them out, and thanks to a large number of spectacular set-pieces (including a mesmerizing bus chase and an extraordinary Lego fight), they begin to win their battle.

There's very little mental effort required here: but that's as it should be. Instead we are treated to an increasingly exciting number of stunts, and the usual Chan humour is also apparent, not least in his now-famous closing credits sequence, when once again we see just how many risks Chan is prepared to take for his art. Overall, it's a lot of fun.