Police Story – 1985

We’ve been spending a lot of time on the Asian continent. Might as well hop over to Hong Kong while we’re here and check out Police Story. Police Story is, hands down, my favorite Jackie Chan movie, probably my favorite action movie, now that I think about it. When most people think about Jackie Chan they probably think about the Rush Hour films. It’s hard to believe, but Jackie Chan was 44 years old when the first Rush Hour came out. Other people might know him from his first big American movie, Rumble in the Bronx, which came out when Jackie Chan was 41. The point I’m getting at here is that most people don’t realize that they are missing out on Jackie Chan in his prime. He has been in movies for decades from his child star years in the 1960’s to present. I need to focus here, I’m starting to get carried away with the Jackie Chan stuff. Let’s talk about Police Story. This film is the first in a long running series. It was followed by direct sequels Police Story 2 – 1988, Police Story 3 – 1992 (called Supercop in the U.S.), and Police Story 4 – 1996 (called First Strike in the U.S.). There were also two reboots of the series staring Jackie Chan, New Police Story – 2004 and Police Story: Lockdown – 2013. But, that’s not all, there was also a spin off of Supercop called Once a Cop featuring Jackie Chan in a cameo. What I’m getting at is this is a pretty long running series that most people have never heard of even though they might recognize some elements lifted from this movie and put in western films.

Police Story is about a young Hong Kong cop named Chan Ka-Kui (or Kevin Chan or sometimes just Jackie Chan depending on the version you watch) who runs a foul of a crime lord who then sets out to ruin Chan’s life and reputation. That sounds a little heavy, but the movie is really fun and has lots of comedy. Some of the comedy doesn’t translate that well into English, but I haven’t heard anyone I’ve shown it to complain.

This movie is a great introduction for people that aren’t familiar with Jackie Chan or only know him from his American movies. He’s at his prime and it really shows. He wrote, directed, and stars in the movie, but that’s not all. He also wrote and sings the movie’s theme song. Not only that, he also of course does all his own stunts. During the finale of the film, Jackie Chan slides several stories down a pole wrapped in lights in the middle of a shopping center. After which he falls through a glass ceiling and then through a small model house. This stunt gave him third degree burns on his hands, dislocated his pelvis (that can happen?), and also stopped his heart for a few moments. That is dedication. I feel like you’re obligated to watch it now, I mean, he almost died making it, the least you could do is watch it.

Enthiran (Robot) – 2010

This week, we are going to take a trip to Bollywood to experience the lunacy of Enthiran. Basically, this movie is just a retelling of Frankenstein, but with way more wacky action and musical numbers. A brilliant scientist makes an android version of himself that he plans to sell to the Indian Army or some such nonsense. Then there is another scientist trying to make a similar android for a terrorist organization blah blah love triangle with good robot, brilliant scientist, and his girlfriend, etc. The story doesn’t matter, what sells this movie are the crazy action sequences. There isn’t any point trying to describe them because you won’t believe me so here is a taste.

What the hell was that? That wasn’t even the craziest thing in this movie. If you can, I highly encourage you to check this one out. It might be a little difficult to find a copy. I ended up with a version dubbed in Russian that fortunately had English subtitles, even if they were of dubious quality. I’m hoping that since a sequel to Enthiran titled, 2.0, is coming out later in 2017 that maybe the first film will get a better release that is easier to get a hold of. Just to sum up; action: check. 60 year old, balding, overweight Bollywood superstar Rajinikanth in a crummy wig as the sexy leading man/ action hero: double check. Too many musical interludes for one movie about a robot: you better believe check. I don’t want to leave you without a trailer, but it was hard to find one for this movie that was good enough quality. This is the best I could do, it’s not in English, but I don’t think it really matters.